by Tonya Kappes
Been there, done that, she thought, making the turn into the Pet Mall parking lot.
If she could find another class, she would. It would be better for everyone, including her.
Besides, Hayes wouldn’t know the difference.
The animal smell was overpowering when she walked through the entrance, something she hadn’t noticed at Claws and Paws.
Determined to ignore the stench, Liz made her way to the middle of the store. Every step she took consisted of a different wet nose smelling her ankles, trying to figure out who she was and where she’d been. If she’d remembered correctly, there was a class arena in the middle of the store. Blue fencing with folding chairs in a circle and a sign hanging from the ceiling that read “Classes”, was a dead give-away.
There was a schedule hanging outside of the gate. She scanned the list until she found the only obedience class that was being offered.
“Can I help you?” A gentleman in a blue Pet Mall employee shirt stood next to her.
She pointed to the list. “I’m interested in the obedience class. It looks like it has already started.”
The Pet Mall employee pulled his glasses out of his shirt pocket. He stepped closer to the list. “Ah, obedience class. What about it?” he asked.
What part of “I’m interested” did he not understand? Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him.
She talked slower, pointing her finger at the list. “I’d like some more information on this class please.”
He thumbed through the papers on the table below the list. “Here.” He handed her the same pamphlet that Cole had left at her house.
She didn’t get the electric shock from him that she got from Cole. It looked like the same class Cole offered with the same activities.
“Has your dog had any obedience classes?” he asked.
He hadn’t. He had listened to Cole, but not to her. Cole wasn’t his owner. He wasn’t here.
“No.” It’s her dog and her life.
No, he didn’t behave or listen.
“Then this class is for you. The trainer was really good with dogs. He has a ton of experience and the class starts tonight.” He handed Liz an enrollment packet. “Fill this out and bring it in, along with the fee. You’ll be all set. Just bring your dog.”
This will work, even though she has to drive thirty minutes each way. This way, she’d be able to get out of Cole’s class, which was uncomfortable for both of them. Tonight she’d call Claws and Paws; a little later this time to be sure he didn’t answer the phone, and cancel the class scheduled for Tuesday. Hell…cancel the classes forever.
Liz kept herself busy all day with new clients who wanted a different look for the New Year.
“I think a nice blue leather sofa would be nice.” Wendy Owens rubbed her fingers on the leather samples.
Liz loved how Wendy braided her long blonde hair in pig-tails. Wendy was the most stylish girl in Grandberry Falls. She’d even graduated from The University of Kentucky with a fashion merchandising degree.
Liz had to admit that Wendy did have an eye for fashion, with her tweed cape, skinny jeans, and heeled booties. She was the buyer for Figure 8 Boutique, the local shop where Liz got her New Year’s Eve dress.
Mayor Mitch thumbed through the other fabric books.
The table in the middle of The Mole Hole was littered with all sorts of fabrics for Grandberry Falls’ mayor to pick from.
And listening to Wendy talk on and on about “the look” the mayor’s office should have was getting a little annoying.
The leather was definitely more profit for Liz, but she could see the look on Mitch’s face.
“Why don’t I give you two a minute?” Liz stood up. “I need to grab something from the back office.”
When Liz decided on opening The Mole Hole, she wanted something different for a storefront.
When she bought the tiny cottage, she designed each room with a unique theme. It was a great idea that she would allow potential clients to see all the different designs she could come up with. It gave her clients a starting point. Once she got to know their tastes, she was able to incorporate more elements into their project, giving her a better chance of having satisfied customers.
She especially loved designing the front window to match the season. And she incorporated a little bit of Grandberry Falls coziness in each design.
She could hear Wendy begging Mitch to pick the leather, which was odd to her. Since when did the mayor’s best friend help decide what he needed.
It was no secret that Hazel Greenlee had already matched Mitch with her granddaughter, Maggie Greenlee. Jenna still claimed that Maggie was head over heels in love with that guy she lives with in New York City. But if you ask Hazel, she’d tell you that Maggie didn’t know what she wanted, and Mitch was her true love.
Hmmm. Liz had to question Hazel because the little ear nibbles Wendy was giving the mayor, were definitely more than friendly.
Liz cleared her throat and looked at her watch. She was expecting another client any moment and didn’t want the mayor to be seen in a compromising position.
“I’m going to go with the blue fabric love seat.” Mitch was confident in his choice.
Wendy rolled her beautiful blue eyes. Her dimples deepened with her smile.
“I’d like you to put together a couple masculine designs using dark woods and blue.” Mitch didn’t seem to care what Wendy had suggested. “I have to think about the budget. It’s just me in the office, not a big city mayor.”
That’s what Liz loved about Grandberry Falls’ new mayor. He might be young, but he was wise beyond his years.
No wonder Hazel wanted her granddaughter to snag him.
Too bad he’s in his twenties . . ., Liz shook the thought out of her head and replaced it with thoughts of Cole.
“I’ll bring some samples by later this week.” Liz made it a priority to be sure her clients were satisfied early so she could take off the last two weeks of the year, especially her upcoming vacation week with Hayes.
“Perfect.” Mitch shrugged Wendy’s hand off the crook of his arm.
Wendy smiled, playing it off. “See you later this week.”
“Do I need to make an appointment with Susie?” Liz wanted to make sure she went through the right channels.
Susie Benton wasn’t going to let anyone into the mayor’s office door without an appointment.
In Cincinnati, she had to jump through hoops to get to the mayor.
“Nah, no need to be formal. Just come on by.” Mitch waved ‘bye, letting Wendy go out the door before him.
Nonchalantly, Liz peeked out the window at them. They were in a heated discussion. Liz made a mental note to ask Jenna about it. There was something fishy going on between those two that hadn’t made it into Grandberry Falls gossip.
Hayes wanted to be the first student to arrive at Tramp’s class. Rushing home to do homework and have dinner wasn’t her ideal evening, but it was well worth it to avoid seeing Cole.
They piled into the car for their first official class.
This is a good thing. Liz tried to convince herself.
The purpose of the obedience class was to teach her and Hayes how to work with Tramp, not to let Cole enter him into dog competitions or work his way into her heart.
Tramp took off when they got out of the car.
She pulled on the leash.
Tramp won.
Tramp dug his claws into the Pet Mall tile, sniffing the other dogs. Liz joyfully watched Hayes gallop ahead of them through the massive store.
Hayes jumped up and down, pointing to a sign reading: “This way to obedience class.” He ran in the direction the arrow was pointing.
Liz gripped the leash, holding on for dear life.
“OHHHHH!” Tramp’s leash got wrapped around Liz’s ankles and she fell to her knees.
“It seems that when you see me, you fall all over yourself. Let me help you up.” A hand crossed into her line of vision.
/> Before thinking, she grabbed the hand, but jerked away as the surge of electricity shot through her fingers and up her arm.
His hand, massive and strong, pulled her up. She tried not to look at…Cole.
Her flushed face would be enough to show him how embarrassed she was.
Why is he here? Was he checking out his competition? She wondered how she was going to explain being here.
For the past year he was nowhere. Now he was everywhere.
“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Liz brushed her pants off and hoped to brush the embarrassment away. “Thank you.”
Those warm inviting brown eyes made her weak in the knees. She stumbled.
“Let’s get you a chair and check out your knee.” Cole put his arm around her waist to walk her over to a metal chair.
His arm fit perfectly in the nook of her waist. Many times over the past couple days she had imagined his arms around her. Not in this situation, but it felt good.
For a moment, she could tell he was thinking the same thing. He looked at her as if he was photographing her with his eyes.
She looked away.
The class was completely full. Cole was like a magnet. All the dogs were sniffing him, as well as the women. A pang of jealousy hit Liz’s heart with each smile he gave away to each woman he came in contact with.
“How does your knee feel?” He bent down and gently touched the skin around it.
She tried to throttle the dizzy current that raced through her body. And it took all the self control she had not to take his hand.
The man with the blue Pet Mall outfit she had met earlier handed Cole a bag of ice.
“Hold it here for a few minutes to help with any swelling.” He gave her body a racking gaze.
She sucked in her lip so he wouldn’t see that she really was in pain.
“You must be Hayes.” Cole was face to face with her son.
How did this happen? She winced, looking back and forth between them.
“Hey, how do you know my name?” Hayes was taken off guard.
“I’ve seen your dog in action. Did you teach him all of those tricks?” Cole asked.
It bothered Liz how Hayes lit up when Cole talked about Tramp and all the cool agility tricks he performed at Claws and Paws. This was exactly what Liz didn’t want to happen.
It was painful enough that Cole didn’t have the same feelings as she did, but the fact that he and Hayes seemed to have a good chemistry was a real stab in the back.
“Excuse me, Liz.” Cole stood up. “Nice to meet you, Hayes.”
Cole patted Tramp’s head and walked away. Liz’s heart ached with the distance that each step put between them. Her feelings for him were intensifying and she couldn’t stop them. She could easily see Cole step into her life and fit in…perfectly. She rubbed her knee. She wasn’t sure what hurt worse, her knee or her heart.
“Good evening, everyone. I am Cole Michaels.” He was standing in the middle of the circle, smiling, showing off those pearly white teeth. “I’m your instructor for this basic dog obedience class. Let’s get started.”
“What are you doing?” Hayes poked his mom.
“What?” she whispered.
“That smile.” He stuck his finger in her face. “You have a goofy smile on your face.”
Quickly she wiped the grin off her face. She’d had no clue she was smiling. She hated the fact that this was her reaction around Cole.
Hayes bent over and whispered, “You think he’s hot, don’t you?”
“What? What do you know about hot, mister?” She’d never heard Hayes talk this way, and vowed to pay close attention to her emotions.
If a nine year old boy could read her emotions, she was sure a forty year old man could.
Hayes smiled and turned his attention to Cole.
The class was a lot more fun when you know the instructor. Cole used Tramp for all the basic examples. Hayes grinned from ear to ear with pride.
Several children who attended the class with their parents wanted to pet Tramp. Their eyes marveled. Tramp was a star.
“I want a dog like that.” One little boy snarled at his poodle.
Hayes pulled Tramp closer to him. “You can have a dog like Tramp if you work hard. Your dog can do it.”
Liz smiled. He was becoming so mature for his age.
The lower extremities in Liz’s body tingled with anticipation as she thought about talking to Cole. She touched his shoulder. He turned. She didn’t like his stone-cold look.
“Cole? I want to thank you for being so kind to Hayes.”
“It isn’t for you. He seems like a very nice boy.” The tension could be cut with a knife. “I’m assuming you are not coming tomorrow?”
Her heart sank as she took in Cole’s demeanor. He was pulling away from her. He was cold and aloof, not the caring gentleman he was less than twenty-four hours ago.
“I…” She stumbled over her words. She took a deep breath. “I figured you would rather we find something else. I don’t like conflict.”
This was not the place Liz wanted to be right now. If she could, she would grab Hayes and Tramp and run. She wanted to grab Cole and kiss him.
“I’m sorry I ruined your class.” She couldn’t look at him. Finding him attractive was distracting her from protecting herself.
Cole’s smile was condescending. “You didn’t ruin my class. Hayes and Tramp are a complete joy. Hayes was exactly how I pictured him. I hope to see you next Monday.”
Cole didn’t wait for her to answer. He walked away from her.
She watched in disbelief as he approached a young woman in the class with a Chihuahua dressed in a pink shirt. There was no way she was more than twenty-one. Plus Liz didn’t like the bedroom eyes the girl was giving Cole. Liz knew bedroom eyes when she saw them.
“Mom.” Hayes tugged at her arm. “Come on, Mom.”
“What?” Liz asked, but kept one eye on Cole.
The woman laughed and rubbed her hand down Cole’s arm. Liz turned to look at Hayes when Cole looked over at her.
Hayes tugged on her shirt.
“What, honey?” she asked.
“Can we go? I want to try the new tricks on Tramp as soon as we get home.”
“Okay, buddy.” She ruffled his hair.
There was no sense in hanging around, just to torture her heart.
SEVEN
“For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.”
~Judy Garland
Liz had a hard time settling Hayes down for bed. He talked about Tramp and how well Tramp had done. Plus all the talk about how “cool” Cole was and how he knew so much about dogs. It was hard for her to drown him out during all the Cole talk. Her longing to be back in his agility class at the Claws and Paws was unbearable. Or was it her longing to be back in his presence that was unbearable?
Alone with Cole in Claws and Paws, watching him handle Tramp, seeing his smile and boyish ways as he worked with Tramp was burned into her memory like a tattoo..
His smell.
His dark eyes.
The way his arm fit around her waist as if it belonged there.
“Yes, honey.” Liz repeated blankly when Hayes would ask her questions. “Yes, honey.”
Finally he closed his eyes and he fell asleep.
Liz was wide awake. She couldn’t quiet her mind long enough to rest. Images of Cole and the twenty-year-old woman’s smile haunted her.
Mindlessly, she walked around the house tiding up. She loaded more wood into the hearth, and turned off the lights on the Christmas tree before she let Tramp out one final time before bed.
“Come on.” She petted his head and grabbed her favorite quilt her grandmother had made for her off the sofa. “Let’s go outside.”
Tramp danced around her with anticipation. She wrapped the quilt around her to ward off the winter night chill.
Not only did it warm her on the outside, it also wa
rmed her on the inside, as she thought of how much she loved and missed her grandmother, and all the memories that she had of her.
The night sky was clear. Oh, how she wished her mind was that clear. Taking deep breaths, the night air flowed with ease through her nose and filled her lungs. She closed her eyes and slowly exhaled.
“You up for company?” Cole walked in the gate without a smile on his face.
“You startled me.” Liz held his gaze for a few seconds. She pulled the blanket up around her neck. “What are you doing here?”
Tramp jumped all over him. With a few simple commands, Cole had Tramp under control and sitting patiently. The moonlight cast a shadow on him, making it hard to see his salt and pepper crew-cut. He walked up and stood next to her.
The urge to grab him hadn’t gone away. His stare made her nervous, but she didn’t turn away from him.
The night’s darkness blanketed them like her quilt. She could barely make out his eyes. The energy between them was like a magnet.
They stood in silence.
She could smell his sweet scent.
“We need to talk.” He broke the silence. His hands were plunged deep in his front jean pockets and he rocked back and forth on his heels. “Is Hayes sleeping?”
“Yes.” The word gently rolled off her lips. “What can I do for you, Cole?”
“That is a loaded question, Liz.” He turned around leaving her with a view to be desired, only to come back. Closer. “The way I see it, we have a problem.”
She enjoyed the way his eyes licked her up and down, taking in the curves of her neck and over her shoulders.
“What problem is that?” she asked, cold and calculated.
There was no way she was going to agree with such a statement. Even though she knew he was right. She wanted to hear it from him. She needed to hear that she made him as crazy as he made her.
“You’re sexy as hell. I want you. Jenna is a problem.” He walked to the gate.
That’s it? Jenna was standing between the happiness that she’s feeling? There was no way they were going to keep using Jenna as an excuse.