He beelined for the porch, sniffing everything along the way but turning twice to look back as if to reaffirm she was still with him. He sniffed and paced back and forth the length of the leash, then abruptly pulled toward the far end of the porch. What had earlier felt like a long time ago suddenly seemed right upon her again, as if she could turn around and see Gabe’s truck parked in the driveway and, if she listened, hear the rush of the floodwater surging in the backyard.

An image of Gabe that afternoon rose clear and crisp in her mind. He was soaked and exhausted from his struggle in the water. He’d tugged off the life vest and out of his shirt and was drying off with a worn towel he’d had in the back of his truck. In just a glimpse, she’d committed that torso—long and lean and naturally muscled—to memory. Maybe it was spurred by how close he’d come to not getting to the dog in time, or because of the spill he’d taken in the water, but he’d looked as vulnerable as he did strong and capable. She’d wanted to be there for him, just like she’d wanted him to be there for her. And a half hour later, she’d been unable to stop herself from initiating that first kiss in his truck that had been so unlike anything she’d ever done.

How was it that on that stormy afternoon a month ago, she’d taken a leap down the path of becoming wildly in love with both a person and a dog when neither had been in her plans?

She remembered back to being a kid in preschool and playing with the bin full of red cardboard construction bricks. She’d painstakingly assemble an imposing tower, hoping her creation wouldn’t fall, and then, when it inevitably tumbled apart, cringed as if the impact of the cardboard bricks would hurt even though they never did. She felt the same way now—as though she was watching something she’d built fall apart; only, in the very same way, the crashing bricks didn’t hurt. More surprisingly, as they fell, they were reassembling into something else entirely. Something new and foreign and exciting.

Before she knew it, Morgan had tugged her around to the back of the house, nose to the ground.