Read Online Breaking the Rules: The Honeybees, book 1 by Amy Archer - Free Book Online

back and forth in front of Taco a few times as the dog went wild, then abruptly shifted into going through a few commands with him. Taco looked confused at first, but was soon on the same page, sitting and lying down and shaking hands as though he did it every day.  
    “I had no idea he could do all that!” I said in amazement, and Devin cracked a quick smile my direction.  
    “Ready to run?”  
    I nodded gratefully, and Devin called to Taco, who had bounded away to investigate a squirrel, to follow them. We headed out on one of the trails leading away from the running store, and I breathed in the early morning air. This was my favorite time of day. I couldn’t understand how some people could sleep through it and get up only at the last moment before heading to work. Then again, I supposed I was lucky that I’d always been a morning person.  
    We wound our way around the park, and I hoped he wouldn’t try to talk to me while we ran.  
    He did, though, of course. “So what do you do with yourself when you’re not running or stealing people’s dogs?” he asked.  
    I bristled. “I’m a kindergarten teacher,” I said carefully. At least this sharp teasing was better than outright anger.
    “Oh yeah?” he said. “So you’re pretty into fingerpaints and alphabet blocks?”
    “It’s fun,” I said. “There’s not as much pressure as with the older kids to focus on one subject at a time, to work toward tests, to stay on task all the time. With the little ones the schools still understand that play is part of learning.”
    “I’ve always thought it was a shame that kids are forced to stop playing in school when they get older,” Devin agreed. He seemed like he played all the time, I realized. He seemed like his whole life was play, to an extent.  
    “And what about you?” I asked. “What do you do?”
    “You mean to make money, or what do I do in life?”
    “Both,” I said with a smile.
    “During the day I do marketing and social media for a startup. The rest of the time I try to get outdoors. I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie.”
    “Oh yeah? Like what?”
    “Well, I like to go rock climbing, surfing, skydiving…”
    “Skydiving, huh?” I said. The mere thought of skydiving terrified me. Way too dangerous. “I think that’s one thing I will absolutely never do.”
    “Never say never,” he said with a grin.
    “How did you get into that?”
    Devin hesitated for a moment, as though trying to decide whether to say something, then continued matter-of-factly, “When my girlfriend dumped me a few months back, I distracted myself by getting my skydiving license. For a while I thought I might even work taking people on tandem jumps.”
    “Oh, I—I’m sorry to hear that,” I said. “About your girlfriend.” So he wasn’t dating a perfect Les Etoiles waitress after all. At least not anymore. Why did it give me satisfaction to hear that he was single when I was so clearly not interested in him?
    “It was for the best,” he said. “I just felt like I needed to bring some spontaneity into my life when she left.”
    The statement struck me. That was exactly the opposite approach I was taking to Matt leaving. I wanted nothing more than to get my life back in order, back to the stability I needed.
    “Did it work?” I asked.  
    “You mean did it help me get over her? Yeah, it did. It…I don’t know how to explain it, but it gave me a new perspective on the whole thing.”
    Interesting , I thought. It occurred to me that in a way, his approach was actually very similar to mine—I had decided to take on a new hobby, running, and he had decided to take on a new hobby, skydiving. Both had had the intention of getting over our exes, but our logic on the way was completely different, with me wanting to find stability and him seeking the opposite.  
    And then my mind was off, thinking about Matt. It was still strange to come home and not have him there. I missed him in the evenings when I