The Art of Wag
Page 24
He pointed at the monitor. “Ben Walsh. He says that you were right. He wants to give us a chance!”
She put her feet on the floor, put both hands on his shoulders and leaned around to get a better look at the screen. “What about the LA people?”
“I don’t know. It sounds like they had the project kick-off meeting and it didn’t go well.” Rob turned to look up at her. “What does he mean, you were right?”
“I went to talk to him.” She raised her hands, palms up. “At the time, it seemed like he wasn’t really listening and just thought I was an idiot. And he remembered that I worked at the restaurant, which was embarrassing. I thought going out there was a waste of time. But I wanted him to know that you know what you’re doing and that we could do the work.”
Rob took off his glasses and scuttled out from under the table onto the futon. He wrapped her in his arms and hugged her. “You’re amazing.”
“I’m glad you think so. When I talked to him, he also said you sent him what he referred to as ‘an impassioned e-mail’ about me.”
He stroked her cheek with his fingertips. “I guess I did do that. But I wanted him to know that you are a great artist and know the subject matter really well.”
“Maybe you’re a better writer than you think.” She patted his shoulders with excitement. “Do you know what this means?”
He tilted his head. “We’re not going to be totally broke this winter?”
“That too.” She gripped his shoulders. “It means I don’t have to worry that I’ll be driving your car for the last time in Napa.”
“Something would have worked out. We still have your car.”
Tracy released her hold on his shoulders and leaned back on the couch. “Ugh. Now that we’re not going to be destitute, do we get to shoot it?”
“No. I’m going to get it working better again.” He leaned back next to her. “The Turd is part of your family history, Rainbow.”
“Fine. I’ll drive your car. I love your car.”
He reached over and pulled her into another hug. “I’m sure it loves you too. I know I do.”
The following week, Tracy and Rob got into The Turd to take Roxy out to Kat’s place. Roxy was in the back of the car gazing out the window, apparently looking forward to another car ride. Tracy put the key in the ignition and turned it. The car started with only a few extra sputters of complaint. She turned to Rob. “You had an ulterior motive in fixing this hunk of junk, didn’t you? You don’t want to subject your car to Kat’s road.”
“The thought did cross my mind.”
She reached over and poked his arm. “You are such a planner.” Tracy steered the car out of the parking lot, down the alley, and out to the main street. She pointed at one of the buildings. “Look, there’s some new business going in there. I guess that real-estate guy finally gave it up. He had the same listings hanging in the window for years.”
“I guess they didn’t sell?”
“They didn’t look terribly appealing. I’m okay with rustic and as you know, I’m definitely not a neatnik, but I draw the line at falling-down shack. A roof is important. As is indoor plumbing.” She turned her head to glance at him. “If we ever move, just so you know, running water is a non-negotiable feature. I don’t do outhouses. I still have some nightmares about the one at the commune when I was little. Spiders around here can grow really large.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Spider nightmares sound bad.”
“You don’t want to know.”
Later, they bumped their way down the driveway to Kat’s house. A group of people and dogs were standing outside the house talking. Tracy recognized Kat, Joel and the librarian who had helped her do research. She was standing next to a seriously gorgeous man. Like male-model-level gorgeous. He should be on a poster. Yowza.
Tracy parked the car and waved to Kat.
Kat walked over. “Hi Tracy. Hi Rob.” She waved toward the people and dogs. “I think you know Jan. She’s one of the librarians at the Alpine Grove library. That’s Michael. The furry white dog is Swoosie and the black lab is Rosa.”
Tracy waved at the group. “Wow, this is quite a crowd you have going here.” She opened the back door, removed Roxy from the car, and put her on the ground. The other two dogs started straining at their leashes to get a look at the exciting new mini-canine.
Jan walked over with Rosa, who engaged in some reciprocal sniffing with Roxy. “Hi Tracy. How did the meeting go? Did the research I did help you? It was fascinating learning about human interaction with computer interfaces online.”
“Yes. I sounded a lot smarter than I was. Thanks again for your help,” Tracy said.
Rob said, “Yes. Thank you. She did great. We actually got the contract.”
Joel said, “I thought it fell through. That’s why you’re doing the networking job.”
Rob shook his head. “They changed their minds. But we’re still going on the trip.”
“There’s no way I’m giving up the opportunity to drive the car all over winding roads through vineyards.” At Joel’s expression, Tracy pointed to The Turd and added, “Not this car. Rob’s car.”
“She likes my car,” Rob said. “A lot.”
Michael walked closer to the group with Swoosie and asked the dog to sit. She looked up at him eagerly and he gave her a treat. “Driving around Napa is fun. It’s like you’re driving through the set of that old TV show Falcon Crest.”
Tracy said, “I’m okay with that. Maybe I’ll find Lorenzo Lamas wandering among the grapes. Would it be okay if I pet Swoosie? I love Samoyeds—and she’s adorable.”
Michael nodded and Jan said, “Actually, the exterior shots of Falcon Crest were filmed at the historic Spring Mountain Winery, which is near St. Helena. The Victorian mansion from the show is called Miravalle. You could still visit it when the TV show was on, but the winery changed hands and now it’s closed to the public.”
Tracy crouched down to dig her fingers into the deep soft fur on Swoosie’s ruff. “That’s too bad.” She looked up at Jan. “I’d love to see the real Falcon Crest house.”
“You never know. Maybe they’ll open it up again someday,” Jan said.
Michael pointed at Kat, “So did you decide what to name the boarding kennel yet?”
Kat said, “Well, Maria suggested Poopenbarker’s, which technically may be accurate, but I’m leaning toward Wag on Inn, which sounds a little more welcoming. She turned to Joel. “Could you put Roxy’s crate in the house? I’m going to show Jan and Michael the new, improved door to the Tessa Hut.” She waved toward the outbuilding. “Come on.”
Joel got the crate, and Jan and Michael followed Kat and the dogs across the driveway to the outbuilding, leaving Tracy and Rob standing next to The Turd.
Tracy looked at Rob. “I guess Roxy still gets to be a special inside dog.”
“You don’t really think she’d put up with staying outside, do you?”
She grinned. “No. And there are no pots and pans to play with out there. What would she do?”
“I’m sure she’d think of something.”
Chapter 15
Epilogue
Two weeks later, Rob and Tracy were walking Roxy down the main street of Alpine Grove. Tracy recognized Michael, who was standing outside the former real estate office. He had his hands in his pockets and was staring at the large plate-glass window.
Tracy waved. “Hi Michael. It’s nice to see you again.”
He turned and gave them a welcoming smile. “Hi, you guys. How was Napa?”
“Better connected now.” Rob said. “It was a fun trip, but it’s good to be back home.”
Tracy stopped and convinced Roxy to pause in her march down the sidewalk. “Yes, it was the best trip ever! Hey, I never asked you. Where were you going? Someplace fun?”
“Russia.” Michael waved his arms expansively. “It was incredible. Jan did research on all the history about the places we went. It was like having my own tour guide.”
“It was for work. One of my clients is based there and I talked Jan into coming with me.”
“That wouldn’t take much convincing for me,” Tracy said.
“You’d be surprised. But we had fun.” He grinned and raised his arms in a gesture of victory. “And the best part is that Kat is still speaking to me, so Swoosie must have behaved herself.”
Tracy laughed and looked down at Roxy, who was sniffing at a particularly fascinating leaf on the sidewalk. “Yeah, so did Roxy! Or Kat just didn’t tell me if Roxy did something awful. Sometimes she doesn’t.”
Michael nodded. “Yeah, she told me Joel decided to take up running. I’m pretty sure Swoosie helped with that decision.”
Tracy pulled Roxy back over to her. “So you have a client in Russia? What do you do?”
“I’m in advertising.” Michael inclined his head toward the building. “This will be our office after I get some work done on it. I was wondering what your contract was about, actually. It sounded like a good thing. Congratulations.”
Rob said, “We’re creating a data-driven web site about Alpine Grove. It will connect to the local multiple-listing service and show houses for sale.” He waved his hand. “And a bunch of other stuff. We’re just starting on the project. We need to find office space.”
Tracy gestured toward the gift store. “We tried setting up one computer in my apartment and it didn’t go well. We have a spatial-relations situation. Either we can sleep or use the computer. It’s complicated and a lot of cords are involved.”
Michael pointed at the brick wall in front of them. “I just bought this building. My offices will be downstairs, but the upstairs has offices that I’ll be renting. I can’t put up the sign until the sale is final and I get the keys.”
Tracy looked up at the two-story structure. She had always thought of it as “the old Frederickson’s,” since years ago it had housed a department store by that name. “You bought the entire building?”
Michael said, “Yeah. I was going to rent space, but then my house in San Diego sold. So I decided to invest.”
“That must have been some house,” Rob said.
“It was nice and right near the beach. But I was ready to leave.” Michael looked at Rob, then at Tracy. “Maybe we could talk about web sites sometime. I’m working on the marketing plan for that client in Russia. They make vodka, and we’ve been talking about getting the business online. It’s a global company and they’re excited about the whole world-wide aspect of the web.”
Rob smiled. “Sure. Any time. And we’re definitely interested in the office space too.”
“Okay. The place should be mine in about a week. Feel free to stop by then and take a look.”
Tracy and Rob agreed and continued down the street, holding hands. Roxy charged ahead of them, her feathery tail waving happily in the breeze. They went up the stairs to the apartment and Tracy unlocked the door. Roxy rushed in and stood by her food bowl. Ignoring the dog’s plaintive look, Tracy examined the painting on the easel. “I know what it’s missing.”
Rob sat on the floor and turned on the laptop. “You should finish it.”
She pulled out paints from the box and picked up her paintbrush. She began working as Rob quietly tapped the keys on the laptop.
A few minutes later, she stepped back from the easel and put down her brush. Rob looked up at her. “Done?”
“Yes. It’s finally done.”
He extracted himself from under the coffee table and walked over to stand next to her. They gazed at the painting, which was a landscape showing the view over the lake from a rocky ledge. Tracy had added two people holding hands silhouetted at the edge of the outcropping.
Rob put his arm around her shoulders. “You really captured the feel of the place. What are you going to call it?”
“The Heart Never Lies.”
Rob wrapped her in his arms and kissed her. “That sounds like a greeting card.”
“Maybe. But it’s true.”
Thanks for Reading
Thank you for dedicating some of your reading time to The Art of Wag. I hope you enjoyed the adventures with Tracy, Rob, and Kat and I wanted you to know that I’ll be writing more books that will feature Kat, Joel and various other residents of Alpine Grove who bring dogs to the new boarding kennel. Be sure to keep an eye out for the fourth novel, Snow Furries.
If you would like to be notified by email when I release a new book, you can sign up for my New Releases email list at SusanDaffron.com.
I know that not everyone likes to write book reviews, but if you are willing write a sentence or two about what you thought of The Art of Wag, I encourage you to post a review at your favorite book vendor site or share a message with your social networking friends.
If you would like to share your thoughts about the book with me privately, you can reach me through the contact page on the SusanDaffron.com web site.
I look forward to hearing from you!
~ Susan C. Daffron
Like all of my books, The Art of Wag is dedicated to
my husband James Byrd,
my best friend and biggest supporter.
Thanks for everything!
Acknowledgements
Writing a novel is never easy and I’d like to thank my husband James Byrd for his support and encouragement throughout the writing and publishing process.
Thanks also go to Daniel R. Marvello and Caroline Grimm for their contributions to the scene that includes the name of the boarding kennel. (Kat thanks you too.)
I’d also like to thank my alpha and beta readers for their eagle-eyed reading and great feedback:
James Byrd
Cynthia Daffron
Dian Chapman
Kathy Goughenour
Kate Turner
Finally, a special kudos to our ancient Coleman generator for providing electricity during an extended power outage. Being able to use my computer definitely aided in the completion of the manuscript.
About the Author
Susan Daffron is the author of the Alpine Grove Romantic Comedies, a series of novels that feature residents of the small town of Alpine Grove and their various quirky dogs and cats. She is also an award-winning author of many nonfiction books, including several about pets and animal rescue. She lives in a small town in northern Idaho and shares her life with her husband, two dogs and a cat—the last three, all “rescues.”