Bark Up and Smell the Coffee

by Stella St. Claire

  Instead of responding, Willow snapped her fingers at Telescope and pointed. He began heading through the tube again, but this time he went slower. Pattie slowly ventured inside the tube and followed him to the other end.

  Linda looked duly impressed but directed all this attention towards her puppy. She picked up the dog and smoothed her long hair back affectionately.

  While Willow thought the pup did deserve praise, she couldn’t help thinking that she and Telescope deserved some of the credit too. Would Linda consider their help if she really did write a secret shopper review about her gym?

  Willow was allowing her mind to wander about whether there was anything at her gym that could cause a negative write-up when Linda finally directed her attention back towards her.

  “I suppose there are some perks to coming here instead of just training at home.”

  “Glad to hear you say that,” Willow said. She beamed, accepting that this was actually high praise from her. “If you need anything, please let us know.”

  Then, Willow headed over to Telescope’s favorite section of the obstacle course. She had done enough small talk and wanted to focus on the animals. She’d always felt that she understood canines better than people and was happy that most of the time she was able to deal exclusively with them.

  She cheered for Telescope as he ran through a line of upright sticks, weaving left and right between them. He padded over to her when he was finished, and she gave him a full body rub.

  It seemed like the gym was starting to wind down for the day as the designated hours for free play were drawing to a close.

  A slight frown crossed Willow’s face. There was one dog that she’d been hoping to see. She thought the dog was very skilled and training her just might provide Willow with an opportunity to build that doggie spa.

  She ran one more obstacle with Telescope and then realized that the dog she had been hoping to see, along with her owner, had entered the gym.

  Lady Valkyrie was a beautiful Irish setter with lush red hair and the perfect gait. Her owner, Terry Gib, had dyed her hair to match her dog’s and had piled it on her head.

  Terry smiled as she joined Willow. “I know I’ve told you this before, but I think your dog runs this course fantastically.”

  “He’s pretty amazing,” Willow replied. “He even saved my life once. Literally, that is. Metaphorically, he probably does it every day.”

  Terry placed a hand on Lady Valkyrie’s head. “I understand that.”

  “I saw you here earlier, and I was afraid I missed you,” Willow said, working up the courage to ask the question that she’d been thinking about all day.

  “I needed to grab something from my car,” Terry said with a laugh. “There are so many dog treats around here that it made me hungry, and I needed a granola bar.”

  Willow chuckled along and then said, “Have you thought any more about the Field Club Championship?”

  Willow remembered every word that she had said about the championship because she had been practicing it before she spoke to Terry. She told her how Lady Valkyrie had all the makings of a true champion show dog and how, with proper training, she could win the Field Club competition. The dog show offered big prize money and an advertising campaign for a major dog food brand. Willow had done well at this competition in the past and was sure that she could succeed with Lady Valkyrie.

  “You know that I don’t want to rush into anything,” Terry said, biting her lip.

  Willow nodded. That was why she hadn’t pressed the matter before. Terry had been in town a few days, and it was clear that she liked working with Willow. However, would this translate into letting her take over Lady Valkyrie’s training?

  If Willow’s charge won the Field Club Championship, the percentage of the prize money she would receive would solve her current worries about expanding her business to include the spa. It could also lead to a big boom in customers.

  “I completely understand,” Willow said. “But tomorrow is the deadline to enter the competition.”

  “Tell you what,” Terry said, “why don’t I sleep on it? And I’ll give you an answer in the morning? And we can continue from there?”

  “Why don’t the two of you come by here? We’ll have an early morning training session, and you can tell me what you decided.”

  “That sounds lovely,” Terry said.

  Then, Terry led Lady Valkyrie away to enjoy running a few more obstacles in the gym.

  “I guess we’ll find out tomorrow,” Willow said, looking down at her dog.

  She was nervous and excited but tried to will herself to remain calm. Even if Terry said no, her life was still relatively good. And as long as Willow didn’t come across any other dead bodies, she would be happy.

  2

  Willow had never been much of a morning person, but she had been trying to improve her mood on the occasions that she needed to rise early. She reminded herself that getting to train a winning show dog was well worth it and ended up humming as she made breakfast.

  Telescope always seemed ready for adventure, at her side, no matter the time of day. After she rewarded him for his loyalty with a few pieces of bacon, they headed to the obstacle course. Telescope was trying to show off, but Willow was distracted.

  “I’m sorry, boy,” she said. “But there could be a lot riding on this.”

  He grudgingly stopped running around and sat next to her. Willow told him he was her best friend as they waited for Terry to arrive.

  Finally, Terry’s car pulled up to the house, and Willow reminded herself to play it cool. If the answer was no, she wouldn’t curl up into a ball. If the answer was yes, she wouldn’t jump up and down like a child. She needed to appear professional.

  Terry emerged from the car, beaming, and Willow hoped this was a good sign. Terry opened the door for her dog, and Lady Valkyrie stepped out, shaking her head and letting her hair blow around her like a supermodel.

  Willow touched her own dark hair for a moment, wondering how much better the dog’s looked than hers. Then, she dismissed the thought. She was more interested in other matters.

  Willow greeted Terry and her dog, and Terry did the same. She bit her lip and refrained from yelling, “What did you decide?”

  “Thank you for being so patient with us,” Terry said.

  “No worries. Lady Valkyrie is worth it. And I don’t feel like you’ve been stringing me along. I obviously hope that you’ll choose to compete, but you told me all along how you didn’t plan on rushing into this.”

  “You know that Lady Valkyrie had stepped on a nail a while back and even though she seems to have recovered fully from it, I didn’t want to push her.”

  Willow nodded.

  “I wanted to make sure that she was ready and, really, I’m not on any time schedule to begin competitions,” Terry said.

  “Of course,” Willow said. She began thinking up the proper things to say to cover her disappointment.

  “However,” Terry continued. “I realized that she is ready now, and since I have such a willing trainer to help her go all the way – well, why not go for it?”

  “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

  “We’re going to enter the competition,” Terry said. “And I think we’re going to win it too.”

  Even though she had promised herself that she wouldn’t, Willow jumped for joy. She collected herself and shook Terry’s hand.

  “I think we’re going to do marvelously,” Willow said in her most professional tone. “Why don’t we do a few of the obstacles with Lady Valkyrie and then fill out the forms? We can finish the training session after her entrance is official.”

  Terry agreed, and Willow led Lady Valkyrie to the beginning of the course. The Field Club Championship would test her agility and poise as well as her ability to listen to commands.

  Willow led her over some hurdles and was pleased by how the dog seemed to fly over them. She made quick work of the pyramids and raced around the cones. Her fi
nal trick was to race through the tube. She emerged looking victorious.

  Willow was ecstatic. Training this dog wouldn’t feel like jumping through hoops because Lady Valkyrie was so naturally skilled. Willow would just need to introduce the dog to new challenges that she had never faced before, prepare her for the competitive environment that was jammed with people and animals, and make sure that the dog didn’t lose focus during a race.

  Terry clapped her hands. The look on her face told Willow that she really did believe that they could win. Telescope was looking less enthusiastic.

  “Sorry, boy, but this is my job,” Willow whispered to him. “And I promise you can show off later when Wednesday comes over.”

  “Let’s fill out the paperwork!” Terry said. “I can’t wait to make Lady Valkyrie’s entrance official.”

  Willow led the way from the gym towards her house where her office was. Telescope and Lady Valkyrie were running around happily, keeping pace with them.

  “It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?” Terry asked, taking in a deep breath of fresh air as they walked across the yard.

  “It is,” Willow said, pausing as they reached her porch. “And you seem very happy today.”

  “Part of it is because of my excitement for Lady Valkyrie’s competition,” Terry said. “But I admit there’s another reason too.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Well, it’s a very long story overall. But the quick version is that I finally had a breakthrough with an old friend. We’ve been estranged. But we cleared the air, and I think things are going to be much better now. We’re not quite there yet, but we’re on the road to being right.”

  “I’m glad to hear that,” Willow said with a smile.

  “It makes me feel like there is potential in the air.”

  “I know that feeling,” Willow said, though hers was about training champions and building a spa.

  “I’ve even decided I’m going to start dating again too,” Terry said. “I know that seems like a lot of decisions to make in one night but airing my piece really did make me feel like I could move forward in all aspects of my life.”

  Willow took a step closer to the woman. Terry seemed to want to talk, and it would be rude not to engage. “I’ve been thinking about jumping back into the dating scene too.”

  “I had a pretty bad breakup last year, and I’d been focusing on my dogs in order to ignore it. But I’m ready to move on now.”

  Willow nodded. “I went through a bad divorce. I don’t know if there ever really is a good divorce, but mine was bad. He kept my last business too, but I seem to be overcoming that, and I’m hoping to meet someone nice.”

  “And,” Terry said conspiratorially, “someone really cute.”

  “What are you two whispering about?” a male voice asked.

  Terry looked surprised, but Willow just grinned. She was used to her contractor, Griffin, appearing from around the corner now. She did look down at Telescope and tease him though. “I thought you were supposed to be a watchdog.”

  Telescope ignored her and ran over to greet Griffin who promptly started petting him in the right spots.

  “I think you’ve met Griffin Maynard before,” Willow said to Terry. “He’s my contractor who brought the crumbling dog run I inherited back to life.”

  “Of course,” Terry said.

  Griffin rose back to his feet and shook her hand. Willow noticed the slight embarrassment in his vivid blue eyes that she always saw when he was caught playing with a dog instead of what he thought he should be doing.

  “I just came to pick up some of my tools,” he said.

  “Are you still working on the dog gym?” Terry asked. “It looks perfect to me.”

  “The dog gym is done except for some touch ups in the storage area,” Willow explained. “But the house isn’t completely done yet.”

  Griffin nodded. “Just a few odd jobs left to finish up. She’s letting me work on a small project for my next-door neighbor today, but I’ll be back tomorrow.”

  “Your tools are right inside,” Willow said, walking to the door. “I set them here while I was making breakfast so that they were easy to find.”

  “I’m surprised you could make breakfast and gather tools,” he teased. “You’re not normally functional in the morning.”

  “I function,” she replied. “Maybe not a full speed, but I function.”

  “Should I be worried that there are scrambled eggs mixed in my toolbox?”

  Willow laughed and gave him a playful push towards the tools. “See for yourself.”

  He examined the contents. “No eggs. No bacon. No cereal. All the tools I asked for. It looks like you did all right. I think you even learned what a lug wrench is.”

  “I always knew what a lug wrench was,” she said. “I just liked calling you a big lug.”

  “Well, give me a call when you’ve finished your training for the day,” he said, as he closed up the toolbox and grabbed the power saw next to it. “We’ll discuss the plan of attack for the final steps.”

  “Sure,” Willow said. “But I might have a new project for you too. I’ll keep you posted.”

  He smiled broadly. In fact, Willow thought he seemed a little too happy by this news. He said goodbye to Terry and the dogs, and Willow could have sworn she heard him whistling as he walked away.

  She returned to Terry who had an eyebrow raised suggestively. “And, perhaps, is this the reason you’re willing to date again?”

  “Griffin is just my contractor,” Willow said, hoping it sounded true.

  “You two seem pretty close.”.

  Willow felt her cheeks blush but shook her head definitively. “I like to keep my business and personal life separate. And Griffin is business.”

  “Your loss,” Terry said with a sly smile..

  Willow laughed. She was glad that she was becoming so friendly with Lady Valkyrie’s owner. That would be important as the competition neared.

  Telescope barked, and Willow thanked him.

  “He must be announcing our next guest’s arrival because I teased him about Griffin,” she explained.

  “He can really understand it when you say things like that?” Terry asked.

  “He seems to,” Willow said, and Telescope wagged his tail. “And that was his friendly announcement bark. It’s probably my sister. She was supposed to come over later today, but she tends to arrive either fashionably late or fashionably early.”

  “I didn’t know that was a thing.”

  “I didn’t either,” Willow agreed. “Until Wednesday appeared three hours early for our brunch date so I could help her decide what to wear. And of course, she chose the opposite of what I said.”

  “Willow!”

  She turned and saw her little sister racing to hug her. Willow often felt tiny compared to her nearly six-foot tall, gorgeous blond sister, but when she was wrapped up in a bear hug, she felt even smaller.

  When she finally released her, Wednesday said, “Wills, I have the best news! Guess.”

  “You won the lottery?”

  “No. Why is that always your guess?” Wednesday said with an overly dramatic sigh. “I have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than winning the lottery.”

  “But that wouldn’t be good news,” Willow pointed out.

  “Okay, fine. You’re never going to guess.”

  Willow smiled. This was one of the techniques she used to get her sister to the point faster. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t.

  “I’ll just tell you,” Wednesday continued. Excitement was practically radiating off of her and Willow was eager to learn what was causing it. “I’ve been selected for a ‘Week in My Life’ feature for Clickable ConTENt.”

  “What’s that?” Terry asked.

  Willow was glad that Terry asked because she wasn’t completely certain herself.

  “It’s a major online and social media company. They have articles on basically everything. Everyone reads it. They ha
ve stories that you can’t help but click on.”

  “That’s wonderful that they picked you then,” Willow said.

  Telescope yipped excitedly.

  “The person they were going to use had to back out,” Wednesday explained. “Normally, they schedule people months out, so they needed to find somebody to fill in. They chose me because I’m fun and flirty and gained a ton of followers after my successful makeup campaign.”

  “What does a feature like that entail?” Terry asked.

  “Just what it sounds like,” Wednesday said. “I’ll take pictures and videos and post about what it’s like to be me in a typical week. Of course, I will try and splash it up a little bit. Make sure everything is exciting and clickable.”

  “We have some clickable news too,” Willow said, trying not to feel ridiculous when she said it.

  “What?”

  “I’m going to train Lady Valkyrie to compete in the Field Club Championship show.”

  “And we’re both going to start dating again,” Terry added.

  “Interesting,” Wednesday said with a knowing smile.

  Willow tried to steer the conversation back to something she was comfortable with, and said, “You’re welcome to visit her and post some pictures of the dogs. The internet loves animals.”

  “True. And I appreciate it. I’m going to be running around, trying to figure out the best things to do this week, because it starts so soon. Monday! I want to be captivating and…” She trailed off as a look of horror came across her face.

  “What is it?” Willow asked, hurrying towards her.

  “This is the worst week of my life to follow a ‘Week in My Life.’”

  “Why?”

  “It’s review week at the station. I’m going to be tied to my police secretary desk doing boring paperwork. Who’s going to want to follow that?”

  “I’m sure you’ll still look cute doing it,” Willow said.

  “I won’t be able to brush it off either because, you know, it’s the police station. Paperwork is important. And I need to write up a bio for Dad, so I want that to sound good.”

  Wednesday sat on the porch steps and frowned. The good mood was dissipating, but Willow was determined not to see it die.