Diesel raised his brows and glared at me from his dog bed, not budging.

“Come on, lazy ass!” I shouted as I grabbed his leash from the hook by the fridge. The metallic clinging of the chain excited Diesel as he jumped off his bed and bounced over to me. I bent down, secured the leash to his collar and out the door we went.

It was early June and the air was still crisp and comfortable, perfect jogging weather. I walked a few blocks from my condo to Lake Calhoun, popped my ear buds in, and Diesel and I took off. The lake was crowded today … people jogging, out on the lake in paddleboats, picnicking. I ran past two teenagers sitting on a bench swapping more spit than a couple of porn stars. I just shook my head. To my right, a couple lay on a plaid blanket reading books and chomping on grapes. She looked around quickly and held her book up in front of them, pulling him in close.

Come on, Brody, focus.

Up ahead I noticed an older couple holding each other cheek-to-cheek near the lake shoreline, looking out at the water. As I got closer I tried to see what they were looking at and I realized they weren’t looking at anything, the water was clear.

They were slow dancing … with no music.

I came to a stop and shook my head in frustration. I felt … off, disconnected. I needed to get my shit together and get this run in, I blasted Korn on my iPod and started again, trying to shut the rest of the world out and focus on my pace. A girl ran toward me, giving me a mega-watt smile as she passed. She was a cute brunette with green eyes, but they were nothing compared to Kacie’s. They didn’t have the same sparkle, the same life in them; they did nothing for me.

“Screw this, Diesel. I’m not feeling it today.”

A scalding hot shower made me feel remotely better after that disappointing run. Despite Andy working right near my condo, I didn’t get to see him often and was looking forward to shooting the shit with him over a beer, or five.

When I got to the bar, he was already sitting at our normal table in the corner. As I got to the table, he flashed me a big smile and stood to shake my hand.

“What’s up, brother?” I pulled him in for a bear hug.

“Wow, you showered for me? Trying to get lucky?” He laughed, pushing one of the beers he’d already ordered toward me.

I lifted the beer to my lips and took several big gulps. “Something like that,” I answered, looking around for Jan, our usual waitress. “I’m starving, let’s order.”

“Yeah, I can’t stay out late tonight, I have to eat and run. Blaire is making dinner.” He grimaced.

Blaire was superficial, materialistic, a mega-bitch, and unfortunately … my best friend’s wife. She and Andy met in college and married shortly after I signed my first big contract with the Wild. A little too convenient, if you asked me.

They lived about thirty minutes outside of the city in the biggest house in their town. She drove the most expensive luxury car they could find and had a whole slew of people employed at their house. One time at a charity dinner, someone asked her what she did for a living and she said she didn’t work outside of the home, but she was a “house manager.” I choked on my drink and she shot eye daggers at me. She hasn’t liked me since, not that she was a big fan of mine before that.

“Making dinner? I thought you wanted a burger,” I said, finishing off my first beer.

“Uh, yes. She’s trying to be more domestic, so she’s cooking duck tonight. Needless to say I don’t want to go to bed starving, so I’m going to eat a big dinner now and then make her dinner magically disappear. At least pretending I like her cooking will get me laid tonight.”

I tried to shake the thought out of my head of anyone being forced to suffer through fucking that woman. I didn’t know how he’d survived this long without that Black Widow killing him already.

“So this weekend, what happened?” Andy asked, after we ordered burgers, onion rings and another round of beer.

“The weather happened. It was one crappy misfortune after another. Next thing I knew, my truck was axle deep in mud in the driveway of this inn up north. Thankfully, they were inviting and let me stay for a couple days.”

“An inn? Sounds like a total snoozefest. Was it all old retired people, or what?”

“No, actually. There were quite a few people there.” I grinned.

Andy leaned forward and stared right into my eyes, raising a curious eyebrow. “Uh-oh, what’s her name?”

“What are you talking about?” I shot back at him, looking around the bar to avoid eye contact.

He shook his head, his face beaming with pride like he’d just figured out some big secret. “No way, Brody. I know you better than anyone on this planet, don’t bullshit me. I’ve seen that look before. What’s. Her. Name.”

I looked around to make sure no one was within earshot. I had no chance of getting this girl to talk to me again if her name was in some tabloid tomorrow morning. “Kacie. Kacie Jensen. Now can we drop it, please?”

Andy sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. “Please tell me you were careful. Am I going to have a paternity suit to deal with right after Christmas? It would really ruin my winter.”

“No, asshole. I didn’t sleep with her, I didn’t even kiss her. That’s not what it was about. It was-” I stopped talking when Jan walked up with our food. After she set all the plates down and groped my arm, I dug right into eating, avoiding Andy’s curious eye.

“So, are we done talking about this?” Andy proceeded carefully.

“There’s nothing to talk about, Andy. I met this girl and she’s the most intriguing woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. I only spent two days with her, but it wasn’t nearly enough time.” I ran my hands through my hair in frustration. “And so far, she hasn’t called me. I don’t know if she ever will. I may never see her again, but I want to.” I pushed my plate away and looked up at Andy who furrowed his brow, deep in thought.

“Oh, and … she has two kids. Be right back, gotta piss.”

Andy groaned and dropped his head in his hands as I pushed away from the table. That poor man, I didn’t pay him nearly enough.

It had been three days since Brody left and given the information I had learned about him, I was trying to ignore the embers burning in my belly and get my life back to normal. Mom had been grilling me non-stop about the situation and I needed a break from the house, so I was taking the girls and spending the day with them at the zoo.

In the car, we told knock-knock jokes and belted out Taylor Swift songs at the top of our lungs. Once we got there, we grabbed a map and started checking off as many animals as we could before taking a break on a bench with some Dippin’ Dots.

“Are you guys having fun?” I asked.

They both nodded excitedly with ice cream dripping down their chins.

HA! Who says I can’t be spontaneous and fun.

I felt vindicated, like I was winning an imaginary contest against my subconscious.

“What should we do next?”

“Dolphin show!” Lucy shouted out.

“Yeah, then the train ride!” Piper blurted right after her.

I looked at the time on my phone. “Well, if we’re gonna do all that, we better get moving.” We tossed our ice cream cups in the garbage and headed for the dolphin show.