On the way back to Phillipsburg, I stopped to get some moving boxes and then took the puppy into the pet store to find her a bed, get some training pads, and buy some extra food. I tried to see if there were any toys or treats she was interested in, but she was so tired and slept practically the entire time. I took a wild guess on a couple items and hoped she'd like them.

As I was pulling into the driveway, Kacey texted me to let me know that she'd already landed a new job in Jersey City. Turns out, Angie had been looking for someone with an eye for interior design, and with Kacey's experience, often having helped Lindsey stage houses, Angie had decided she'd be perfect for the job.

I smiled at the text. One less thing to worry about before the move!

My smile faded when I noticed I had five texts from Jesse reminding me that he hadn't heard from me and he missed me. He wanted to know if he could bring takeout and we could watch a movie together.

I looked over at the sleeping puppy in my passenger seat. Maybe I could use a hand with her for the first night...

I decided to give Jesse a call.

"Finally!" he teased, answering on the second ring. "I thought I wasn't going to hear from you."

"I'm sorry. I got busy with the adoption and picking up some supplies at the pet store," I told him. "I just got home, though. If you'd still like to come over, I'd love to see you. There's some things I want to talk to you about anyway."

There was a brief silence on the line and then Jesse asked if everything was alright.

"Yeah. Everything's great." I tried to assure him. "I just want to fill you in on what's been going on the last couple days."

"Okay," he said like he didn't believe everything really was fine. "How does seven-thirty sound? I can bring Chinese – or whatever sounds good to you."

"That sounds great."

After we hung up, I found myself staring at his name on my phone screen. Yeah, everything was fine, but something just felt off about us. I didn't understand it. We'd been great the last time we'd been together, but in just two short days, it felt like everything had somehow changed in our relationship. I didn't feel the butterflies as intensely at the sound of Jesse's voice and I didn't understand why. I tried to shrug it off, thinking surely that weird feeling would go away once I was in Jesse's arms again.

While I awaited his arrival, I busied myself with setting up an area in the house for the puppy. I laid down her bed and tried to explain to her that the training pad was her in-house bathroom. I gave her some water and a couple treats, which she happily dove into. Then I introduced her to her temporary backyard while I retrieved the boxes from my backseat, all the while trying to come up with a name for her.

When I returned to the backdoor to let her back inside, the lightbulb went off in my head. She came barreling towards me across the yard and the sinking sun on her back brought out all the shades of color in her fur. She had more reddish tones than blonde.

"How 'bout Ruby?" I asked her, kneeling to pick her up. "Do you want to be named Ruby?"

She licked my nose and I took that as a yes.

I spent the rest of the time waiting on Jesse packing up most of the toiletries in my bathroom, a lot of dishware in the kitchen, and my entire CD and DVD collection except for one movie I left out to watch with Jesse. Every time I left a room, Ruby followed, carrying a tennis ball in her mouth.

At seven-thirty on the dot, the doorbell rang. Ruby followed me to the door, and before I could let Jesse in, she leaped onto his pants, hugging his leg like a little kid.

"So this is the new little fart?" Jesse chuckled, bending down to pick her up. "What a cutie. What are you going to name her?"

"I decided to call her Ruby since she's got a lot of red tones," I told him as he stepped passed me, carrying her into the entryway.

Jesse looked around and noticed the small pile of boxes I'd packed and stacked up in the hallway. He flashed me a funny look.

"What's going on, Kate?"

I shut the door and lead him into the kitchen where he awkwardly set down the bag of takeout he'd been trying to keep away from Ruby. I think she wanted it more than we did.

"I wanted to wait to tell you until we'd finalized something," I explained, continuing to load a box with items from my pantry. "And today we did. A couple of friends and I are moving to Belleville to be closer to work. We're going to rent a house together."

Jesse seemed surprised, but he definitely wasn't upset. A smile stretched across his face and he set Ruby down, moving to help me with the box I was loading.

"You'll be a lot closer to where I live," he noted with a sparkle in his eyes. "When's the move?"

I shook my head, setting some canned goods in the box. "I'm not sure yet. We have to meet with the landlord on Friday and decide on a move-in date."

"I'd be happy to help."

A pang of nervousness shot through my stomach at his words. The offer was incredibly sweet, and I wanted so badly to accept it, but Alex had already offered and I didn't want them running into each other.

"I'll let you know when I find out," I said, skirting around the subject as best I could. "How's work?"

Jesse groaned inwardly. "It's been hellish so far this week. I've got that catering job tomorrow and everyone's all a twitter about it. That guy still isn't confident in my abilities to pull it off without a hitch. I'm going to try like hell to prove him wrong, but it's just been really stressful, Kate. I'm starting to finally understand why my sister always tells me I need a vacation."

I abandoned my packing and pulled Jesse into a hug, linking my arms securely around his waist. I rested my head against his chest and listened to the soft rhythm of his heartbeat.

"You do need a vacation," I stated the obvious. "But I know you're going to do a great job with this thing, and you're going to impress everyone, and I'm going to be very proud of you."

I couldn't see his face, but I knew Jesse was smiling. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my head. We stayed like that for several minutes, not saying a word, just enjoying each other's company – until Ruby decided she wanted in on the cuddle action.

We pulled apart, laughing, and we both sank down to the floor to love on her. I leaned back against the island and he lounged against the sink cabinets. Ruby was climbing all over our legs and pawing at us.

"So how 'bout dinner, huh?" Jesse gestured to the takeout that was still sitting on the counter.

"So how 'bout Notting Hill, huh?" I grinned.

He groaned at my movie suggestion and lifted Ruby into his lap.

"Can you believe that?" he asked her in a babyish voice. "She wants me to watch a chick flick. She wants me to watch Hugh Grant bat his eyelashes and get the girl. We don't want to watch that, do we, Ruby? No we don't."

I broke into a fit of giggles watching him talk to Ruby.

"But we will," he continued and she licked his chin. "We'll watch it because Kate wants to watch it, and we want Kate to be happy. Right, Ruby?"

Ruby's tail was wagging like crazy. Now I understood why so many women swooned over a man with a baby. A man with a puppy had the same effect, if not a stronger one.

Jesse carried Ruby into the living room and we all made ourselves comfortable on the couch. Luckily, Ruby fell asleep pretty soon after we finished eating our chow mien, and Jesse carefully moved her to another couch cushion, successfully not waking her. I snuggled into his arms and slung my legs over his lap while we watched the movie. It was Selena's favorite. I'd never actually watched it the whole way through.

"You have to admit; Hugh Grant is pretty fucking adorable in this." I pointed at the actor on the screen.

Jesse rolled his eyes. "Women."

"Hey, I'd like to think I have good taste in men!" I giggled, playfully smacking his arm.

"Yeah?" He cocked a suggestive brow and pulled me in for a slow, deep kiss that would take any woman's breath away.

But I didn't pull back as breathless as usual...

Something was different between us. Something had changed, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I continued to smile and pretend like nothing was the matter, but inside, I was starting to get really confused about my feelings.

Had the passionate night I'd shared with Alex changed how I felt about Jesse?

I tried to brush off my worries and confusion and just enjoy the rest of the movie, but memories of Alex's touch and taste and the way he'd moaned my name kept flooding into my mind. It was nearly impossible to focus on the relationship drama between Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts when I was too busy overthinking my own relationship drama.

I'd never intended for things to go this far with either of them. Initially, Jesse was a great friend with benefits and Alex was a sweet coworker whom I didn't mind making out with. I'd never thought the love triangle would become so complicated. I knew as time when on that I'd have to choose between them eventually, but maybe I hadn't taken the idea as seriously as I should have. Maybe I hadn't realized how fucked up my feelings could get. Maybe I should've been more concerned about their feelings...

When the movie ended, Ruby was still fast asleep and Jesse was barely keeping his eyes open. I hoped he would spend the night with me, and I tried to take the DVD out of the player and turn off the TV without disturbing him, but I heard him groan and stretch behind me when I was setting down the remote.

"You look exhausted," I whispered to him, hoping our talking wouldn't wake Ruby. "Why don't you stay over?"

Jesse smiled sleepily and stood up, coming over to pull me in for a kiss. Again, I didn't feel as lightheaded as his kisses usually rendered me.

"I'd really love to, Kate, but unfortunately, I've got to be at the catering venue at the ass crack of dawn. I'm going to be there all fucking day to make sure nothing goes wrong," he said with regret in his voice. "This is such a big deal for us. I don't want a single hair out of place on my waiters' heads."

I snaked my arms behind his neck and toyed with the back of his hair.

"That's alright. I understand. I'm sure everything will be just fine."

There was a hint of sadness in Jesse's eyes and I could tell he felt really bad about leaving me.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow, though, okay?" he asked on his way to the door.

I nodded and he gave me another kiss before heading out. I stood in the doorway, watching him drive off until his car disappeared around the corner.

The rest of my night was spent packing just to try to keep my mind off of Jesse and Alex. Once I finally called it a night at three in the morning, I'd packed up all the little trinkets and decorations on my shelves, my whole book collection, most of my home office supplies, and a large amount of the clothes in my closet. I was running out of space for the leaning tower of boxes I'd piled up in the hall. Moving day couldn't come soon enough.