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morning they’ll wake up and see you for the crusty old man you are and fall in love with some varsity football star two lockers down.”
    “She’s right, you know.”
    That verification came from Hazel, who never looked up from her crossword.
    Matt turned to Hazel with disbelief. “So you noticed it, too?”
    “Of course I noticed it.”
    “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “Figured you knew. Everyone else does.”
    Kay hadn’t counted on Hazel adding insult to injury, and Matt’s expression of complete distress delighted her.
    “But don’t worry,” Hazel added. “Like Kay said, in a couple of weeks they’ll forget all about you. You’ll be invisible.” Then, for the first time, the old woman peeked over the top of her crossword. “To everyone except Kay, that is. She’s logged more time staring at you than Ashley and Mandy put together.”
     

 
    Chapter 5
     
    A red hot flush started somewhere around Kay’s breastbone and filtered up to her face, and suddenly she wished the ground beneath her feet would open up and swallow her. Hazel’s words held so much truth that no matter how much she begged her brain to formulate a comeback, it flatly refused to comply.
    Hazel lowered her head and put her pencil to her crossword again as though completely oblivious to the fact that she’d just lit a powder keg. Kay stood speechless, bracing herself to take whatever Matt was getting ready to throw at her, because after what she’d just put him through it was inconceivable that he’d let this one go.
    But instead of pouncing on the opportunity, the smirk she expected to see was nowhere in sight. They stared at each other a long time, their gazes glued together. Matt’s mouth hung open, as if words were forming in his mind he couldn’t quite verbalize, and Kay knew she had to be wearing the same dumb expression. Seconds ticked away as something unspoken passed between them she couldn’t identify and certainly hadn’t counted on.
    Finally Matt cleared his throat and said something to Hazel about having to get some paper for the printer. He came around the counter and brushed past Kay, then went into the back room and closed the door behind him.
    Kay glanced back at Hazel, who never looked up from her crossword. Good God, had she been that obvious? She made a mental note that when Hazel was around, she shouldn’t even sneeze in Matt’s direction.
    Kay slunk out of the reception area and returned to the Cat Room. She picked up the pooper-scooper and dug into her job with a vengeance, repeating to herself all the reasons why any kind of relationship with Matt Forester would be a match made in hell. Number one, he was a veterinarian. Number two, like Robert, he was intent on making her life miserable.
    And number three, he was a veterinarian.
     
    Later, on his on his way out of the shelter, Matt stopped at the counter where Hazel sat. “I think you embarrassed Kay earlier,” he said offhandedly.
    “Like she didn’t embarrass you?” Hazel gave a little snort of disgust. “I just thought it was about time she got a taste of her own medicine, that’s all.”
    “So,” he said, with as much nonchalance as he could muster. “She’s been staring at me, too?”
    “Don’t act so oblivious. You’ve been doing plenty of looking of your own. Though why you would, I’ll never know.”
    Because she’s gorgeous, that’s why!
    But that was the man in him talking. Logically he knew Hazel was right. Kay was so not the woman for him. But still he wondered why she hadn’t denied Hazel’s accusation. So far she hadn’t hesitated to let it be known if she thought she’d been wronged. Instead she’d looked up at him wordlessly, those blue eyes wide, a pink flush rising on her cheeks. If only she’d denied it he might have been able to tease her about it, and then eventually they’d have tossed a few snide remarks at each other and let it go at that.
    But she hadn’t denied it. Instead she’d just stood there,