But dang, he wanted to try.
Just as Ava pulled to a stop at her parents’ house, the door to the shelter opened and a panicked-looking young man with a ponytail came running out, flagging Ava down. Caleb recognized him as one of the shelter volunteers, Devon Crocket.
He parked, got out, and ambled over to where Devon waited for Ava to emerge from her car. Caleb watched her in the afternoon's glow, admiring the way her hair curled around her shoulders. She had such beautiful hair, and his fingers itched to run through the silky stands.
Now that he was closer, Caleb could see that Devon held a tiny Chihuahua in the crook of his arm.
“Your parents aren’t home from church yet, and I’m panicking!” Devon exclaimed. “Juliet threw up several times. I think she might have swallowed a bug,” he said. “There are bug guts in her cage.”
Ava took the Chihuahua from him. “Do you know what kind of bug it was?”
The young man shook his head. “I didn’t see it when it was alive. I only noticed what she left of it when I went to feed her. Ick! There're body parts strewn all over her cage.” Devon shuddered. “I guess I’ll have to clean it up.”
How big was this darn bug? Caleb wondered. Devon was prone to overexaggeration.
“I hope it wasn’t poisonous,” Ava fretted. “Ladybugs can cause ulcers in dogs and—”
Devon shook his head. “It was way too big for a ladybug. Those guts are everywhere.”
The kid made it sound like a crime scene.
“Stink bugs can cause gastrointestinal distress—”
“Eew! Eew!” Devon slapped his palms over his ears.
The young man was a bit of a drama king. Caleb nipped this ridiculous guessing game in the bud.
“I’ll go inspect the bug guts,” Caleb offered. “And clean up the mess.”
Devon pressed his palms together in front of his heart. “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Ava rubbed the Chihuahua’s head. “So, little missy, why did you eat a bug?”
Caleb chuckled. The little dog was wagging her tail and looked as happy as could be, and she leaned up to give Ava puppy kisses.
Ava dodged the dog’s tongue. “No, little lady. You’re not allowed to kiss me with bug lips.”
“Good to know,” Caleb said.
The dog seemed fine now to him. When he went back to the Chihuahua’s pen, he found click beetle viscera. Juliet had had a high old time tearing the insect to bits. The mess was trivial, and Caleb cleaned it up in one swipe with an antibacterial wipe. The other dogs had barked their heads off as soon as he’d come in.
“You guys make a good alarm,” he told them as he headed to the office. “Too bad you weren’t able to scare away the bug.”
Devon and Ava were in the office. Ava had plopped down on the couch while Devon paced the small space.
“Look who is already feeling great!” Ava waved at the Chihuahua scampering around without a care.
Caleb laughed and sat next to Ava. Their knees touched and she didn’t move her leg away.
Juliet jumped into Caleb’s lap and gave a fierce little yap that said, pay attention to me.
“Juliet, it’s nice to meet you. I just cleaned up what you left of the bug. A thank you is in order.”
Juliet plunked down on his thigh and sized him up. She must have decided she liked what she saw because she curled right up and closed her eyes.
“What kind of bug was it?” Ava asked. “Cockroaches carry intestinal parasites. If it was a cockroach, I should take Juliet in to see Chloe.”
“It was a click beetle, and I think little of it ended up inside her. But she went to sleep really quickly. Now I’m wondering if fatigue is a sign of click beetle poisoning.” Caleb was kidding, but Ava seemed to think he was being serious.
“Mom says she does that. Juliet’s got narcolepsy. She can fall asleep standing up at her food dish.”
“No kidding? Dogs get narcolepsy?” Caleb raised an eyebrow. “Who knew? Juliet’s unique.”
At the sound of her name, Juliet woke from her nap and hopped to her feet, her tail wagging so fast Caleb feared she’d fall right over.
“She looks pretty healthy now,” he said.
“I’m sure she’ll be fine now that we know it was a click beetle, but I’ll take her to the house so I can keep a close eye on her. This isn’t the first time a dog ate a bug at our shelter. I’m sure it won’t be the last. It happens.”
“I ate a bug once,” Caleb blurted, surprising himself with his confession.
“What? On purpose? Like eating gourmet insects?”
He laughed at her horrified expression. “Not on purpose. When I was eight and on a camping trip with the Boy Scouts, a bug flew into my mouth.”
Ava brought a hand to her throat and made gagging noises.
“Hey, stuff happens.”
Grinning, Ava leaned away from him. “Ick.”
He nodded slowly. “Yep, I agree now—ick. But it gave me a cool rep with the rest of the Scout pack. They even gave me a nickname.”
“Dare I ask?” She laughed and patted him on the arm.
“You sure you want to know?”
“Why not?”
“It might turn you off of me for good.”
“How bad can it be?”
“Fly Slayer.”
“Eww!”
“C’mon, baby, pucker up. Wanna kiss the Fly Slayer?”
Laughing, she put a palm to his chest to hold him at bay. “I am not interested in kissing the Fly Slayer. Now, Caleb Sutton is a whole other matter.”
“You wouldn’t let Juliet kiss you with her bug lips. Why the change of heart?” he teased.
“Your bug incident was twenty years ago. I trust you’ve brushed your teeth since then.”
“I’ve even got peppermints.” He pulled two pieces of candy from his pocket. “Want one?”
“Sure.” She took the peppermint from him, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth.
He did the same, sucking on the candy.
She chomped hers.
He’d forgotten how impatient she was, always in a hurry to get to the good stuff while Caleb believed half the fun was in the anticipation.
“C’mon,” she said. “I’ll walk you to your truck.” To Devon, she said, “Keep an eye on Juliet for me, please.”
The young man took the Chihuahua and Ava led Caleb outside.
At his truck, he paused and looked down at her.
She pursed her lips.
This peppermint-flavored kiss was even better than the one before. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer.
Her lips sent his entire body to tingling. How he wanted to keep kissing her for endless hours until their lips turned cracked and raw, but they’d agreed to take things slowly, because long-distance relationships were tricky, and he was a man who prided himself on sticking to his guns.
With as much self-control as he could muster, he broke the kiss. “I gonna head on out. Text or call me if you need anything.”
“Thanks for lunch and helping me pass out the posters and for your clear-eyed thinking in the click beetle crisis. It was nice having you here. You’ve got a calming energy.”
“I don’t know about that,” he mused.