The Luck of the Paw (An Alpine Grove Romantic Comedy Book 9)

by Susan C. Daffron

  “What do you mean?”

  “I had some…particles…I mean places…here I wanted to see, but it doesn’t matter. Maybe we’ll just keep driving.” She lifted the flat tire onto the back door of the car and reattached the cover.

  “You don’t have to do that if you don’t want to. There’s a dog-boarding kennel, and it’s really nice. Lulu stayed there for a couple of days when I had to fly back to San Francisco.”

  Mia looked up at the sky. “It’s getting late. Maybe I’ll look into that. I’d rather not drive too far until I get my tire repaired.”

  Chris handed her Gizmo’s leash and pulled out his wallet. “I have the number.” He handed her a sticky note with a phone number scrawled on it.

  “Thanks.” Mia looked down at the note. Taking a couple of days to investigate the places on some of the postcards and getting her tire fixed would be easier without having to worry about Gizmo. “I guess I could go back to town, find a pay phone, and call them.”

  “Give Kat my name. She’s really nice. They just opened the place, so I’m sure they’ll have room for your dog.”

  “Okay—well, thanks again. I should get going.” She opened the door to the backseat of the RAV and encouraged Gizmo to hop in.

  Chris stepped forward. “Wait! Don’t go. I mean, maybe while you’re here, we could do something. Like, eat. You know, like, dinner.”

  Mia closed the door of the RAV and turned to face him. Was he actually asking her out? Really? What was his deal? It wasn’t like she was encouraging him in any way. Maybe he did know about the money. Or had heard more stuff via the Windiberg rumor mill. “Why? It can’t be to relive old times. You don’t even remember me.”

  “I told you, I do remember who you are now. You’re Amanita!”

  “My poisonous mushroom girl years are worth forgetting, at least to me.” Mia moved toward the front of the car. “I need to get back to town now.”

  Chris reached out to touch her arm and Mia was so surprised she jerked it away from him. He gave her an imploring look. “I don’t know anyone here and it sounds like you don’t either. It would be nice to have someone to talk to, even for one evening. Maybe we have more in common than you think.”

  Mia paused before reflexively saying no. With those big, round eyes staring at her, turning him down would be like kicking a puppy. Chris had been a completely harmless nerd in high school and maybe even as unhappy as she’d been. Playing off his last name, the jocks had called him Blanche Dubois, which couldn’t have been enjoyable. High school might have been horrible for him too. “All right, I guess so.”

  “There’s an Italian place in town. Maybe we could meet there tonight. Say seven?”

  “All right. I should know by then if the place for Gizmo will work out.”

  He pulled a business card out of his pocket and wrote on the back. “I’m in room one fifty-six at the Enchanted Moose. If something happens and you can’t make it, just let me know.”

  “Okay, I guess I’ll see you later.” Mia got into the RAV, wishing she hadn’t said yes. Oh well, too late now. But he’d given her a way out. She could just leave a message and forget about the whole idea.

  Chris waved goodbye and then started walking with Lulu toward the next driveway as she did a three-point turn to return to town. The first thing she needed to do was find a place to stay.

  Chapter 3

  Wag on Inn

  Back in Alpine Grove, Mia stopped by a motel called the H12. They had rooms available and the nice woman at the front desk let Mia use their phone to call the boarding kennel about Gizmo.

  The owner, Kat Stevens, said they had space and gave her directions. Even though Mia’s visit might end up being outside their pick-up and drop-off hours, Kat said it was okay to bring Gizmo.

  After the flat tire, Mia had been feeling discouraged about her stay in Alpine Grove, but maybe her luck was changing. As much as she loved Gizmo, dealing with him in a motel room was complicated. And it would be nice to eat something other than drive-through fast food. Maybe she’d take Chris up on his dinner offer after all. He seemed sort of lonely, which was an emotion she could relate to.

  The dog-boarding kennel was located north of town. Mia drove the RAV out of Alpine Grove up the highway and turned onto one of the back roads that meandered into densely forested areas. The trees in the area were amazing. Vegetation-wise, it was about as far from Windiberg as she could get. The fall colors were stunning and leaves flitted merrily across the roadway.

  At last, Mia reached a driveway with a sign that said Wag on Inn. The gravel driveway wound through a section of forest filled with enormous trees. Mia didn’t know what kind they were, but they were gigantic. Maybe sequoias? Whatever they were, the trees had to be old.

  The driveway continued to weave around the massive evergreen trees until finally Mia stopped at a gate. A log house sat beyond the gate and a sign indicated she should turn left toward the kennels.

  Following the instructions, she parked in front of the kennel buildings and got out of the car. Gizmo stood in the back with his nose pressed to the partially opened window, snuffling madly. Mia took a deep breath. It did smell really good here. Like a bottle of Pine Sol, but not fake.

  A sign attached to the kennel building said to ring the buzzer. Mia pressed the button and a few moments later, a woman emerged from the log house at the end of the driveway. That must be Kat. Mia watched as the petite woman came closer, her long dark braid swaying back and forth behind her.

  Kat waved as she walked up to the car. “Hi, you must be Mia.”

  “Yes, and that’s Gizmo jumping around back there.”

  “Wow, those are some great ears he’s got. Do you want to let him out?”

  Mia nodded and extracted the exuberant dog from the back seat. “He’s pretty expired about this place.”

  Kat tilted her head and Mia blurted out, “I meant excited. Gizmo is still very much alive.”

  “I noticed. Dogs do seem to like it here. I didn’t realize it when I moved in, but to a dog, the smells of the forest are thrilling. When I walk them, I wonder about all the incredible information they must be discovering.”

  Mia looked up at the trees. “It’s so beautiful here. You’re so plucky to be able to live in a place like this.”

  “I’ve never thought of myself as plucky before.”

  “I meant lucky.” Mia gestured in exasperation and turned toward the car to get the bag with Gizmo’s chew toys. “Like I said on the phone, Gizmo is pretty obedient, but he tends to try to eat everything. You’d think I never feed him, but I promise I do.”

  “I’m sure it will be fine.” Kat put her hand on Mia’s arm. “Are you okay?”

  Mia stopped fiddling with the bag and looked at Kat. She had striking deep blue eyes. “You’re the second person to ask me that today.” Pretty much everyone thought Mia was weird. Why should this woman be any different?

  Kat shrugged. “I’m not trying to be nosy. Well, okay, maybe I am a little bit. You just seem kind of nervous. Don’t worry about Gizmo. He’ll be fine.”

  “I need to get my tire fixed and other stuff, but I feel funny about leaving him. I don’t think we’ve ever spent a whole day apart since I found him.”

  “There’s a tire place near the Kmart on the highway.” Kat pointed at the RAV. “Your Toyota looks new. Do you like it? At some point, I really want to get a car. Another winter of driving my fiancé’s old truck may push me over the edge.”

  “Oh, I love the RAV! Flicka is so much better than my last car. The flat tire wasn’t her fault. I guess I ran over a nail or something.”

  “Aww, you named the RAV Flicka? I loved that book.”

  Mia smiled. “Me too. After my last car, I wanted a trusty steed, instead of a clucker…clunker.”

  Kat laughed. “Hey, I want a clucker! A chicken-mobile! That’s awesome.”

  “No, it’s not! I’m sorry I’m…well…I have this problem. Sometimes I say weird things. The wrong words just c
ome out of my mouth before I realize what’s happening.”

  “It’s no big deal.”

  “I wish I could make it stop. Most people think I’m some kind of wacko.” Mia shook her head. “It started in high school, and whenever I meet new people it comes back again.”

  “I can sympathize. I hated high school. I think the last day of senior year ranks up there as one of the happiest days of my life.”

  Mia smiled. “Me too. Even though this trip has been fun, it has also been stressful. The managers of every Motel 6 I stayed at are probably comparing notes about the strange woman with the dog that eats motel rooms.”

  Kat bent to pet Gizmo. “Oh, you would never do that, would you?”

  “He would, but I’m still going to miss him so much.”

  “After you deal with your errands, you’re welcome to stop by for his walk if you want.”

  Mia looked into Kat’s eyes. “Really? I’d love that, if you’re sure it’s clay.”

  “Well, it will probably be dirty. Dogs are like that.”

  “I meant okay.”

  “It’s fine. I’m sure I’ll be procrastinating on writing my article anyway. If you like dogs, get ready to meet a lot more of them.” Kat paused. “Are you sure you’re okay? I’m not normally a huggy type of person, but you really look like you could use a hug.”

  Mia raised her eyebrows. “I don’t know. I guess so.”

  Kat stretched out her arms. “It’s okay.”

  Mia wrapped her arms around the shorter woman, resting her head on her shoulder. She was overwhelmed with the urge to weep, for no apparent reason. No one had hugged her in a long time and it felt so good.

  Kat patted her back and released her. “Better?”

  Mia nodded. She did feel better. “Thanks.”

  “Gizmo and I will see you tomorrow then. You have my number if anything comes up and you can’t make it.”

  “I’ll let you know.” Mia crouched down to give Gizmo a last bit of affection. “Promise me you’ll be good, Giz.” The dog wagged his tail, seemingly oblivious to what all the fuss was about.

  Mia got in her car and started back to town. As she wove her way through the trees again, she thought about the fact that for Kat, walking dogs was her job. She actually got paid to walk happy canines through the forest.

  It was certainly a far cry from data entry about root vegetables. Being able to hang out with dogs all day would be a dream come true for Mia. Except you’d still have to talk to dog owners all the time, which wouldn’t be good. At least Kat was a lot more forgiving of Mia’s odd speech patterns than most people were. And she was excellent at hugging.

  At the end of the driveway, Mia stopped and turned back toward town. People in Alpine Grove certainly were friendly.

  Kat got Gizmo settled into his kennel and fetched him some water. She opened the chain-link gate and walked inside. “Here you go. I’ll take you out for a walk in a few minutes. Then dinner later. You’ll notice that there is nothing you can chew up here, so fun time chowing down on motel rooms is officially over for the time being.”

  Gizmo wagged his tail and Kat ruffled his ears. “You have the best ears. I just love them. I bet all the girls tell you that.”

  After cuddling Gizmo a bit more and tending to the beagle in the next kennel, Kat walked to the house, went up the front steps, and opened the door to go inside. Joel was in the kitchen, leaning over with his arm resting on the refrigerator door, examining the contents within. The dogs were downstairs in the daylight basement barking to let everyone know that an interloper had invaded their space. Kat glared down the stairs. “Quiet! It’s me.” The five dogs stood staring up at her, wagging and panting.

  Joel shut the refrigerator and turned to face her. “How’s the new dog?”

  “Gizmo is really cute with the most amazing, huge, adorable ears. Apparently, he likes to eat things he’s not supposed to, but here he’s not going to have the opportunity to consume much other than his chew toys and dinner.”

  “That’s by design.”

  Kat wrapped her arms around his waist. “I know! Aren’t we smart?”

  “Not smart enough to have remembered to go to the store. I think we need to get more organized about grocery shopping. We have no food. Dinner is looking bleak.”

  “We had food the other day.”

  “And then we ate it.”

  “I was going to go shopping over the weekend, but then that beagle came in. I didn’t feel like dragging all the way to town after that.”

  “I know the feeling.”

  “Then on Monday I had to talk to my editor and complain about the software.”

  “I had that conference call with the guys in Las Vegas.” He gave her a kiss. “So we have now chronicled exactly why we have no food, but it doesn’t solve the problem of dinner.”

  “It’s getting late and I’m hungry. I don’t want to go to the store now, do you?”

  “No, but I think we have to thaw out zucchini bread for dinner. With a side of dilly beans and canned zukes.”

  Kat giggled. “Aren’t you glad I did so much canning last summer?”

  “I suppose. Maybe dilly beans and rice? There might be something else in the pantry. We need to set up a weekly schedule for shopping. Scrounging up something for dinner is a pain when we have no food.”

  “You’re going to get all analytical about this, aren’t you?” Kat followed him to the pantry and peered around him. “Do we have to have a schedule?”

  “The spontaneous approach to acquiring food doesn’t work when you live this far out of town. What I’d really like is to just call for pizza and have it magically appear on our doorstep.”

  “Pizza sounds fantastic, but we’ll get pizza delivery out here sometime this side of never.”

  He turned and handed her a can of garbanzo beans. “I know. But a guy can dream.”

  “Garbanzos? Dinner is getting more creative all the time.”

  “Have some water chestnuts too.”

  Kat glanced down at the cans in her hands. “I guess we need to improvise again.”

  “How long is the new dog with the big ears staying?”

  “Probably a couple of days.” Kat walked over to the counter and began measuring out rice. “His owner’s name is Mia, and she seemed really upset about leaving him.”

  “People always are, aren’t they?”

  “I guess, but she was different. I honestly thought she was going to cry. She was all nervous talking to me. I guess she has trouble talking to people. It reminds me of me.”

  “You talk to people all the time. Sometimes you even yell at them.”

  “I know. But I used to be really shy. And she has sort of a weird thing where she says the wrong word.”

  “Like stuttering?”

  “Not really. She doesn’t say the word she means to say.”

  “You mean malapropism?”

  “Exactly! I couldn’t remember the name for it, but she seems really embarrassed about it. I guess it started in high school.” Kat gestured toward the window. “Which I completely understand. I was a basket case in high school.”

  “So you’ve said.”

  She reached over and tickled his waist. “Hey, not everyone can be the brainy track star. Some of us were mutants back then, just waiting for the awful high school experience to finally be over. I’m probably scarred for life.”

  “Maybe, but you seem a lot happier now than when I met you.” He walked to the refrigerator, pulled a package of celery out of a drawer, and made a face. “I’m afraid the celery is dead.”

  “I guess it can be slated for burial in the compost pile.” Kat picked up a knife. “You’re right. I am a lot happier. Mia reminds me a little of me a year ago. Kinda lost and anxious. Bluffing her way along, hoping no one will notice her. That was definitely me.”

  Joel leaned over and kissed her cheek. “I noticed you.”

  Kat put down the knife, stood on tiptoes, and kissed his lips. “I know, and
I’m glad, because I definitely noticed you too. And not just because you’re cute. You were nice to me during a really confusing time.”

  “Fixing stuff does seem to score major points with you.”

  “True, but when you asked what had happened that made me so insecure and you said you could be yourself around me—I think that’s when I started to fall in love with you. It was surprising since we hadn’t known each other long, but I felt the same way. When we’re together, I’m just me.”

  “It’s easier than being someone else.”

  “You know what I mean. When I was talking to Mia, I felt like maybe she has some stuff she’s getting away from. She looked so sad that I gave her a hug.”

  Joel looked up from his chopping. “That’s not like you. Normally, you restrict your hugging to me.”

  “I know. But she looked like she needed one.”

  “Everyone has a past. Maybe she has family or work problems. Do you know why she’s in Alpine Grove?”

  “I’m not sure. I got the impression she’s going through some type of transition. Her car was packed full of stuff. Maybe she left her job and is moving. I know quitting my soul-sucking cubicle job improved my mood. But then I had that whole lack of money problem.”

  “Speaking of work, how did installing the new beta version of the software go?”

  “Let’s not talk about that. There are large companies whose names I shouldn’t take in vain. I mean, I’m writing a book about their software, so I have to remain all rah-rah positive about the company, right?”

  “I suppose so. Saying the program is a piece of crap probably won’t help your book sales either.”

  “Exactly. Maybe beta version seven million and twelve will fix some of the bugs. They keep reassuring me that it’s going to get better.”

  Joel turned and smiled at her. “Didn’t you know? Those aren’t bugs, they’re features.”

  “Very funny. Spoken like a true programmer. All I know is that I’m tired of installing software, trying to figure it out, and then watching it crash.”

  “Wait until you start writing the book. That’s when the real fun begins.”