Maybe he’d felt obligated to ask me about my dating situation because I’d kind of asked him first. I went for some humor to relieve the tension I was feeling. “So what you’re saying is that you’re about to get groomed, too . . . Nope, I hear it out loud and I take it back. Too lame of a joke. I’ll just see you in a little bit.”

That hint of a smile was there, and I wondered what it would take to get that dimple of his to reappear. Not that I was going to try, but I did wonder.

He opened and then closed the van door, and I let out a sigh of relief. It was like my entire body tensed up around him, and I was glad to be able to calm down and focus on the job I’d come here to do. “We’ll get you clean and shiny and soft, won’t we, Magnus?”

Magnus barked in response, and I concentrated on making him beautiful. Muscle memory made it easy to go through the motions quickly. That Magnus was so cooperative helped, too. Which left me time to think. Like, would Noah come back out here to the van? Or would he expect me to come to the front door? It wasn’t something I’d ever considered before with other clients, but it suddenly seemed important.

Shelby sent me a text.

I took a picture of myself and Magnus’s tail. Noah had always come across like a private person in his interviews, and I got the feeling he wouldn’t want me to be taking pictures of his dog.

I saw the three dots as she typed.

I wasn’t going to get into an argument with her over it, because the last time I did that, she had turned out to be right.

What if she’s right this time, too? a little voice whispered. Okay, universe, I said. If he likes me, he will come back to the van. If I have to go to him, he doesn’t.

It was childish, but now that I’d set up an imaginary test, we’d just see what happened next.

And I’ll admit that now I was taking my time with Magnus, because a part of me was hoping Noah would come back to the van, but he didn’t.

Giving in and acknowledging the sign the universe had just given me about Noah’s lack of interest, I asked Magnus if he’d like a bow. I held up a blue one and he sniffed it, and so I took that as approval.