Free The Boy Next Door: A Standalone Small Town Romance (Soulmates Series Book 3) by Hazel Kelly Page B

back to?”
    She rolled her eyes up to the ceiling. “How about that day we
stole the Disaronno from your parent’s liquor cabinet?”
    I scrunched my face. “Can’t we go back to a day when we got our
hands on something that was actually drinkable?”
    She laughed.
    “That was the first time my dad didn’t punish me for stealing
booze. He said we did him a favor.”
    “Really?”
    I nodded.
    “Fine,” she said. “What day would you pick?”
     

 
    Chapter 15: Laney
     
     
     
     
    I watched him chew as he mulled it over.
    “Well?”
    He swallowed. “There are so many good days to choose from.”
    “I didn’t come over here to ask easy questions.”
    “And here I thought you just came bearing innocent scones, no
tricky questions attached.”
    “Tough,” I said. “What’ll it be?”
    He squinted, his deep blue eyes inhaling my attention. “Maybe
the day I gave you Waddles?”
    I smiled. “Why that day?”
    “I think that was one of the funniest days of my life. Watching
you try to imprint on that duckling was beyond hilarious. You turned into a
total schoolmarm.”
    My mouth fell open.
    “I laughed so hard my eyes watered, and I could feel the stitch
I got in my side for two days afterwards.”
    “I loved that duck.”
    He smiled, little creases springing around his eyes. “She loved
you, too.”
    “That was the best present ever.”
    “Who knew the present of complete adoration could come so
cheap?”
    “And complete protection,” I said. “Remember when she charged after
Dede Vedder’s German Shepherd when it snatched my ice cream sandwich?”
    “You did drop it two feet away from him.”
    I craned my neck forward. “I was going to pick it up.”
    “Yeah, well, the five second rule is no good with a German Shepherd
around.”
    “Well, I haven’t made that ice cream dropping mistake since,” I
said, raising a finger. “Just in case you think I’m not capable of learning
from my mistakes.”
    “I don’t think that.”
    “Good.”
    “Sometimes I just think it takes a whole helluva lot longer than
it should,” he said. “But you were in the slow math class so-”
    “And honors everything else, jackass.”
    He rolled his eyes. “I remember.”
    “And if math grades were based on how pretty your work was when
you had to show it, I would’ve been head of the class.”
    “So true,” he said. “I still have no idea why rainbow colored
bubble letters don’t make up for incorrect algebra.”
    I punched him in the arm, and a lump formed in my throat when I
realized how solid it was. It was nothing like punching his eighteen year old
arm, anyway, and I felt my whole body go up in goosebumps at how foreign he
suddenly seemed. “I’ll have you know I’ve never needed any of that stuff.”
    “And I’ve never needed French.”
    I raised my eyebrows. “Not even to talk to French Poodles?”
    He laughed.
    The low sound vibrated in my bones.
    “I wish I could talk to my patients,” he said. “That would make
my job a thousand times easier.”
    “Helly told me you’re pretty good at it anyway.”
    “Helly’s biased.”
    “Sure, but sometimes she’s right,” I said. “She told me you invented
a revolutionary wine stopper.”
    He groaned. “It’s not a wine stopper. It’s an artificial foot to
help three legged animals walk again.”
    I tilted my head. “I thought animals were fine on three legs?”
    “They are. But depending on when and how they come to have three
legs, sometimes it’s less traumatic for them to get a replacement.”
    “That makes sense.”
    “I’m still waiting on the patent to come through, though. Could
be a game changer.”
    “Especially if that game is animal double dutch.”
    “Good one,” he said.
    “So you like it as much as you always thought you would?”
    “I do. But I’ve always known what I wanted,” he said, looking
away from me.
    I swallowed. “This place looks great, by the way. It’s totally
transformed.”
    “Only this