To her peace of heart.
Seeing him in the elevator had flustered her, so that she hadn’t even thought to ask about her necklace. She’d ugly-cried at the loss, so how could she have not remembered to ask? Then again, if he’d found it, he’d have told her, surely?
She pulled into an empty parking space, happy to have found one so quickly as the lot was almost full.
Daisy whimpered from the back seat, where she was inside her carrier.
“I know, girl. Give me a minute and I’ll have you out of there,” she promised, opening the door, then Daisy’s crate. She snapped a leash to Daisy’s collar.“We’re going to work off some steam, aren’t we?” she cooed as she put the car key fob inside the zipped pouch at her waist.
Car locked. Dog on leash. She ticked the items off in her head before turning toward the trail.
Were her eyes playing tricks on her?
Not twenty feet away Justin was stretching.
She’d not told him where she was headed. Had she subconsciously chosen this park because she’d gotten glimpses of him running there in the past? If so, was she crazy? Why would she do that?
He hadn’t seen her yet. She could leave without him knowing she’d been there.
Instead, she took a deep breath and went to face what seemed inevitable.
Because she needed to ask him about her necklace—not because she’d latch onto any excuse to talk to him.
* * *
Justin stretched his hamstrings, then straightened, planning to take off down the trail.
Instead, he almost fell over.
“Riley!” he exclaimed when she jogged over to him. She must have parked on the far side of the lot. Then his gaze dropped. “Who do you have here?”
At his question, the living white mop that was wearing pink bows just above its ears barked.
Looking uncomfortable, Riley squatted down to pet the Maltese terrier with its big dark eyes. “Meet the infamous Daisy. She’s here to protect me.”
Wishing he knew how to make the awkwardness between them go away, he decided to keep it light, so he arched a brow at the dog that couldn’t weigh more than six or seven pounds. “What’s she going to do? Yap someone into submission?”
Still rubbing the dog’s neck, with a slight smile Riley warned him, “Don’t underestimate the annoyance factor of a small dog’s bark. From experience, I assure you there are times you’ll do most anything to quieten it.”
“You run with her?”
“She’s home alone all day while I’m at work. I’m not leaving her there again while I run.”
Justin was impressed by her thoughtfulness. Was even more impressed th
at she’d come over to him and was carrying on a semi-normal conversation.
He eyed the dog, who had stopped barking and was now sniffing his running shoes. “She runs?”
“Sometimes.” Riley laughed. “She’s quite the princess, but I adore her.”
Her confession eased the tension that he’d been carrying from the moment he’d realized she’d bailed on him and that had multiplied ten-fold after their conversation at the hospital. He still needed to unwind, though. And nothing did that the way running did.
“But no worries,” she assured him, her pretty green eyes sparkling. “If we can’t keep up with those long legs of yours we’ll just lag behind.”
She planned to run with him?
Earlier she’d told him not to look a gift horse in the mouth. At that time he hadn’t agreed. Currently he was going to take her advice and go with it.