Home is Where the Bark Is
Page 17
“You can say that again,” Willow and Griffin said at the same time, followed by both of them saying, “That again.”
They both laughed. Willow felt her dad’s eyes on her.
“Sorry,” she said. “Let me answer your question. The gym aspect of it is really like a person’s gym. A dog could take classes for special skills or use the space to exercise and socialize.”
Frank nodded. “Both your mother and Aunt Edna would be proud of this. And, of course, I am too.”
Willow felt so happy that she couldn’t come up with a verbal response. She hugged her dad.
“Well,” Frank said after they broke apart. “I better go and find your sister. She’s been trying to set up this Instagram account for me to use. I still don’t quite understand it.”
Willow pointed the direction that Wednesday had wandered to, and he walked away.
“You look happy,” Griffin said.
“So, do you.”
“Well, being a suspect in a murder case is far behind me. And I just finished a big job, renovating a house and building a dog gym. Now that it’s over, I get a little vacation.”
Willow laughed. “With the way you like to pack your schedule and how in demand your services are? How long is this vacation?”
“A day and a half,” he said, laughing along with her.
Telescope scampered off. Willow wondered whether he was trying to give the humans more privacy or if he saw another dog that he wanted to show off for.
A sudden thought flashed through her head, and a big smile crossed Willow’s face.
“What is it?” Griffin asked.
“I was just thinking,” Willow said. “It’s good to be home.”
The End.
End of “Home is Where the Bark Is”
Paws Fur Play Mysteries Book One
Home is Where the Bark Is
July 5th, 2018
Bark Up and Smell the Coffee
September 6th, 2018
The Bark of the Town
November 1st, 2018
PS: Keep reading for an exclusive extract from Bark Up and Smell the Coffee and Barking Up the Wrong Bakery.
About Stella
Stella lives and breathes cozy mysteries! With her head always buried inside these books, it’s no wonder that she would put pen to paper to bring her own cozy mysteries to life. The words flew onto the page, and she’s already teeming with ideas for the next cozy mystery series.
With her trusted canine by her side, it seemed only natural to be inspired by her beautiful beagle Doogle and the many hours they spent walking through scenic New England villages. When Stella’s not reading books, she’s off on road trips, exploring every nook and cranny in neighboring towns, seeking inspiration for her next book.
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BLURB
Willow Wells is officially an entrepreneur. With the first phase of her dog gym’s renovation complete, and a success, Willow is ready for more. A doggie spa to be exact. The plan is to win an upcoming dog show, not only giving her the funds for the expansion but a national advertising campaign with the winning dog, Lady Valkyrie. Everything is going according to plan—and Willow can see the future in all its gold medal and dog grooming glory—until Terry Gib, Lady Valkyrie’s owner, is accused of murder.
Willow thought that Terry had come to Pineview just for training, but it turns out Terry has ties to the town; a painful past that links her to a local bed and breakfast owner. And now that owner is dead. As Willow races to clear Terry and save their chance at victory with Lady Valkyrie, the rest of her life begins to fall apart too. Wednesday is distracted, her father is anxious, and Griffin, the man she’s coming to depend on, is threatening to leave her—so he can woo her.
Now Willow is forced to make some big decisions: about who she trusts, who she should believe, and who she should date, before she loses it all forever.
Bark Up and Smell the Coffee
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EXCERPT
Lee Hunter wished he was wearing a watch. He wished he could be looking at it when the person who was making him wait arrived. He wished people didn’t need such pointed reminders that his time was valuable, but it seemed like this person did. Looking at his cell phone wouldn’t have quite the same effect and looking at his wrist with no watch there would just look comical.
He held back a sigh of exasperation as he considered whether or not it was going to start to rain.
Lee was having a bad day. It was the type of day where you felt like you got punched in the face, but of course, he’d actually been punched, so it felt much worse.
He scanned his memory and tried to think of another time that he’d been hit in the face. Nothing came to mind. Not that there hadn’t been some close calls. He’d narrowly avoided some fists in the past. You couldn’t rent out buildings and homes without things getting personal.
He checked his cell phone to see how late his client was and saw that their appointed meeting time had not passed yet. Waiting with bruised ribs seemed to make time move more slowly.
He hadn’t anticipated the appointment beforehand though he hadn’t anticipated Edna’s death either. Despite her cancer, he had still been surprised.
He groaned. He probably should have canceled the appointment. After the day’s events, he wasn’t in a good mood. Was the meeting even worth it?
As he looked around at the dilapidated dog runs and falling structures, he wondered how good an opportunity this really was. Lee might have a better chance of making a watch magically appear on his wrist than getting this place up and running again.
He would do his best, of course. He was always willing to help out the community. He had discovered that was the trick to getting what he wanted. If the community loved you, then even your dissenters fell into place.
In fact, one of the dissenters was approaching him right now. Lee smiled, happy that the appointment would start on time. Maybe it was understood how important his time was.
Despite the condition of the land, the dissenter was looking almost gleeful. Putting his game face on, despite the black eye and badly bruised ribs, Lee raised his hand in greeting. Maybe this deal would be worthwhile after all.
“Is that a shovel you got there?” Lee called, trying to sound jovial. “Planning to get to work right away? I hope you don’t expect me to get my hands dirty.”
He guffawed loudly. He was joined in this laugher, but the tone made Lee feel uneasy. What sort of meeting was this?
Bark Up and Smell the Coffee
Pre-order your copy at
www.stellastclaire.com
BLURB
Some people would kill for coffee…
Olivia Rickard would kill to keep everything just the way it is. She’s got a gorgeous boyfriend who loves her, a supportive sister to lean on, and a dog walking business that’s briskly barking away. But just as she’s getting comfortable her sister suddenly wants to buy an entire brownstone with her and her boyfriend looks like he�
��s going to pop the question at every opportunity. Changing the status quo has always been disastrous for Olivia and now everything is changing at once…
What Olivia needs is a distraction and she’s found one in stumbling upon Yvette Dunn dead in her coffee foodtruck—drowned in a vat of fresh coffee. Olivia starts out as an unlucky bystander to the crime, but she’s forced to dig in deeper when it looks like her sister could be involved in Yvette’s death.
Olivia is running out of time in regards to the mystery, the mortgage, and the marriage. She’s going to have to solve all three problems—and quick—or face a future most foul.
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EXCERPT
The sun was barely peeking over the horizon when I walked up to the truck. Jump Start Coffee. It was a cute name. Cute painting on the food truck. Everything was just so perfect for the woman inside.
Lexingburg is straight out of Mayberry. I grew up here, and sometimes even I can’t believe how idyllic the streets are. Everyone knows everyone. It’s the type of town where we make time out of our morning schedule to speak to people as we walk or drive to work. There was a time when I wanted nothing more than to run away from it all, but eventually the town grows on you. We all lend a helping hand to those in need. It’s like living in a television show. We even have town square fairs with cotton candy machines and kissing booths.
She starred in a few of those kissing booths. It curled my stomach to think of her sitting there with her bleached-blonde hair and cherry-red lips.
Those lips that did nothing but spew lies. That woman did nothing but think about her bottom line. She didn’t care who she hurt.
Enough was enough. I couldn’t let her poison anything else. This was my town, and it was time that she played by my rules. She was finally going to listen to me.
I walked behind the truck, ripped open the back door, and climbed in. Yvette glared at me as she pulled the basket of steaming grounds from the large vat. “What are you doing here? I’m not open yet!”
“I’m not here for coffee.”
A taunting smile curved over her poisonous lips. “Don’t tell me that you came here to talk.”
I could feel my jaws clench as I narrowed my eyes. “I just came here to ask you to stop. Enough is enough.”
“Enough is enough,” she mocked. “I haven’t done anything wrong, and I have no reason to back off.”
I wanted to talk to her. I wanted her to see what she was doing to me, what she was doing to this town.
Yvette didn’t grow up here. She didn’t care about the people. She had no friends.
She was alone.
“I’m warning you,” I whispered.
Straightening, she glared at me. “I’m not going to stop, so you might as well just give it up.”
“Give it up?” I hissed. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing?”
She smiled coldly at me. “I know exactly what I’m doing, and you’d better stay away from me!”
I don’t know what happened. One minute I was standing by the door, and the next, I had her hair in my hands and plunged her face into the boiling liquid. It was like something out of a dream. I didn’t hear her screams, though in hindsight, she must have. I don’t remember a struggle. It was so simple, so elegant, just holding her in place, letting her get a really good idea of how foul her coffee was.
When she slumped over, I eased her to the floor. A mess. I’d made a mess. Grabbing the mop in the corner, I cleaned up. Coffee beans were spilled all over the counter. When did that happen? I didn’t even remember being on that side of the truck. I didn’t even remember drowning her.
No fingerprints. No mess.
When I finished, I grabbed a couple of scones from the tray and carefully stepped over the body. It was only then that I saw the sun glinting on the object that had fallen in the struggle. Bending down to pick it up, I inspected it with a slow smile.
No one was anyone near the food truck when I walked away.
It wasn’t until later that I felt the pain. The coffee had splattered and burned me. Funny how overpowering the adrenaline from taking a life could be. I felt unstoppable. Nothing would keep me from protecting what was mine.
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