“Absolutely,” I said, and I wondered what Shelby would think if she could see me right now. She’d probably roll her eyes and bark to call bullshit. My phone rang, and I fished it out of my pocket, thankful for the interruption. “Sorry,” I said with a small smile and then turned away from the small group and looked at the screen. I answered when I saw it was Vanessa.

“Hey,” I said, and I cleared my throat. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I’m too old for this shit,” she said. “But I’ll survive. How about you?”

“I almost fell asleep on my living room couch,” I said with a laugh. “But I’m okay.”

“You at home?”

“Um…” I looked out at the dogs playing around me, and I chose my words carefully. “No, I was out driving. I’m going to head to the diner soon.” I said this quietly, taking a look back at the trio on the bench, but they were engrossed in conversation.

“Well, I might’ve done something that I shouldn’t have,” she said.

“What’s that?”

“Last night when I got home, I did some Google stalking and found out why Ryan Hooks is in town.”

I laughed. “Way ahead of you,” I said. “He’s performing at the Chicago Theatre and out at Greenway Field.”

“Guess who’s going to see him?”

“What?” I hissed and then turned to take a quick peek back at Emma and her friends. “What do you mean?”

“I got three tickets, for you, me, and Jen. For tomorrow’s show in Prairie Hills. It involved putting my credit card into a site that I really don’t feel good about, but it happened. I told Jen this morning, and she all but handed me the ‘best mom’ award. So feeling pretty good about myself right now.”

“You’re nuts,” I said, but I couldn’t deny the feeling of excitement that coursed through my body. “But thanks, Ness.”

“No problem,” she said. She dropped her voice. “Maybe you can talk to him about the you know what you found in the back of your car.”

We disconnected, and I walked back over to the group on the bench. Andrew looked up as I approached. He was standing next to an elderly man in animal-print glasses who was holding a black pit bull with an incredibly shiny coat of hair in his arms.

“Who are you?” the man asked.

I blinked and looked at Andrew, who smiled awkwardly and laughed.

“Uh, this is Chris, Reg, and she lives in the neighborhood. Chris, this is Reg Bolton. He lives next door.”

“Never seen you before,” the man said. “And I know everyone around here.”

“My husband and I moved in pretty recently,” I stuttered, and I wondered if I sounded like I was lying.

He was eyeing me carefully, and he shifted his dog in his arms. “What do you do?”