Ugh. What a disaster. Kamila was going to be teased and laughed at all year for this. She looked at the audience to see if they were already laughing at her. Over in the direction of whatever distracted Darcy, standing alone and watching her, was Rohan.

Rohan was here.

Their eyes met. His expression was, as usual, unreadable. Maybe a little concerned.

He was wearing a pale-green linen shirt with a casual charcoal jacket over it, along with dark-blue jeans and an expensive-looking messenger bag over his shoulder. They stared at each other for a few seconds as the song Kamila was supposed to be dancing to ended, then he smiled slightly and waved. That was the secret smile. The one just for her.

That broke Kamila’s spell. She waved back, then picked up Darcy and stepped to the front of the stage and bowed, ignoring the half dozen dogs biting at her ankles.

Laughing, Asha joined Kamila at the front of the stage.

“Thank you, thank you, Kamila and Darcy! They sure know how to end an event with a bang, don’t they? And that brings this year’s Dogapalooza events to a close! Thank you so much, everyone, for supporting the shelter and all it does for animals in this community! Please stay, mingle, shop, and eat! And thank you all for coming!”

Kamila looked back at Rohan, who was still watching her—until he turned to speak to someone who Kamila couldn’t see.

“Let’s go, Kamila,” Asha whispered, pulling gently on Kamila’s arm. Asha guided Kamila to an office room they had been using as a backstage area. As Kamila bent to take the sari skirt off of Darcy, Asha frowned.

“Are you okay?” Asha asked. “That was an epic fall.”

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Embarrassed.” She scratched behind Darcy’s ear. “I blame you, by the way,” she said to her dog.

Darcy licked Kamila’s hand while wagging her tail, and Kamila remembered that she couldn’t be mad at her sweet dog.

“I have bad news, Kamila,” Asha said.

Kamila shook her head. “Please, no. I can’t take more.”

“Just got a text from Derek. Someone put in an application for Potato today—before you.”

Kamila’s face fell. “Fudgsicle. But I can still put in an application, too, right?”

“Yeah, but you know we process them in the order we get them. No preferential treatment for people who work, or volunteer, at the shelter. So, you can only hope the other applicant is, like, a slob, or owns eight bearded dragons, or is a pet anti-vaxxer.”

“Oh my god, are there pet anti-vaxxers?”

“Human intelligence comes at all levels. I’m sorry, Kamila.”

Kamila sat on the floor and scooped Darcy into her arms. “It’s just you and me, then, girl. We’re in this alone,” she said with a shaky voice.