So he swallowed his rage and said, “Why don’t I go around the corner with my namesake?” He assumed that if Vince had signed the papers, he had given up on the canine custody battle, but there was no reason to remind him what he was missing out on.

Dani’s eyes flickered to Vince and then back to him. She seemed uneasy. He wasn’t accustomed to that. The Dani he knew tore the outer layer of skin off idiot students and charmed her way through parties as the situation called for. He thought back to her telling him that Vince was a “good talker.” And she’d said on more than one occasion that Vince didn’t listen to her.

“Unless you’d prefer I stay?” He forced himself to issue the question mildly, as if it didn’t make any difference to him one way or the other. But suddenly, he wanted nothing more than to be her backup. For her to want him as her backup.

“Would you?” she asked quietly.

“Of course.” He reached for Max’s leash. “May I?”

“Yes. Thanks.” He could sense her bracing herself. He knew the feeling. Wondering what was about to happen, even though experience should have taught you exactly what to expect. Perhaps it wasn’t bracing so much as hoping. Which he should know better than to do by now.

But this wasn’t him. This was Dani.

“Dani,” Vince said. He glanced at Max but did not acknowledge him.

“Hi, Vince,” she said with no intonation at all. Despite her nerves, she was pitching her voice and her posture perfectly. “I—we—were about to take the dog for a walk.” She gestured back toward Max. Maxes.

Vince glanced over again, his expression hard to read. “Can we go upstairs for a bit?”

“I don’t think there’s any need to,” Dani said, and Max swore he heard the second, unarticulated part of her sentence. Because there’s a mime up there already. He pressed his lips together so as not to smile.

“You have the papers?” Dani asked.

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“All right.” She was deploying the same tone she’d used to wish “Happy holidays” to that boy pleading for an extension last Christmas.

“Could we . . . do that alone?” Vince asked.

“I don’t think there’s any need to,” she said again. Max was fairly certain Vince was wondering whether he and Dani were an item. He was happy to let that question go unanswered. Or, hell, if it would move matters along, he was happy to fan the flames a little. He took a step toward her.

“Berkeley and I broke up,” Vince blurted. “Last night. After the party.”

There was a beat while Dani absorbed that bit of news before she said, “Oh, that’s too bad.”

Vince seemed to be waiting for her to ask for details. Instead, she merely gazed evenly at him.