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necessarily mean anything. She wouldn’t let it mean anything. What was the harm in one date to see if they had anything in common? Nothing, that’s what.
    Except, deep down, she knew the harm. If for some reason one of them liked the other more, it could become awkward. The connection they had through their friends could make things uncomfortable. Maybe. Or maybe she was over thinking things. It’s not like she was around Sean all that much. She was getting way ahead of herself in her thoughts—something she always did.
    Taking a deep breath, she realized she had successfully blocked out Droopy’s crying and felt her own eyes close, her body relax, and her brain shift off into wonderland.
    Until the howling sounded. She sat upright in bed, her heart pounding, not believing something that loud just came out of the little wrinkled figure in the crate next to her bed. Only it did.
    Leaning over the edge, she turned the light back on, looked in the crate and saw what she thought might be tears in Droopy’s eyes. She had to be imagining that. Dogs didn’t shed tears, did they?
    Dropping her arm down, she slid her fingers between the bars and ran them over his head, speaking in a soothing voice like she did to the abused children she mentored. “It’s okay. Just close your eyes and go to sleep. Think happy thoughts. Let your body relax and drift to sleep.”
    What the heck was wrong with her? This was a dog she was talking to, not a child. He had no idea what she was saying. “Ouch.” She yanked her fingers back. Those puppy teeth of his had started to gnaw on her. It wasn’t the first time it had happened, but this one hurt the most.
    Normally Droopy would start to lick her fingers, as he’d been doing when she was talking to him, then he’d suck on them almost like it was a pacifier. As grossed out as it made her feel, if it calmed him down, she didn’t care…until he took nibble out of her finger for no reason.
    “I tried to be nice. Now you need to just close your eyes and sleep, buddy. Morning will be here soon and you can go see your Uncle Phil.”
    After what Phil had told her, she should have known it wasn’t going to be that easy. She’d thought Droopy would have been fine in the office with Phil. Let’s be honest, Phil and Alec were twins and the dog really didn’t seem smart enough to be able to know the difference between them. But Phil had told her that Droopy spent a lot of the day pacing from room to room looking for either Alec or Brynn. Phil even tried to go sit at Alec’s desk and work to see if that helped. Carly guessed Phil might have thought the same thing she did, that the dog wouldn’t know the difference between them, but unfortunately that didn’t work. Droopy was obviously missing his parents.
    Two more long howls and Carly couldn’t take it anymore. Her heart was just breaking. Always a sucker, she sat on the side of the bed, unlatched the crate and picked Droopy up, hoping to rock him to sleep.
    Almost immediately the howling stopped, and that was when she noticed the dog had the hiccups. Seriously, he’d worked himself up so much he was hiccupping. Talk about piling on the guilt and pulling on her heartstrings.
    So she held him tight, cradling him again—because he seemed to like that the best—and rocked him to sleep. Once she was positive he was out for the count, she bent down to return him to the crate, but he woke up and let out a whimper. Immediately, she sat up straight and started to rock him again, this time with her back up against her headboard.
    When the sun came up through her windows and woke her, she was stunned to find herself sleeping on her back, still up against the headboard with Droopy curled against her side. Yikes, that might have been a mistake, letting the dog sleep on her bed.
    Nothing she could do about it now. Throwing the covers back, she put her feet on the floor, looked over and saw the dog stretching on his side, then rolling over on his back,