Today was a relatively calm day, which is why it surprised me when I saw him make an unexpected U-turn. Then I heard it, the soft caress of the sea and land was abruptly shrouded by a loud bang, bah, bah, bah, bang.

I shot up from the bench, he was still relatively far out to sea, but close enough that I could see him come out of the bridge and calmly wave his hands over his head flagging down someone I couldn't see. Another boat started up somewhere in the distance, and I saw Evan put his arms down and go back into the bridge. I sighed and slowly sat back down, glancing at my watch, I realized I had a good ten minutes before I needed to start heading towards Jim's Pet Salon. Shivering I wrapped my arms around myself and decided to go to work early today.

The walk was uneventful for a Friday; once I arrived I changed into my beige work uniform. Jim swears by beige, because supposedly it hides pet's hair the best. The salon was one of the few in the area, resting in between the high school and the ocean. It was around 6:30 a.m. and I could already tell today was going to be a slow day.

So, I occupied my time cleaning the bath tubs, and organizing the pet toys, anything mundane enough to keep Evan out of my mind. Wearily I shifted my eyes to the clock and stifled a moan, only 8 o'clock. The bell at the front dinged, alerting me to someone's presence, so I put on a smile to greet them in the front. I recognized the elderly man with a Chihuahua cradled in his arms almost instantly.

His eyes lighted up when he saw me, "Lily, you get prettier every time I see you. How's your day dear?"

Waving my hand in a dismissive manner, my smile quickly became genuine, "Mr. Carlson so nice to see you, I'm fine." With a sigh I explained, "It's just been a long day."

Mr. Carlson clucked, "Well, my dear, it's still early." The bell gave another ding as someone else entered.

Instead of neglecting my conversation I bellowed, "Be with you shortly!" then mock groaning I continued our conversation, "Don't remind me, so, the usual for little Pedro here?" As I spoke I reached out and stroked Pedro on the head, he leaned into my caress, the equivalent of a purr for dogs.

He smiled, "You have such a way with him, it still amazes me... One of these days you'll have to tell me your secrets." He leaned over the counter and gingerly placed Pedro in my arms. Pedro quickly took it upon himself to curl up as close as possible to me with his tiny quivering body.

I returned his warm smile, "If I told you my secrets Mr. Carlson, then we'd be out of business with the loss of our finest customer."

"Well, I'll leave you to your work my dear, see you in an hour." He waved goodbye and I heard the door ding with his departure.

Still smiling, and holding Pedro, I walked around the counter to see if the other customer was having problems. Poking my head around two of the three isles I finally found him crouched with his back towards me, browsing through our dog treat selection.

Approaching I asked, "Hello, do you need any help?"

He shifted his weight from the balls of his feet to his heels, stood, and spun to face me in one easy motion. "Oh, no thank you. I'm just… Oh, hello."

I felt my cheeks blush with the sudden realization of who it was. I hugged Pedro closer to me, "Hello…" I paused as if his name wasn't already burning holes in my tongue, "Evan?"