“IS SHE SOFT? What’s her favorite toy? Do you think she’ll like me?”

Angi turned to smile at Andrew, trying not to let her nerves show. “I’m sure Meredith will give us all the details. Of course she’ll like you. But remember that owning an animal is a big responsibility, Drew. A dog isn’t a toy that you can put up on the shelf when you get tired of her. It’s a big commitment.”

“I know,” the boy answered. “Can she sleep in my bedroom?”

“We’ll see.” Angi looked out the window again as they came to the Furever Friends sign, decorated with garland and a bright red bow.

“Was that speech more for him or you?” Gabe asked quietly as he steered the truck down the long, gravel drive that led to the local animal rescue.

“I’m not sure.” Angi clasped her hands together in her lap.

Gabe’s mouth curved at one end, but he didn’t say anything more.

“Goats,” Andrew called out excitedly as they approached the red barn with large pens on either side. “We saw the goats when I came here for the school field trip. The one named Darcy was my favorite. Do you think he’s still here?”

Gabe parked the truck next to a silver station wagon. “Why don’t you take a look?” he told Andrew with a nod. “Your mom and I will be there in a minute, and then we can go meet this lucky Princess dog.”

Andrew scrambled out of the truck with lightning speed, like he was afraid Angi might tell him to stay.

In truth, Angi was too riddled with anxiety to say much of anything.

“It’s a dog.” Gabe reached across the console and covered her hands with his. “You can handle a dog.”

His skin was warm, especially since she felt chilled to the bone. Andrew had been the one to ask Gabe to join them on this trip, and Angi was grateful for his steady presence. It had seemed easy enough to commit to an animal when Princess had looked at her with those big brown eyes, but the reality was a little different.

“What makes you think that? I’m not handling anything right now with any success. Making a hash of my own life is bad enough. But this is a living, breathing animal. I can’t screw it up.”

“You won’t,” he promised.

“How do you know?” She turned her hand over in his and linked their fingers. “Even Meredith seemed to have her doubts. The only thing that’s going well for me right now is that I have a great boyfriend.” She gave him an arch glance. “And our relationship is pretend.”

“Our friendship isn’t fake.”

“You’re leaving,” she reminded him, unsure why that mattered at this moment. Somehow it did.

He didn’t deny it, and oh, how she wanted him to deny it.

“You’ll be so busy with Princess that you won’t even notice.”

It felt as though her heart was cracking, a small fissure but one that would let in the damp and cold until she was nothing other than a freezing speck in the night wind. She wouldn’t let Gabe see that sad, pathetic part of her. He owed her nothing. They’d made no promises beyond the season. And he had become her friend in the past few weeks, one of her best friends.