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

by Susan C. Daffron

  Kat tossed her book aside and went to greet him. “So how is the Shack? Did you fix what was falling apart?”

  “I think so.”

  “What happened?”

  “Well, it turns out Frank likes to try to catch flies.”

  Kat leaned against the counter, watching as Joel pulled items out of the refrigerator. “So given the expression on your face, I’m guessing the Great Bernese Fly Hunter did something bad.”

  “He missed. And when a hundred and twenty pounds of furry dog lands on a cabinet door, the door loses.”

  “I see.”

  “Fortunately, I have extra hinges and a lot of wood glue, so it should be fine.” He leaned over and gave her a kiss. “So did you have fun playing with old photos?”

  “It was kind of surprising in a way. I think Mia has a half-sister.”

  “That must have been…interesting.”

  “I told her we all have secrets.”

  “That’s certainly true.”

  “In other news, it turns out Tracy is not having a baby.”

  “Did she ever tell Rob she thought she was?”

  “Yes, but she took the test and it was negative. She was probably late because of a recent bout with the flu and stress related to stuff at the vet clinic and Rob working so much. Then telling him increased everyone’s stress level.”

  Joel took a bite out of a cracker. “You look sad.”

  “I think they’re going to break up.” Kat reached over and grabbed a cracker. “They had a huge fight and when I talked to Tracy, she started to cry. Then I started to cry. It was awful.”

  “There’s nothing you can do other than be her friend.”

  “I know. It’s just sad because I like both Tracy and Rob. They seem so happy and have been living together for quite a while now. It makes me worry that we’ll break up.”

  “We’re not breaking up.” Joel raised an eyebrow. “Unless there’s something I don’t know.”

  Kat put her hand on his forearm. “Not at all. It’s just I know I’ve been a pain to be around because of the book deadlines and trying to find a new dog walker. I was really hoping Mia would agree, but it’s a hard sell. It’s not like I can pay much. But in a few weeks, we’re going to have a lot of dogs here.”

  “How many is a lot?”

  “After the latest booking, I can report that the kennels will be completely full. Every last one of them. Even your fly-obsessed buddy Frank, the klutzy mountain dog will be here with his roommate Mona because Jack and Becca are planning to spend Thanksgiving in Colorado.”

  “Filling all the kennels is the idea, isn’t it?”

  “I know, and it’s sort of startling that suddenly, the business is going to be in the black for a change. But my first book deadline is right after Thanksgiving. When am I going to have time to write if I’m walking dogs all day? I was supposed to have a dog walker by now. I wrote a business plan!”

  Joel broke off a corner of a cracker and handed it to Linus, who was sitting at his feet. “Well, we knew this was a possibility. I can help some, but I’ve got my own deadlines to deal with.”

  Kat wrapped her arms around his waist and gave him a hug. “I know. When Mia comes by tomorrow, I think I’ll resort to begging. She’d be perfect. The dogs love her.”

  “Except she doesn’t live here. You’re boarding her dog.”

  Kat leaned back to look up into his face. “Correction: she doesn’t live here yet. She might have a half-sister whose mom lives right next door. That might keep her here.”

  “You said she’s traveling. Do you know where she’s going?”

  “Not really. But I think she should stay here. At least until my book is done.”

  Joel chuckled. “You have this all figured out.”

  “Why not? I moved to Alpine Grove and so did you.” Kat spread her arms wide. “Hey, even Maria moved here, and no one would have ever predicted that.”

  “Speaking of which, when are you boarding her cat?”

  “I’m not sure. I’m hoping she forgets about it.”

  “You know she won’t.”

  Kat shook her head. “She’s talking about spending Thanksgiving with her grandmother in New Jersey. I’m trying to discourage that idea. The last thing I need is a cat terrorizing my office while I’m trying to write.”

  “I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Did you talk to Robin about renting the lodge for the wedding reception?”

  “Yes, and she’s up for it. She and Alec are going on a trip in February, so they want to board Leroy and Emma. We might be able to pay for some of the reception in trade.”

  “Now that our finances are so intertwined, I’m extra pleased to hear that.”

  “Your frugality is showing again.” Kat waved her hand dismissively. “But that’s okay. I want to save our money for the honeymoon. That’s where I want to splurge.”

  “On what?”

  “Everything. I want to go out to eat, do fun stuff, and not worry about money the whole time we’re in Hawaii.”

  “We’ll see.”

  “Oh come on—it’s our honeymoon! When are we ever going to have the opportunity to just relax and celebrate our marriage? It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

  “Well, there are wedding anniversaries. They celebrate marriage too.”

  Kat narrowed her eyes. “Wait a minute. Are you saying we get to go to Hawaii on our anniversary too?”

  “Well, we could. Maybe not every year. But sometimes. Maybe every five years?”

  “That’s a great idea!” Kat grinned. “I didn’t think it was possible, but I think I love you more now.”

  “Good, because I love you back.”

  The next morning, Mia called Gwen and got her answering machine. Instead of leaving a message, Mia wimped out and hung up. She hadn’t considered that Gwen might be at work. Had she mentioned where she worked? With a sigh, Mia ran through the many questions she hadn’t asked. Because of the quest to remove Potty Mouth, they’d both been distracted and it hadn’t been a particularly relaxing conversation.

  It was raining again, so after breakfast Mia curled up with a novel. Going on an excursion to see one of the places on the postcards was less appealing in a downpour. Once she turned the last page on the book, she put it with the others on her nightstand.

  In addition to having a completely worthless ending, the book was the last one she had left. Maybe she could give them back to the bookstore for Margaret to resell. It was time to venture forth and get more reading material. Mia was going to have to settle somewhere and get a library card; otherwise, she’d end up spending all her lottery money on books.

  At lunchtime, Mia ventured out into the rain for yet another muddy midday walk with Gizmo. Kat joined them with her pack of dogs. Not surprisingly, Kat asked again about the job.

  What Kat didn’t know was that Mia really had been thinking about it. Constantly in fact, but she also missed Chris terribly, which was not helping her decision-making process.

  Mia stopped and readjusted her grip on the leash while Gizmo investigated an exciting patch of ground. “Part of me would love to take the job, but I’m not sure. Walking in the woods with you, even in all this rain, has been great. I have enjoyed being here.”

  Kat raised her eyebrows. “Then what’s the problem? Is it the money? I know I can’t afford to pay much, but if you get into grooming you can start making some serious cash. I’d just take a percentage for the use of the space and setting up appointments.”

  “That’s not it. I think I told you that I have some money. It’s enough to last for a while until I figure out what to do. It’s Chris.”

  “And the problem is that he’s in San Francisco.”

  “Yes! In fact, he actually wants me to move there.” Mia raised her arms in a gesture of exasperation. “But that’s insane. We’ve only known each other for a few days.”

  “How do you feel about him?”

  “I don’t know. We have a good time together and I really mi
ss him. Way, way more than I thought I would. But maybe that’s just because I’ve had no friends, much less a date, in who knows how long.”

  Kat looked thoughtful for a moment. “I have no idea what your relationship with him is like, but I can tell you that I invited Joel to move in here not too long after we met. It was probably the best decision I’ve ever made.”

  “Do you mean like days after you met?”

  “I don’t remember exactly, but there was a fire and his house smelled like smoke, so I suggested that he stay here.” She grinned. “And the rest is history.”

  “So you think I should move to San Francisco?”

  “Not at all. That’s your decision. I think you should do what you think is best for you. I’m just saying that in my case, almost from the moment I met him, I realized Joel was like no one I had ever known before. So I made what was, to a lot of people, a really impulsive decision. But it was right for me. Only you know what’s right for you.”

  “I’m completely confused.” Mia sighed. “Didn’t people think it was strange that Joel moved in here so quickly?”

  “Sure they did. You’ve met Maria, so you can imagine her response.”

  Mia nodded. “I hate to think what she said.”

  “Yeah, she gave me all kinds of grief. My mother called Joel a gold-digger who was only interested in me because of my vast fortune.” Kat chuckled. “Yeah, right.”

  Mia stopped short. She really did have a fortune. Okay, it wasn’t like a multi-million-dollar fortune, but still, she had money. And Chris had made no bones about the fact that he was practically bankrupt. Was that really what was going on? If she moved to San Francisco to be with him, suddenly Chris would have lots of lovely lottery money available to pay his exorbitant rent. Would he really do that? How well did she really know him, anyway?

  Kat looked at her. “Are you okay? Did I say something to upset you? When I talk about my mother, it usually only upsets me or other people who have actually met her.”

  “It’s fine.” Mia glanced at Kat and almost without thinking blurted out, “But yes, I want the job. We can try it out over the winter like you said. I just need to find a place to live.”

  “That’s fantastic!” Kat stopped and gave her a hug. “Thank you! I know right now it’s quiet, but next week, it’s like the floodgates break loose and half the dogs in Alpine Grove are going to be here.”

  Mia was taken aback at Kat’s enthusiasm. “I guess I should look into rentals.”

  “Well, Gwen wants to get out of here before winter. Maybe you could rent her place. It’s kind of ugly, so I bet it would be cheap.”

  “Actually, the inside is cute. She fixed it up, so it’s way nicer than the trailer I used to live in. I have to talk to her again anyway.”

  “Didn’t you call her?”

  “I got her answering machine and didn’t leave a message. I couldn’t figure out what to say. If I offer to rent her place, maybe she’ll be more interested in talking to me.”

  “No doubt. According to Joel, she really doesn’t like shoveling snow.”

  “I got that impression.”

  After leaving Kat’s place, Mia stopped by the bookstore for more books and then returned to the H12. She tried to call Gwen again, to no avail. Maybe she’d be back after five when the workday was over.

  In the meantime, it was nice to have some time to collect her thoughts, since Mia had just, somewhat impulsively, made a commitment to taking a job and living in Alpine Grove. And in the process probably just torched any type of future with Chris. But if her past track record were any indication, she probably didn’t have a future with him anyway.

  An opportunity to earn money doing something she liked to do didn’t happen every day. In fact, it had never happened at all. The idea of learning how to groom dogs professionally and having an actual career was exciting. For once, the future looked promising and she finally had a plan for what to do next. Living in a motel room was getting old. Even if Gwen said no, she probably could find another place to rent somewhere in Alpine Grove.

  Mia’s thoughts were interrupted by the phone ringing. She reached to the nightstand to answer it. A little flutter of excitement swept over her at the sound of Chris’s voice greeting her. She smiled. “I’m so glad you called. How did everything go today?”

  There was a pause before Chris replied, “Well, uh, not very well.”

  “Was the meeting about the firm losing the library job?”

  “Yes, and there was a lot of rah-rah talk about how we all need to work harder to ensure we are selected for the next project. Except me.”

  “What do you mean except you?”

  “After the big meeting, my supervisor Bill pulled me aside and claimed that it’s my fault they weren’t selected.”

  “You’re kidding. I thought you were working on a closet.”

  “More like the ceiling materials for a closet.” He sighed. “I sat down in his office and Bill went over all my flaws in excruciating detail. If I could just work on those things and basically change who I am as a human being, I could be a great asset to the firm.”

  “That sounds awful, but I don’t understand what your flaws or the closet you designed have to do with losing the contract.”

  “More or less that my flaws were represented in my work. I don’t know. I started to lose focus as I got more and more pissed off at what Bill was saying.”

  Mia raised her arm in frustration. “I don’t understand. It’s a closet, for heaven’s sake!”

  “I know. I mean, I can deal with some constructive criticism. Nobody is perfect, and we all know I’m not. But I guess I must have looked upset, because he asked me what my problem was.”

  “I’ve had conversations like that.” Mia clenched the receiver. “I think your problem is him. That’s so unfair!”

  “I think I said something like I can’t change who I am. And then he said, ‘Well, what are you going to do, quit?’”

  “Uh-oh.”

  “Yeah. I said, ‘You think I’m too much of a wimp to quit, don’t you?’”

  Mia didn’t say anything, but it was pretty clear where this was going.

  Chris continued, “He said, yes, I do think you’re that much of wimp. So I said, ‘Fine. Consider this my two weeks’ notice.’ And then I stood up and walked out of the office.”

  “Wow. What are you going to do?”

  “I have no idea. I was so angry I was shaking. By the time I got back to my desk, I’d calmed down a little and it started to dawn on me what I had just done. I’m so screwed.”

  “You’ll find something else. Something better.”

  “Maybe. And I realized that the other person who is going to be really screwed is Ben. I mean, he loved my design ideas for the lake house. They’ll transfer the work to someone else, but I feel bad. We really got along great and our ideas just gelled. It was actually fun. Probably the most fun I’ve had in my entire career.”

  “I’m so sorry.” Mia twisted the phone cord around her finger. “Can’t you work for him and finish the job?”

  “I can’t. There’s a non-compete clause in my employment agreement. You get in trouble if you poach clients from GTH, and I have enough problems. Right now, I’m sitting here trying not to freak out. The only good thing is that I applied for one of those zero-interest cards and worked on consolidating my student loans. Tomorrow I’ll give back my car to the leasing company. Then, well, I don’t know. More panic, maybe?”

  “I have a lot of experience with losing jobs, and even though I know it doesn’t seem like it right now, everything will work out. You’ll see. You hated that place.” Mia sat up straighter. “In fact, this could be the best thing that ever happened to you. So congratulations!”

  He offered an ironic chuckle. “Thanks, but I think you’re the best thing that ever happened to me. I miss you so much it hurts. Is there any way you can visit while I still have a place to live?”

  Mia paused. Chris probably wasn’t going to lik
e what she was about to say. “Well, I, ah, have decided to stay in Alpine Grove. I accepted Kat’s job offer.”

  “Already? Did you talk to your father? What did he say? I was so wrapped up in my own mess, I forgot to ask.”

  “No, the number was disconnected. But I looked at some of Kat’s old photos. Gwen’s daughter Heather looks like my dad. I decided to stay here because I like it here. Kat is great and I love the dogs.”

  “Those are good reasons. I’m happy for you. And I can’t say I’m not envious.”

  Mia looked down at the ugly plaid bedspread and picked at an errant thread. “Maybe you could come back for a visit.”

  “I have to work on finding a new job. And saving the few pennies I have left.”

  “Maybe once you find something, you could visit.”

  Mia could hear the resignation in his voice as he softly replied, “We’ll see.”

  After hanging up the phone receiver, Mia stared at the telephone for a moment. Chris had sounded so forlorn that now she had an overwhelming urge to cry. Every choice had repercussions and her decision to stay in Alpine Grove meant she probably wouldn’t see Chris for a long time. Possibly never.

  She felt guilty that part of the reason she didn’t want to go to San Francisco was because of money. Was she really that selfish? That cynical? If she were brutally honest with herself, the answers weren’t particularly flattering. But she didn’t want to get more involved with someone who might end up using her. It wasn’t worth the risk. The reality was that enough people had let her down in her life that she didn’t trust anyone much at all.

  Chris had said that he missed her so much it hurt. Unfortunately, that feeling wasn’t one-sided. There was a little ache in Mia’s chest whenever she thought about him. And every time something happened like Kat offering her the job, the first thing she wanted to do was run over to the Enchanted Moose and talk to him. But he wasn’t there. When they were together, she’d told him anything and everything that she was thinking and he’d understood.