Her eyes went wide. “Are you serious? I could’ve sworn I’d dropped it into my purse as I was grabbing my stuff. I thought I’d lost it in the parking lot at Rhonda and Karen’s or later when Ava and I stopped for food.”

“The funny thing is, until I slammed the brakes just now, I had no idea I had it.” He gave her a wink. “Kind of makes you not calling me back a lot easier to swallow.”

The kids had all jumped out of the van and were being herded inside like goats by two women. The van door was making a grinding sound as it automatically slid shut. Olivia looked from him to the van and back. She dug her top teeth into her lower lip again, drawing his attention straight to her mouth. “If it helps, it makes my day to know you called.”

“Then I’m hoping you’ll think it was romantic and not at all stalkerish that I left you some flowers at your school this morning.”

She laughed, closing her hand over her chest. “You did that?” She let out a breath and shook her head. “I, uh… Romantic. Definitely romantic. No one’s ever done anything like that for me before.”

He wanted to kiss her. But the next time he kissed her, it was going to be hard to stop, and with a split-second glance through the shelter windows, he could see they had a bit of an audience. Megan, the director, was by the door, addressing the kids. Patrick and Tess, one of the newer employees, were behind the main counter. It wouldn’t be the most professional thing he could do as the new vet who was still proving himself here.

“You, uh, you made an impression, Olivia.” He stopped and shook his head. “More like carved out a canyon. I’d like to get to know you.”

As if wondering about the audience they were drawing as well, she looked over her shoulder and into the building. “I’d like that.” She held up her phone. “Now that I’ve got this, I’ll be answering your calls. Once I charge it, that is. The battery sucks,” she added with that brilliant grin of hers.

“So, what are you doing here, anyway?”

“Stalking you,” she said with a laugh. “Kidding. It’s the dog, the pointer. Ava took me to get my car yesterday afternoon, and we picked him up. Turns out it’s a small world up here too. This is the shelter she was talking about bringing him to. Can you believe it?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s what you call serendipity. So, the pointer’s here? How’s he doing? I’ve been thinking about him.”