“I promised I would. Thanks. I’ll give her a call from the truck.”

Janice nodded. “Then I’ve got it covered here. I’m not here again till Tuesday. If the Yorkie hasn’t woken by eight, I’ll stick around for a while and make sure he has his wits about him before I leave.” To Olivia, she added, “Some of the smaller dogs tend to stay groggy after anesthesia longer than the bigger ones.”

“That makes sense.” Olivia offered her a half wave. “It was great to meet you.”

Gabe locked hands with her as Janice waved them out. As they headed toward the front of the building, Olivia let out a big breath. “This place is great. But I should probably admit I’m more than a touch intimidated.”

Gabe chuckled. “Whatever for?”

She leaned into him, her shoulder pressing against his triceps. “You just saved a dog’s life…while I was flipping through the pages of Dogster.”

“You teach math to eighth graders. Don’t downplay your own talent.”

“Thanks, although sometimes I feel like all I do is speak a foreign language to them.” She gave a small shrug. “But I love it. I love the breakthroughs, especially with the kids who’ve put up barriers as dense as cement.”

“I can imagine.” Gabe dropped her hand to swipe the Post-it with Ms. Bonner’s number off the counter. “So, for tonight, you can stay parked here, or you can follow me to my place. It won’t take long, but I’ve got to let Samson out.”

“I can follow you.” Suddenly Olivia turned bright red. “Or I can leave my car here. I guess it doesn’t matter.”

Gabe brushed a lock of hair back from her face. “Hey, just a heads-up. There’ll be no pressure tonight. But I should warn you that once you see my place, you’ll probably be a touch less intimidated by my togetherness than you are right now.”

“Why?” Olivia’s playful smile returned, and she shook her head lightly. “Does Samson do the decorating?”

Gabe’s thoughts went to his mattress on the floor and his sawed-short nightstand and the saggy middle cushion on the couch where Samson napped. “You have no idea how right you are. And what wasn’t done in his best interest just hasn’t been done.”

She shrugged. “You know what they say. ‘There’s a time for everything.’”

“They do say that, don’t they?” And with Olivia in his life, Gabe realized it might just be time to focus a bit on making the place where he spent over a third of his days a little more like a home.

Chapter 19