Charlie figured that he’d intended the term “silly things” for her as an attempt to seem nonchalant about their conversation, but she knew better. Griffin Foster had been happy to see her. She’d seen it on his face. She might describe the situation between her and Griffin in a number of ways, but silly wasn’t one of them.
But she also felt warmer watching Griffin with the little boy. He was fully focused on Andre now and seemed genuine when he said that the dog was more important than their conversation.
He was probably right.
Andre’s eyes flickered to her.
“Hi, Andre.”
“Hi, Charlie.”
Griffin looked at her with an eyebrow up.
She shrugged. Yes, she knew his patient’s family.
Charlie glanced at the boy’s father. “Hey, Michael.”
“Hey, Charlie.” The big man gave her a grin. “How are ya?”
He was as good-looking now as he’d been in high school. He had medium brown skin and dark brown eyes, a quick smile, and a deep laugh. She’d definitely had great taste in crushes back then.
“Good.” She glanced at Griffin. Speaking of crushes, she had been really good a minute ago. Now she was feeling definite regret about not picking back up where she and Griffin had left off. “How’s Naomi?” she asked Michael.
Charlie had hung out with his younger sister during her teenage summers here. She’d also flirted with Michael a lot. And had danced with him. At least three or four times.
“Naomi’s good. Does she know you’re back?”
“Well, my grandma probably told yours,” Charlie said with a smile. “But I need to give Naomi a call. Can’t wait to catch up.”
“She’ll love that.”
Naomi had been an actress as a kid and spent most of her time in California, but she’d retired by the time she was fourteen and was just another Autre girl when Charlie had gotten to know her. Not that Charlie hadn’t been a little star-struck at first. Or very star-struck. She’d watched every episode of Naomi’s show. But the actress was very down-to-earth and had put her stardom behind her when she’d moved back to Louisiana.
Charlie had quickly gotten to know her just as Naomi, the girl with the amazing sense of humor and a family that reminded Charlie a lot of the Landrys. In good ways.
The LeClaires were loving and fun. And even better than getting to dance with a very hot and very sweet older boy, was being introduced to food like griot, the national dish of Haiti, by their mother. Monique was an amazing cook, and Charlie had never tasted better sos pwa nwa anywhere else better than when she’d tried it in Monique’s kitchen.
“How has Brownie been feeling?” Charlie heard Griffin ask Andre.
She turned to watch the man and the boy.
“He seems okay,” Andre told him seriously. “But he doesn’t want to run around as much as he used to.”
“Well, let’s get inside and fix that,” Griffin said.
There was something about his reassuring tone of voice and the way he met the little boy’s eyes as if acknowledging that, while Andre was only eight years old, he was clearly the primary caregiver to this puppy and had the most reason to be concerned.
“Okay. I really want him to feel good and be able to play with me again,” Andre said.
Charlie felt a prickling behind her eyes. Andre was clearly worried about his puppy, and Griffin was treating him with respect and giving the situation the attention it deserved.
“It’s going to be okay. I’ll do everything I can, and I promise that Brownie will be back to playing with you really soon.”
In that moment, Charlie realized that if Griffin Foster told her something was going to be okay and that he was going to do everything he could to make it right, she would believe that one hundred percent.
Griffin stretched to his feet and addressed Michael. “Do you want to come in with me, or should I take him in?”
Charlie straightened, her eyes widening. Griffin had just told Andre everything was going to be okay. But why couldn’t the boy go inside with his dog? Was something bad going to happen?
She stepped forward. “Dr. Foster, what are we going to be doing with Brownie today?”
He looked at her, clearly surprised at her interruption. She also knew, however, that he had noted the word we. Well, she was his assistant, wasn’t she?
“We’re going to be doing a minor procedure on Brownie’s leg,” Griffin said, glancing at Andre. “But it’s not a big deal. Brownie is going to be fine. He’s going to stay overnight with us tonight just to be sure though.”
Okay, a minor procedure. That seemed good. And Griffin wouldn’t lie to Andre. They weren’t going to do a puppy switch or something. She didn’t think.
“He has a bump on his leg,” Andre told her. “I’m the one who found it, and Dr. Foster said that it was really good I said something so that we can take care of it before it was a problem.”
Charlie made her eyes go round, and she crouched down in front of Andre the way Griffin had. “Wow, you are a really good puppy owner. Brownie is really lucky to have you.”
Andre nodded. “I know. Dr. Foster told me that too.”
Charlie could see in Andre’s face that he was proud of himself, but he couldn’t stop glancing at the puppy in his dad’s arms. Clearly, he was worried.
“I’ll tell you what, if your dad will give me his phone number, I can text you little notes about how Brownie is doing today, and I can send you a picture of him later.”
Andre’s eyes widened. “You could do that?”
Charlie nodded. “The only thing that I need you to do in return is to draw and color me a picture of Brownie when you’re at home today. That way, after he goes home with you again, I’ll be able to remember him. Because I think that I’m going to really want to be friends with Brownie.”
Andre nodded. “I can do that. I draw pictures of him all the time!”
Charlie smiled. “I bet you’re a really good artist too.”
“I am.”
Charlie looked up at Michael. “If you give me your number, I promise not to drunk dial you or anything.”
Michael grinned, clearly remembering the time she had drunk dialed him when she’d been eighteen, and she and Kennedy had wanted Michael and his brother Anthony to go fishing with them. At midnight.
“What’s drunk dial?” Andre asked.
Charlie grimaced and looked at Griffin, who just cocked an eyebrow. She got to her feet but said to Andre, “It’s when you accidentally call somebody really late at night and wake them up.”
Andre giggled. “You should not do that to my dad. He’s grumpy when he gets waked up.”
“All right,” Michael said, putting a hand on Andre’s head. He smiled at Charlie. “I’ll be happy to give you my number for texts.”
“Great.”
“Okay, let’s get Brownie inside.” Griffin held his arms out, and Michael shifted the puppy to Griffin.
Griffin ran a big hand over the dog’s head as he cradled the dog against his stomach. He handled it with confidence and gentleness, and Charlie couldn’t help but think of how he’d been reluctantly sweet with the goats and the rest of the menagerie that had been clustered around him on Tori’s wedding night.