Pupcakes

by Annie England Noblin

  ALTHOUGH IT HAD been easy to find Fred’s house, just a few doors down from hers, Brydie had a harder time with MaryAnn’s. It was clear on the other side of Germantown, the newer side, and Brydie got lost so many times she thought she was going to have to call Elliott to rescue her.

  “Brydie!” MaryAnn said, opening the huge, oak door to her house. “I was afraid I might miss you. It’s almost time for my meeting.”

  “I’m sorry,” Brydie replied, struggling with the box containing all of the wrapped treats. “I guess I don’t know the area as well as I thought I did.”

  “It’s a new development,” MaryAnn replied, waving her hands in a wide circle. “Nobody knows where I live.

  “Come on in,” MaryAnn added. She led Brydie down a long, marble hallway.

  Everything in the house smelled new, and Brydie had to hold her breath to keep from gagging on the new-paint smell. At the end of the hallway was a huge room with a fireplace, and above the fireplace was an even larger portrait of MaryAnn and Thor. It took up half of the wall space, and everything from the floor to the ceiling was decorated with balloons and banners and streamers. The custom-made “Happy Birthday, Thor” banner was hanging across the painting.

  “Fantastic, isn’t it?” MaryAnn asked, nodding toward the painting. “Just got it hung up last week. It cost a fortune, but Thor looks perfect.”

  “It’s impressive,” Brydie replied. “Where would you like me to set these?”

  “Oh, over here,” MaryAnn said. “Right here on the coffee table.”

  “I put each dozen in a cellophane bag,” Brydie said. “If you place another order, I can do boxes next time if you’d rather.”

  “Mind if I take a peek?”

  “Of course.”

  MaryAnn plucked one of the bags out of the box and opened it up. She took one of the cookies out, sniffed it, and then, to Brydie’s astonishment, popped the entire thing into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully for a moment before shrieking, “Thor! Where are you, my babykins?”

  Thor came crashing into the room, his tail thwacking against everything he passed by, knocking two framed pictures of himself off shelves in the process.

  MaryAnn leaned down and gave Thor one of the treats. His tongue covered the length of her hand, and she made no effort to wipe the slobber off it after Thor had taken the treat. After feeding him a few more treats, MaryAnn grabbed the wallet that was also sitting on the coffee table and said to Brydie, “Mother tested, Thor approved. How much do I owe you?”

  Brydie handed her the bill. It was a habit she’d gotten into when she delivered cakes for weddings and other events. People liked to see a broken-down list with a total at the bottom. It helped them understand what exactly they were paying for before they got the bright idea that it was just some flour and eggs and they could do it themselves. “Here you go,” she said.

  “Lovely,” MaryAnn replied. “You know,” she said, “why don’t you and Teddy come to the party today?”

  “Oh, we’d love to,” Brydie replied. “But today is the day we visit Mrs. Neumann.”

  “Bring her!” MaryAnn exclaimed, ripping a check out of her bedazzled checkbook. “She came last year and the year before that. I can’t believe I didn’t think to invite you earlier. I’m so sorry, my dear.”

  “Oh, it’s okay,” Brydie replied. “I’ll ask when we get to the retirement village. What time does it start?”

  “One o’clock,” MaryAnn said. “Presents are optional, but of course appreciated.”

  THERE WAS A nurse in Pauline’s room when Brydie got there. They were chitchatting about the nurse’s son who was graduating from high school in the spring and had been accepted to Stanford University. Brydie stood in the doorway holding Teddy for a few minutes and listened to them.

  “He must be a very smart young man,” Pauline was saying, “to be accepted to such a prestigious school.”

  “He’s very smart,” the nurse replied. “But now his father and I are going to have to figure out how we’re going to pay the bill. I told my son he’d better get some scholarships!”

  “My second husband was accepted to Yale,” Pauline replied. “In the end, he couldn’t go. It was too far away, and he needed to stay home and help his family.”

  “That’s so sad,” the nurse said. “I guess back then, it happened quite a lot.”

  “It still happens quite a lot,” Pauline said. “Bill always said that if we had a child, he would want them to go away to college . . . have the experience he didn’t.”

  The nurse removed the blood pressure cuff from Pauline’s arm and said, “Do you ever think about where—”

  “No.” Pauline cut the nurse off before she could finish. “It does no good to dwell on those things.”

  “I’m sorry,” the nurse replied. “Sometimes I don’t think before I speak.”

  Pauline patted her hand. “It’s okay, sugar. Don’t think a thing of it.”

  Brydie crept closer, hoping to hear more of the conversation. But when she did, Teddy wiggled free from her grasp and hit the floor with a thunk.

  “What on earth?” The nurse looked up just as Teddy came flying into the room, full of snorts and wiggles.

  “Teddy!” Pauline said, delighted. “Brydie, how long have you two been standing there?”

  “We just got here,” Brydie replied, relieved that Teddy seemed to be fine after plummeting to the tiled floor. “How are you today?”

  “I feel good today,” Pauline replied. “My blood pressure is good?”

  “As always,” the nurse said, giving the older woman a smile.

  “You’re early today,” Pauline said, nodding her head over at Brydie. “Aren’t you?”

  “A bit,” Brydie replied. “I had to take some treats over to MaryAnn’s house for Thor’s birthday party. She invited me . . . well, us . . . to his party this afternoon.”

  “Oh, those parties are a hoot,” Pauline said. “Last year Thor and another dog ate MaryAnn’s brand-new chaise longue. She threw a huge fit and told the other dog’s owner that he owed her three thousand dollars—until she found a big strip of fabric in Thor’s mouth!”

  “I figure Teddy will sleep through most of it,” Brydie replied.

  “He usually does.”

  “So,” Brydie said. “Do you want to, I mean, can you go?”

  “Oh, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” the nurse said, cutting in. “We usually like for day trips to be approved at least a week in advance, and we really like for a doctor to sign off.”

  Brydie felt a pang of disappointment. “Oh, okay.”

  “But it is a beautiful day,” the nurse continued. “Why don’t we get a wheelchair and you can take Mrs. Neumann outside?”

  “Okay,” Brydie replied, smiling at Pauline. “How does that sound?”

  “Oh, fine,” Pauline said. “Will I need a coat?”

  “Maybe a light jacket,” the nurse said. “Why doesn’t your friend get your jacket, and I’ll send for the chair?”

  Brydie did as she was told and opened Pauline’s closet. “Which jacket would you like?”

  “The gold one,” Pauline replied. “With little red mulberries on it. It’s festive, don’t you think?”

  “Very.”

  Pauline stood shakily, bracing herself against the railing of her bed. “Oh, I’m so stiff.”

  Brydie took the wheelchair from the nurse and rolled it over to Pauline. “I didn’t know you could walk.”

  “I can get up and down,” Pauline replied. “I can shuffle enough to get from my bed to the chair by the window or to the bathroom. But my legs just won’t do much more than that.”

  “My grandmother had legs that worked perfectly,” Brydie said. “But there was something wrong with her brain. It wouldn’t tell her legs to move.”

  “I talk to my legs all the time,” Pauline said, easing herself down into the wheelchair. “But they never listen.”

  Brydie pushed the wheelchair out of the room and down the hal
lway. “It really is a pretty day,” she said. “I think you’ll enjoy being outside.”

  “I wish we could have gone to the party,” Pauline replied. “It seems like it’s been an age since I’ve seen anyone I know.”

  “I wish you could, too,” Brydie said.

  “Sometimes I feel like a prisoner here,” Pauline said. “It’s a lovely place, but I don’t enjoy being told when to eat and when to go to the bathroom and when to sleep. It’s hard getting old, Brydie.”

  Brydie was glad she couldn’t see Pauline’s face. She sounded like she might cry, and it seemed like such a small thing—leaving for a couple of hours to travel two or three miles for a party.

  When they reached the front desk, the receptionist looked up at them and smiled. “Headed out to the courtyard, are we?”

  Brydie began to nod her head and say yes when she changed her mind. “No,” she said. “Uh, I’m actually taking Mrs. Neumann out for the afternoon.”

  “You are?”

  “Yes, to a friend’s house for a birthday party. We won’t be gone more than a couple of hours.”

  The receptionist, a slight woman with frizzy red hair whom Brydie had never seen, pushed around a stack of papers in front of her. “I don’t have that approved request anywhere in my paperwork.”

  “Well, it should be there,” Brydie said, feeling a twinge of guilt. It was an outright lie. And she could get caught. She glanced down at Pauline, who gave her a sly wink, and Brydie was emboldened. “We’re running a bit late, actually, if you don’t mind.”

  “I, uh . . .” the receptionist said, still going through her papers. “I really better check with someone.”

  “She’s not allowed to leave the grounds without the paperwork?” Brydie asked.

  The receptionist looked up. “It’s just that they like to have the request,” she said. “It’s procedure more than anything else.”

  “We’re just going a few blocks away,” Brydie pressed. “We aren’t even leaving Germantown.”

  “It’s just that I can’t find the paperwork.”

  “You cannot keep me here,” Pauline said, indignant. “I can check out anytime I’d like. I read the agreement.”

  “It’s just they like to have the paperwork,” the receptionist replied, her cheeks turning pink. “I’m sure it’s in here somewhere.”

  “Well, if you’re so sure, then we’ll be on our way,” Pauline said.

  The receptionist looked helplessly from Brydie to Pauline, and then gave them a thin, tight-lipped smile. “I’ll find it. You go on ahead.”

  CHAPTER 23

  BRYDIE WAS SURPRISED AT THE NUMBER OF CARS ALREADY in front of MaryAnn’s house when she and Pauline arrived. She was still feeling guilty about lying to the receptionist, but Pauline’s excitement over the party was contagious, and she pushed those pesky thoughts out of her head.

  “Last year there was a canine hypnotist,” Pauline said as Brydie helped her into her wheelchair. “I let her try it out on Teddy, but I think it just made his gas worse!”

  “There are hypnotists for dogs?” Brydie wondered aloud. “That seems . . .”

  “Weird?”

  “A little.”

  “MaryAnn wrote the book on weird.”

  “Would you like me to put Teddy in your lap?” Brydie asked.

  “Yes, please,” Pauline replied. “He likes to ride on my lap, I think.”

  As Brydie pushed Pauline and Teddy up the walkway, she thought about how the three of them must look—an old woman and an old pug in a wheelchair being pushed by someone who looked wildly out of place in this upscale Germantown neighborhood, with her sneakers and worn-out cardigan. They were a ragtag group for sure, and Brydie figured that they probably had at least one chapter in that book MaryAnn must have written.

  “Pauline!” MaryAnn exclaimed when she opened the door. She was wearing a sweater with Thor’s face stitched onto it. “I can’t believe you actually made it!”

  “I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Pauline replied. “Your sweater is very festive.”

  “Isn’t it?” MaryAnn looked down at herself. “I had a designer friend in Italy make it especially for today. It cost a fortune.”

  Brydie silently wondered just how many items of MaryAnn’s cost a fortune. What she said out loud was, “Thank you so much for inviting us.”

  “Nonsense,” MaryAnn said. “I can’t wait to introduce you to everyone. The dogs are loving the treats you made!”

  “I’m thrilled,” Brydie replied, allowing MaryAnn to take over pushing Pauline.

  MaryAnn led them into the living room, where at least a dozen people and dogs were milling about, including Fred and Arlow. Some of the people Brydie recognized from the dog park as well. Some of them, like a short, bald man in a butter-colored leather jacket, she’d never seen before. He had an empty martini glass in one hand and a tiny Yorkie in the other.

  “Brydie and Pauline, I want you to meet Lloyd Jefferson,” MaryAnn said, motioning to the man. “He plays trumpet for the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, and this is his dog, Alice.”

  “It’s nice to meet you,” Brydie said, extending her hand.

  Lloyd looked at her as if she’d presented him with a Venus flytrap. “Hello.”

  “Lloyd, Brydie is the one who made those treats your little Alice has been scarfing down for the last half an hour,” MaryAnn said, winking at Brydie. “Remember, you said you wanted to meet her?”

  “Oh, yes,” Lloyd said, his eyes brightening. “Alice is very picky, you know. I’ve never been able to get her to eat a regular dog treat.”

  “So is Teddy,” Pauline spoke up, patting the top of Teddy’s head. “But he likes Brydie’s treats.”

  “Do you have a shop somewhere?” Lloyd asked.

  “No,” Brydie said. “I don’t.”

  “A card or a website, maybe?”

  “No,” Brydie said. Lloyd was looking at her disapprovingly again, and so she continued, “This is a new venture for me. I’ve been a baker for the last fifteen years, but I’ve only started baking dog treats in the last few weeks.”

  Lloyd handed her his empty martini glass and pulled out a gold money clip from his pocket. “Here’s my card,” he said. “Alice has a birthday in March. Let’s talk.”

  “Thank you,” Brydie said.

  In Pauline’s lap, Teddy began to whine and wiggle, and he jumped down just in time for Sasha to tear into the living room and jump on top of him, bathing him with her tongue.

  “Oh my God,” Lloyd said, taking a step back from the two dogs. As he moved, Alice wiggled out of his grasp and leapt to the ground, joining in on the chaos that ensued. “Alice! No!” He looked helplessly at Brydie, Pauline, and MaryAnn. “She has soft bones!”

  Brydie resisted the urge to laugh, instead bending down to pick up Teddy. “Grab her now,” she said. “While you still have a chance.”

  Lloyd bent down to do as he was told, but Alice gave chase, and he stumbled off after her, calling her name and lamenting about her bones.

  “He’s a bit high-strung,” MaryAnn said. “But he’s an amazing trumpeter.”

  Brydie looked all around the room for Nathan. Surely if Sasha were here, Nathan would be, too. “Have you seen Dr. Reid?” she asked Pauline. “Sasha can’t be here alone.”

  “I sent him and that darling dog sitter, Myriah, of his outside to set up the games for the dogs,” MaryAnn cut in. “They got here just before you did. I guess Sasha was ready to come back inside.”

  “Myriah?” Pauline asked. “Dog sitter?”

  “She is an absolute doll. Just a doll,” MaryAnn continued. “I’ve told Nathan a hundred times that he needs to make her more than just his dog sitter. I don’t see the big deal with the age difference.”

  Pauline’s eyes snapped up to Brydie. For some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to look down at her. It wasn’t as if she was going to explain her relationship with Nathan to Pauline in front of MaryAnn. Besides, she reminded herself, it wasn�
��t like they were in a relationship. They were just . . . well, she didn’t know quite what they were doing, but if MaryAnn wanted to talk about how wonderful and perfect Myriah was, then that was fine. It was just fine.

  “Ah, there they are,” MaryAnn said. “Did you get it all set up?”

  “We did,” Myriah replied. “Although I don’t think that the dogs are going to be able to play pin the tail on the golden retriever.”

  “Mrs. Neumann?” Nathan was looking down at Pauline, his brow furrowed. “What are you doing here?”

  “I was invited,” Pauline replied. “Same as you, Dr. Reid.”

  Nathan looked to Brydie. “Did you bring her here with you?”

  “I did,” Brydie replied, suddenly realizing that Nathan being at the party could be a problem. “We just got here.”

  “I didn’t know they’d released you to come.”

  “Well, how could you know?” Pauline replied, slight annoyance in her voice. “You’ve been gone, and now Dr. Sower is in charge.”

  “And she signed off on the paperwork for you to come here today?”

  “They seem to have misplaced it.”

  Nathan turned his attention to Brydie. “Could we maybe talk for a minute?” he asked.

  “Okay.”

  He led her away from the crowd, while Pauline continued to chat with Myriah and MaryAnn. “Did you really get permission for Mrs. Neumann to be here today?” he asked when they were out of earshot of everyone. “I can’t imagine that anyone there, especially Dr. Sower, would give her a release.”

  “Why not?” Brydie asked.

  “She has congestive heart failure,” Nathan replied. “She had a stroke mere months ago, and she doesn’t have full motor control, in case you haven’t noticed.”

  “She’s done pretty well today.”

  “Today,” Nathan said, “is a good day. Yesterday, she was on oxygen for most of the day. She had chest pains.” He took a step closer to her. “She’s not well, Brydie, and it was incredibly irresponsible of you to bring her out here today.”