Lost, Found, and Forever

by Victoria Schade

  Or run into a crazy guy in dress shoes.

  “How deep is it?” Griffin asked.

  “About six inches. It’s not like he’s going to be swimming; they just want the look of the water kicking up as he runs through it.”

  “Are you nervous?”

  “Not anymore. This isn’t a hard behavior; that trainer just got in my head. I’m happy we had a chance to do some practice. Thanks for helping.”

  They’d spent time after they arrived working on Spencer’s recall on the long line, taking turns calling him back and forth in an open field that was close to where they’d be shooting. It felt good to play together after the heavy conversation, watching Spencer run between them like a gleeful dork.

  “You have nothing to worry about, Justine,” Griffin said in a way that made him sound like the authority on Spencer’s training abilities. “He’s got this.” He paused, then looked over at her, his eyes locking on hers in an unblinking stare. “And you do too. All of it.”

  On the surface it was a simple vote of confidence in her training abilities, but his expression brought her back to their conversation in the car. Griffin was telling her the one thing she needed to hear more than anything.

  You are still strong.

  chapter thirty-one

  I don’t know if he can do it,” Justine said to Malcolm in a panicked voice. She clenched Spencer’s leash. “We didn’t work on that behavior.”

  “It happens all the time. They just don’t get it,” Malcolm replied, not hiding his frustration. “Dogs can’t handle last-minute script changes.”

  “Unbelievable.” She looked down at Spencer, who was focused on the action around him. “He was going to nail it as scripted.”

  The requested behavior change seemed simple to everyone but the two of them. Instead of running through the water after Anderson, they now wanted Spencer to wade into the river first, pause in the middle and look over his shoulder at Anderson trailing behind him, then continue running to the other side. It wouldn’t have been an impossible behavior to quickly map out in the controlled environment of the studio set, but attempting it in a dark and unfamiliar spot after hours of waiting around felt dicey.

  “What should I do?”

  “Are you concerned about his safety?” Malcolm asked. “Do you want me to speak up and call it for you?”

  “No, no, it’s not that. It’s totally safe. I’m just getting flashbacks to his first day on set, when everyone was waiting for us to get it right. The tension gets me all freaked out, and then it trickles down to Spence and everything goes to hell. And he doesn’t even know that run-stop-look-run sequence on land, let alone in the water. I’m not sure how to coach it.”

  “Well, I’m a little concerned about the water temperature if Spencer can’t nail this behavior quickly. It’s fine for a few minutes, but any longer than that and it starts to feel pretty damn cold.”

  Justine went silent, playing out the various training scenarios in her head.

  “No, we have to at least try. Give us ten minutes to practice. Stall them for me if you can, please.”

  Justine walked Spencer to an area just beyond the lights and started the pep talk, hoping she could convince both ends of the leash that the impossible was possible. “We need to try something, okay, Spence? You got this.” She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out the thin fifteen-foot line she and Griffin had used to work on the recall and switched out his shorter leash.

  She paced in circles, tripping over branches and going over their possible game plans out loud while Spencer trotted beside her.

  “Hey, you okay?”

  Griffin stepped out of the shadows.

  “Not really. Last-minute script change that we’re not prepared for. It’s not going to go well.” She gave him a strained smile. “Good times.”

  “Oh, come on, you can do this. There has to be a way to cheat it; you’ve taught Spencer so much. Let’s figure this out.”

  Justine stopped pacing and blinked at Griffin.

  “Whenever we have a problem at work we break it down into tiny, manageable steps and chip away at it one bit at a time. Let’s try that.”

  She threw her head back and squeezed her eyes shut. “Ugh, I’m such an idiot! Yes, that’s exactly how to do it. Dog Training 101. You’re better at this than I am.”

  “Stop. Can I help?”

  “Seriously?”

  He shrugged. “I did okay working on the recalls with you earlier. Doesn’t that give me a little trainer cred?”

  She quickly ran through how the scene would go and realized that having Griffin on the opposite side of the river would definitely make it easier on both her and Spencer. And his being a part of the prep work would speed the process.

  “Yeah, we could use some support. Thank you, Griffin.”

  Within minutes Spencer was cheerfully responding to the “away” cue he was already familiar with, dashing from Griffin and coming to a stop when Justine gave him the hand signal. Getting him to continue running to her was simple, but the “look back” part of the sequence kept tripping them both up.

  “I have an idea. I didn’t train, but back in the day when I used to say, ‘Hey, boy,’ he’d look at me,” Griffin offered. “I forgot all about it.”

  “Show me,” Justine said. “Try it while he’s close to me over here.”

  Griffin nodded, then spoke in a clear voice. “Hey, boy!”

  Spencer stopped and whipped his head to look at Griffin, then galloped over to him.

  “Whoops,” Griffin said as he petted Spencer. “He’s not supposed to run back to me. That won’t work, will it?”

  Justine was silent for a few seconds. “Actually, it might. I think I can cheat it. So, you let go of him when I signal, I’ll get him to do a ‘wait’ when he’s in the right spot in the water, then you say ‘Hey, boy’ and I’ll try to override you by giving him another ‘wait’ cue; then I’ll finish the whole thing with a final recall.” She paused to go over the sequence in her mind again. “Yeah, we can do it!”

  It struck her that not only was it going to be a test of her skills as a trainer; it was also going to be a very public devotion test. Would Griffin’s simple “Hey, boy” cancel out her carefully trained “wait” cue?

  “Justine,” Malcolm said as he strode over to them. “They want you guys now.”

  She tensed. “No, we’re not ready. I want to do a quick practice run in the water.”

  He shook his head. “I did what I could, but things are getting pretty heavy. I told them there’s a chance they won’t get what they need. They weren’t happy, but whatever. Spencer comes first. You holding up okay?”

  “No, not even close.” Justine sighed. “Malcolm, I need a favor. I know Griffin isn’t officially on my staff, but can you look the other way for this behavior? I really need his help.”

  “Once again you want me to bend rules for you and put my ass on the line. But okay. They switched things up and now you have to improvise to make it work. It’s fine. In the future you have to let me know in advance.”

  If things didn’t work out, Justine wasn’t sure that there would be a future.

  “I promise. Thank you, Malcolm.”

  “Thank you,” Griffin added. “She’s doing all the work; I’m just her backup.”

  Malcolm leaned over and gave Spencer a quick shoulder massage. “I believe in you, Ford! Break a leg.” He pointed at Justine. “I’m here for both of you if you feel weird about anything. Don’t take any risks, okay?”

  Ten minutes later, after a quick conversation with Ted, Justine was pacing on the stones by the river’s edge, occasionally shooting looks at Griffin and Spencer on the other side. They had two chances to make it happen. First a practice run with the cameras rolling, then the real thing.

  The primary lighting was directed toward the water a
nd she was in the dark, which only made what they were about to do feel scarier. She caught Griffin’s eye and he waved at her, like they were just hanging out and not about to do something major. She finally cracked a smile. Nothing seemed to faze him.

  She wanted to run and stress-pee in the bushes, but she saw a young woman slate the scene and shouts of “rolling” echoed through the woods. Everything went silent except for the hum of the generators.

  “Action.”

  Justine took a deep breath, then gave Griffin the signal to release Spencer. He looked at her expectantly and she yelled, “Front!” to him, three times louder than she normally would because of the ambient noise. She threw up the hand signal and he took off running toward her through the shallow water. The second he hit the center point where Ted had instructed her to get Spencer to pause, she yelled, “Wait!” and made the hand signal. He stopped with an abrupt splash and waited for her next cue.

  She felt like her whole body was shaking as she pointed her other hand at Griffin, and he yelled, “Hey, boy!” As predicted, Spencer turned to look at him, and then everything seemed to slow to half speed. Justine saw the tiniest shift in Spencer’s shoulders that meant he was reorienting back to Griffin, but before he could commit to running to him she yelled, “Spence, wait!” He froze but seemed torn between staying put and running, so Griffin imitated Justine’s “wait” hand signal. Spencer didn’t move, his body pointing toward Justine and his head twisted to look back at Griffin.

  She waited a beat, then gave Spencer his recall cue and he took off with the water splashing around him, as if he were relieved to have a clear instruction to follow. He barreled out of the river and toward where she was crouching, then danced in place in front of her, acting like he knew he’d earned his liver treat and then some. Justine gave him a handful of treats and held her breath as she watched the figures checking the playback behind the monitors.

  “Perfect! One take, we got it, thank you very much, Spencer! You’re wrapped for today,” Ted’s voice rang out. “Moving on!”

  Justine wanted to cry with relief.

  “You did it! We did it!” She clipped the leash on him and headed back over the makeshift two-by-four bridge to where Griffin was waiting for them. Spencer’s wagging increased as they got closer to him.

  “Nailed it! That was awesome,” he said, pulling Justine into a hug that she didn’t realize she needed. She clutched him and felt her heartbeat slow as some of the tension finally started to drain from her neck and shoulders.

  “Teamwork makes the dream work. I couldn’t have done it without you. Seriously. Griffin to the rescue, as always.”

  “Stop, I was just following the leader. That was all you,” he said as they walked back toward base camp. “Are we done now?”

  “We’re wrapped. Let’s get out of here.”

  Griffin glanced over her shoulder and his whole body seemed to jolt in shock. He leaned close. “There’s Anderson,” he whispered. “He’s right behind you. Don’t move, I’m going to snag a picture.”

  Justine wasn’t about to miss the opportunity, no matter how exhausted she felt. “Hey, Mr. Brooks, do you have a second?”

  He turned abruptly toward them with a scowl that magically transformed into a beam when he saw Griffin’s deer-in-headlights stare.

  “Would it be okay if my friend took a quick picture with you? He’s a major Captain Zaltan fan.”

  “Well, of course, of course, any friend of Ford’s is a friend of mine,” he replied in his booming fake-happy voice, which Justine now recognized was one hundred percent put on. He still pretended that he was the good-guy everyman with fans not directly involved with the shoot. “Come on over. What’s your name?”

  He froze. “I’m Griffin. I love Galaxy Force.”

  Anderson let out a booming laugh. “Well, thank you. Come on over here, let’s get this picture real quick.”

  “Go!” Justine whispered, and gave him a shove when he didn’t move.

  Griffin walked over to Anderson and stood woodenly beside him. Justine loved that he had a good three inches on his hero. Anderson wrapped his beefy arm around Griffin’s shoulders, and Justine snapped a few photos because Griffin kept shutting his eyes and smiling weird.

  “Thanks so much, I really appreciate it,” Griffin said, almost bowing to him.

  “No problem!” Anderson said as he started to walk away. He stopped abruptly. “Hey, Griffin?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Don’t forget to set the course . . . for Galaxy Force!” he said in his Captain Zaltan voice with the character’s signature smirk-grin.

  “Galaxy Force is go!” Griffin replied with the other character’s typical reply, wearing a huge smile.

  The second Anderson was out of sight, Griffin punched the air. “He was so cool! Wasn’t he cool? I can’t believe I thought he was an asshole. Did you hear us quoting lines? Can I see the pictures?”

  “I did, and you can,” she said as she handed him her phone with a bemused grin. “You probably shouldn’t have any more set visits, so you can remember this side of him.”

  “Amazing,” Griffin said, scrolling through the pictures without listening to her as they walked toward his car.

  “Okay, that was a lot.” She yawned. “I’m exhausted and Spencer is too. Let’s get out of here.”

  Griffin finally looked up from the photos. “About that . . .”

  “What?”

  “I think Malcolm is right. We should probably stay over somewhere around here. We’re all tired, it’s late, and it makes sense to get a good night’s sleep and head back tomorrow.”

  She stopped in her tracks. “Really? But I didn’t even bring a toothbrush.”

  “Think about it. It’s three hours back to Brooklyn, then another two hours to get to Rexford. Let’s just find a motel and get a good night’s sleep.”

  The idea of being able to put her head down on a pillow within the next thirty minutes made her toes curl with delight. Sienna had Tricks & Biscuits covered the following day, so Justine had no reason to say no.

  “I’m in.”

  “Good! I checked the map and there are a few nearby, but they look pretty sketchy. You okay with that?”

  “As long as there aren’t visible stains on the sheets, I’ll be fine for a night. Let’s go.”

  Fifteen minutes later they pulled into the surprisingly crowded parking lot of the River Lodge Motel, complete with a classic neon-edged sign out front.

  “This one allows pets, I made sure,” Griffin said as he climbed out of the car.

  Justine and Spencer followed him into the ancient blue-carpeted check-in area, which was barely big enough for the three of them. When she saw the ring-for-service bell on the counter, Justine was tempted to ask Spencer to do it, but then she realized he’d worked hard enough already. Griffin tapped the bell and a stooped white-haired man emerged from a back room.

  “Checking in?” he wheezed.

  “We are, but we don’t have a reservation.”

  “Hrmpf,” the man grumbled. “You part of that billiards-league championship thing going on at the Elks Lodge?”

  Justine hid a smile.

  “We are not,” Griffin answered politely with his dimples deployed. “Do you happen to have a few rooms open?”

  The man grumbled again and consulted a hard-backed reservation book, running his finger down the page slowly. “The dog too?”

  “The dog too.” Griffin nodded.

  “We have one left. That’s it.”

  “Oh, okay, that’s not going to work for us. But thank you,” Justine said, turning to walk to the door.

  “Young lady, everyone is booked,” the man scolded. “You damn pool players are spread out all over Aberdeen. And we’re the only place that takes dogs.” His scowl softened as he leaned over the counter to look at Spencer smiling up
at him. “That’s a good-looking dog you got there.”

  “Thank you,” Justine and Griffin answered in unison.

  “Can you give us a second?” Griffin asked the man.

  He turned to face Justine and he lowered his voice. “I’m okay with it if you are. I’ll sleep on the floor, or in the tub. I just need to sleep at this point.”

  He looked as tired as she felt, but the thought of spending the night with Griffin sent a shot of adrenaline through her.

  “Fine.” She pretended like it didn’t matter and like she was bored by the thought of being in a tiny, crappy hotel room with Griffin’s chest, which she would undoubtedly see since he probably wasn’t going to wear his navy button-down shirt to bed. “We can flip a coin to see who sleeps where. I don’t have to automatically get the bed.”

  “Can we not argue about it here?” He turned back to the old man and handed him his credit card before Justine could even reach into her purse for hers. “We’ll take it, thanks.”

  Her soft harrumph filled the room and Griffin shot her a triumphant grin.

  Justine wasn’t surprised when the man placed an old-fashioned manual credit-card swiper on the counter and took his time fitting the card and carbon paper in it. He didn’t seem to have the hand strength to move the swipe part over the paper, and he struggled with it until Griffin stepped in.

  “I can take care of that for you, sir,” he said in his business voice with the dimples turned up to eleven.

  They were about to leave the vestibule when Justine turned to the old man. “Do you have any toiletries for sale, like a toothbrush and toothpaste? I, uh, forgot to bring mine.” She didn’t want him to think that they’d picked each other up at the dog park for a quick one-night stand.

  “Just take these; they’ve been in the drawer forever.” He threw two sealed plastic bags with vintage-looking toothbrushes and miniature metal toothpaste tubes on the counter along with a key on a diamond-shaped burgundy plastic key chain. “Checkout is at ten. Good night, dog.” With that he disappeared into the back.