Fresh air being good for you and all that.

Besides, Nolan and the dogs would protect her, if it came right down to it. She knew that now.

“Sure. Let’s go,” she said, heading to the coat closet to fish out her sneakers.

Once they were outside, each holding onto a leash for one of their comically mismatched dogs, Harmony closed her eyes and sucked in a deep, cool breath of early spring air.

“Pancake likes to run, but I’ll try to keep him at a decent pace,” Nolan explained, already straining against the behemoth dog who wanted to give chase to a squirrel he’d spied near the edge of the yard.

“Actually, let’s go fast,” she said, surprising herself. It would feel nice to run off some of her anxiety, even though she’d never been much a fan of exercise before.

They all picked up the pace, but after a block, it was clear that Muffin’s short legs stood no chance of keeping up with the lanky Wolfhound.

“Well, we can speed walk a little at least,” she offered with an apologetic shrug. Moving fast also meant that they didn’t have to talk quite as much. Even though Harmony felt safe with her friend, she was afraid of the feelings she’d begun to glimpse just beneath the surface of that friendship.

When they’d first met, Nolan had made his interest in her clear, and it seemed his attraction to her was still there. But how did Harmony feel? After making such a horrible mistake in choosing her last boyfriend, she was afraid to trust herself again. Nolan had become such a good friend. Did she really want to risk losing him for the chance that they could build something more?

Knowing herself, she’d probably freak out and ruin things right away, losing both the deep friendship and the possibility of an even deeper love.

“You seem lost in thought,” Nolan pointed out, his breathing hardly labored at all despite the brisk exercise.

Lost.

That was a good way to describe it, for she didn’t have any answers no matter how hard she tried to find them. She didn’t know when Alan would be back or what he’d do once the two of them came face to face. She didn’t know whether she could trust herself to love Nolan, no matter how good he’d been to her. And she didn’t know how she could carry forward in both situations without horribly messing something up, something important. Like the lives of people she cared about.

“What are you thinking about?” Nolan asked with a tilt of his jaw.

“Alan,” she answered simply. It was partially true and seemed like the easiest way out of a conversation she wasn’t quite ready to have yet. Or ever.

“But you’re smiling.” He nudged her slightly, forcing her to look up at him.

“I am?”

Nolan nodded. “Here and there, mixed in with your usual frowns.”

“Hmm,” she responded simply.

“Now you have to tell me,” he insisted with a piercing gaze that made her cheeks burn hot.