Ava’s POV
Jasper still didn’t take it.
Maria didn’t retreat the way most pups would. She just reached out, found his hand, and pressed the candy into his palm like she was depositing something he didn’t yet know was valuable.
His fingers twitched. His scent spiked—embarrassment, confusion, none of it anything he had words for. He wasn’t angry. He was overwhelmed, and a boy like Jasper only knew one thing to do with that.
He flung the candy across the room. It skittered under the chair.
“I don’t eat cheap garbage,” he muttered.
Maria went still for half a breath. Then she crouched, retrieved it, and set it carefully on the sofa beside him, as if it still mattered. “I’ll just leave it here,” she said softly.
She came back to my bedside and lowered her head. “I’m sorry, Ms. Ava. I was
