Beauty and the Wiener

by Casey Griffin

  “Of course,” Addison answered. “Anything.”

  He clenched his cane, his knuckles turning white. “You can stay away from this dog.”

  Turning to Naia, Alistair handed her back the pink coupon. “Thank you, my dear. But I won’t be needing this.”

  Naia took it back with a pouty lip, but he patted her on the head kindly. He whistled through his teeth, such a loud and startling noise from the quiet, mild-mannered man. Addison flinched at the sound.

  “Come on, Fancy.” Placing his hat back on his head, he dipped it briefly at Addison in a farewell that looked like an involuntary twitch.

  As he walked away, Addison couldn’t take her eyes off of the English foxhound. She was no dog show judge, but she’d seen a lot of dogs come through her spa, and even a layman could see that Fancy was utterly perfect. So how could he think she wasn’t ready? Maybe he was blinded by his love for Lilly.

  Naia stared at the unwanted coupon in her hands. “He didn’t want a clean dog?”

  Alistair might have had a backup dog already waiting to replace the old one, but Addison knew he couldn’t be a suspect. He had the most to lose out of everyone. By stealing his own dog, he’d never be able to show Lilly in public anywhere, certainly not at a conformation show, ever again. While Felix was the one who knew people in general, Addison knew dog owners. And Alistair was one sad pup.

  “No,” she said, watching Alistair leave. “I think that dog is clean.”

  21

  A Dog’s Life

  Princess Addison lay slumbering on her bed of flowers, trapped in a deep sleep, awaiting her prince to wake her with a kiss. She sensed him draw near. For even though she was unable to open her eyes, she knew it was him. She felt it resound deep in her bones like the promise of destiny.

  He dipped down to lay a kiss on her full lips, and she felt his heat warm her, his sweet breath on her face, and finally that magical kiss. The one that trumps all others, a kiss so honest and true. The one.

  Startled, Addison’s eyes flicked open and she let out a yelp. Her arms flew out. The palm of her hand connected with flesh in a loud thwack.

  “Ouch!” the prince cried.

  Heart racing, Addison blinked her dream away and focused on the reality around her. She wasn’t lying on a bed of flowers but on a threadbare floral couch in a living room not her own. And that was most certainly not her one true love. It was Felix.

  He rubbed the bright pink spot on his cheek where her stinging palm told her she’d slapped him.

  Addison struggled to sit up and look around her. It was strange not to find Princess curled up next to her. She suddenly remembered she was at Felix’s house, and she’d dropped Princess off at home, but her foggy brain was still dwelling on the feel of his lips on hers.

  “Morning, Sleeping Beauty,” he said, with a scowl.

  Her eyes bulged. Had she been talking in her sleep or had he just read her mind? “What did you say?” She squinted through one eye, blinded by the light from the TV screen saver.

  “Although right about now, I’d like to take back the beauty part.”

  She touched her lips. “You kissed me.”

  “It’s not like it was the first time.” He looked away and shrugged. “You looked kind of cute lying there. You know when your mouth was closed and you weren’t annoying me.”

  “Annoying?” She was staring at him, bewildered by the change in the usual cocky bartender. Like he was almost embarrassed or shy.

  “Where’s Naia?” he asked.

  She yawned. “Who?”

  “My daughter? About yay tall.” He held his hand up to his hip. “Big brown eyes, a hell of a sharp attitude. Kind of like yours, actually.”

  “Naia.” Addison’s blurry focus flicked to the heap of blankets and pillows at the other end of the couch. They’d constructed them into a fort to watch movies from. But Naia wasn’t there.

  “Naia?” Addison tore apart the mini-fort like maybe the little girl was smaller than she remembered. “I swear she was sleeping right here. I don’t know. I just closed my eyes for a second.”

  “She’s not in her room,” he said. “I checked.”

  Felix sounded a lot calmer than she felt. He’d left his daughter with her for less than a day and she’d lost her. First show dogs and now a child. Maybe she should go to jail.

  Addison began searching the room. Naia couldn’t have gotten far, right? Could you put leashes on kids? No—she shook her head—she wasn’t a dog.

  Felix watched her quietly from the middle of the living room. When she turned around, her eyes wide with fear, he laughed. When she realized he was laughing at her, she scowled.

  “Don’t worry.” He held his hands up, trying to rein in his amusement, although she didn’t find it very funny. “I think I might know where she is.”

  Felix ducked into the kitchen and headed for the back entrance where Oliver’s kennel sat in the corner. As Felix got closer, Addison noticed a furry tail twitch back and forth, but the dog didn’t leave the safety of his kennel to greet his master. Once she got closer, she saw why; two tiny feet were dangling out of the opening.

  Addison peered inside. Naia had crawled into the kennel to curl up against Oliver’s warm flank. Her head nestled against him, her small hand curled over a clump of his belly fur. It looked rather painful for Oliver, really, but he didn’t seem to mind.

  The dog held still while Felix reached in and drew his daughter out. The jostling roused her but only enough for her to clamp two little arms around Felix’s neck.

  Addison followed them back into the living room and waited at the base of the stairs while he carried Naia up to tuck her in. Before he came back down, she checked herself in the mirror on the wall and fixed her couch hair.

  She quickly tidied up the fort, folding blankets and rearranging pillows. When she turned around to switch off the TV, Felix was at the door watching her.

  Addison hit the power button on the remote. “So, you have a daughter,” she said, like it was just small talk.

  “You’ve noticed,” he said, just as casually.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Some women get kind of freaked out when you mention you’re a single dad.” He shrugged but then pulled a guilty face, or maybe it was a little more dejected. Clearly he’d had more than one girl run out on him because of it.

  Addison nodded. She couldn’t blame him for keeping it a secret.

  “She’s my angel,” he said. “My everything. She’s the reason I want to buy my buddy’s bar so badly.”

  “Owning your own business is tough,” she said. “It has its perks, but it’s tough.”

  “Well, it’s the perks I’m doing it for.” He crossed the living room and flopped onto the couch. “Like being able to schedule my own hours so I can spend more time with her, be here to put her to bed every night, send her off to school every day next year. I don’t want to pay a babysitter to raise my own kid.” He stared at his hands, and it was clear to Addison that he’d thought long and hard about his goals.

  “You’re a good dad,” she said. “You want to be there for her. Not just for the big things like putting a roof over her head and dinner on the table. You really want to be there.” It brought to mind her own dad and how hard he’d worked to raise her and provide for her.

  “Shouldn’t I?” he asked, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

  “Not all parents do. My mom never did.” She shrugged at the tenderness that flickered in his eyes at the comment. “She’s a lucky girl to have you in her life. I hope you get your bar.”

  “I know it won’t be easy, but it will be worth it,” he said. “Or at least it would have been. Every day that I lose another gig is less money I have for the down payment.”

  He rubbed a hand over his face and let it rest there until she thought he’d fallen asleep. She supposed the double shift that day might have something to do with that.

  “Don’t talk like that,” she said. “I
t’s going to happen. There’s still time. For both of us.” She sat down next to him, catching a whiff of sweet alcohol on his skin and clothes.

  “We’ll clear our names, and you’ll get all the work you could want this weekend,” she said with certainty. “People will feel so bad that they wrongly accused you, they will shower you with tips. And I’ll have a full house for the fashion show and everyone will want to order my fabulous designs.”

  When he still hadn’t looked at her, she laid a hand on his hunched back. “Everything will work out for both of us. You’ll see.”

  His tired head finally swiveled to take in her upbeat smile. “Okay Miss Positivity, Sunshine, and Rainbows. How are we going to accomplish this feat?”

  “We’re going to keep looking. We won’t give up.” She brought a determined fist down against her palm. “Okay, let’s review. What do we know so far?”

  “Well, we’re still on the fence about Kitty Carlisle. And we can scratch Julia Edwards off the list since Precious was stolen.”

  “Oh,” Addison interrupted. “I ran into Alistair Yates at the dog park today.”

  “The dog park?” Felix cringed. “That’s depressing.”

  “No he had a dog with him.”

  “A new dog? He moved on quick.”

  “Turns out he’s always had this one. He just didn’t think she was ready to compete. He still seems so shaken up over Lilly.” She sighed, recalling his depressed demeanor in the park. “So who do we have left?”

  “Well, if the motive is to simply steal the dogs for financial gain, whether it’s for breeding or reselling them, then we have less to go on.”

  “Have you heard anything about your coworkers?” Addison asked hopefully. “Any of the servers?”

  “Well, the servers certainly had access, but I was the manager. If they weren’t pulling their weight or disappeared to steal dogs, I would have known. Besides, on their own, they don’t exactly have the resources to pull it off.”

  “They could have had help.”

  “I know.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “And if that’s the case, then the possibilities are endless.”

  “Well, during the first two events, the dogs were taken as a group. Gathered together, they were an easy target. But Precious was the only one taken from my spa. Someone had to go out of their way for just one dog.”

  Felix grew quiet as he considered this. “What if they didn’t have to go that far out of their way?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You told me that Melody was there just before I showed up. What if she came back?”

  Addison wanted to deny it, to stick up for Melody. But she knew it was a possibility, and lying to herself wouldn’t help them figure things out.

  “It’s possible,” she relented. “But it wouldn’t explain the missing dogs from Phillip’s fundraiser. Maybe we should be assuming the thief is someone who either has a vendetta against the show or is desperate to win it themselves.”

  “You mean someone who wants to make sure they win Best of Breed.”

  “Or maybe even Best in Show.”

  Felix picked at a loose thread on the couch cushion. “It would definitely shorten up our list. It may be our best bet.”

  “So whoever wins is probably the culprit because if they’ve gone this far, they’ll have ensured that they’ve taken out their major competitors.”

  “But the winner won’t be decided until Sunday,” he said. “It will be too late then. I won’t get my money and you’ll have no models or audience for your fashion show.”

  “Not to mention the dog owners won’t have their competitors back for the show.” She ran her fingers through her hair and gripped it like that would help her think. “Well, we can at least keep going with some of the other names on the list that still have dogs. I know it’s scraping the bottom of the kennel, but we’ve got to try something.”

  “I’m free on Wednesday,” he said. “My babysitter’s available that day.”

  “Okay. It’s a date.” She felt a flutter of excitement in her chest, and she hesitated. “Well, not a date.”

  His eyelids lowered seductively. “If you want a date, Addy, all you have to do is ask.”

  It always surprised her how he could go from all business to fun and games—oh, lots of fun—in a blink of her jet-black waterproof eyelashes. Not to mention how quickly her body reacted.

  “Well,” he said. “On second thought, maybe a little begging couldn’t hurt.”

  She answered him with a sour look. Only the slight smirk gave away her excitement.

  “Okay, no begging,” he said, backtracking. “You just have to ask.” When she didn’t reply, he said. “Suggest? Allude to? Hint? Okay, okay, just wink right now if you want a date.” He was nearly begging her, wearing down her resolve. It was actually pretty cute, making him seem like a big softie.

  Suddenly, he reached out and drew her close to him on the couch. She accidentally rubbed against his jeans and retracted the idea that he was soft. He was definitely not soft.

  “Hey,” she said, holding a hand up between them.

  “But you winked,” he said innocently.

  She laughed. “No. I blinked. It’s what eyes do sometimes.”

  “I like to think of it as two winks at the exact same time. Even better.”

  He dove for her neck, but she pushed him away. “You have a daughter sleeping right upstairs, and all you can think about is getting some action?”

  “She’s asleep. And I’m not looking to get some action.” His tone tainted the words like they were the sticky film of alcohol coating his bar top.

  “Then what are you looking for?” It just flew out of her mouth. It seemed like the most natural thing to say. The thing she’d wondered for days now.

  Felix’s scowl slipped away. He was staring at her with that same apprehension he wore that morning when he revealed he had a daughter. He looked so rejected.

  “Something … more.”

  “Daddy?” Naia’s voice drifted down the stairs.

  “Coming sweetheart!” Felix called back.

  He seemed to snap out of it, his confidence settling back in place as he stood up. The confidence of a parent that had his crap together and was sure of his one true job in life.

  “So we’ll continue our search on Wednesday?”

  “Fine,” she said, feeling ripped out of some kind of moment. “I’ll have another look at our suspect list tonight. Maybe I can come up with a few more.”

  She bit her lip for a moment. They were running out of suspects, and one name kept nagging at her. There was no time left to skirt around it. “What about your friend Red Bra?”

  Felix was already headed for the stairs, but he froze at the bottom. “Charlotte? I told you she didn’t do it.”

  Addison crossed her arms. “Why? Because you say so?”

  “Because I know her. I know she wouldn’t do this to a bunch of pets. To me.”

  She didn’t like the way he said it, with such familiarity. She felt a flare of possessiveness. She wasn’t about to give in. “I just want to be thorough.”

  Turning back, he moved toward her. “Are you”—a slow smiled crept across his lips—“jealous?”

  “Jealous? Of her? Ha!” Addison tried to laugh for real, but she couldn’t make it sound that way because the words stung. He was right. She was jealous.

  He crossed his own arms, mirroring her determination. “Well, if you want to be thorough, then the next name on our list should be Phillip Montgomery the third. He was at both events. Hell, the second event was at his house. And he could have easily found out the time of Julia’s appointment at your spa.”

  Addison twitched at that, remembering her conversation with Julia at Phillip’s fundraiser. They had discussed the exact time and date of her appointment right in front of him. She shook her head. “No. It’s not possible.”

  “Not to mention,” Felix continued, “he’s one of the last key competitors who still has a dog
to compete in the show.”

  Addison laughed as if it were a joke. “He’s not going on the list.”

  But that little line between his brows deepened. “Why? Because you say so?” He threw the words back at her.

  “Because I know him.”

  “You don’t know him. You only know what you’ve created in here.” He tapped the side of her blonde head.

  She swiped his hand away. “That is not true.” Then she remembered her conversation with her friends just that morning over breakfast. But as good as Felix was at reading people, he couldn’t read her mind. It ticked her off that he thought he could. And even more so because he was right.

  “Just because you have the hots for Phillip doesn’t mean he’s innocent,” he said. “Maybe he’s just getting close to you in order to set you up. To use you as a scapegoat. You ever think of that?”

  “That’s ridiculous.” Addison stormed over to the kitchen table and grabbed her purse to leave.

  Felix gripped her arm to stop her from taking off. “Think about it. The dogs disappeared the night of the mixer while you were dancing with him.”

  “So he couldn’t have done it because he was too busy gazing longingly into my eyes.” She batted her eyelashes facetiously.

  “He might have had an accomplice. Phillip was distracting you.”

  Addison yanked her arm away, but Felix was too strong. “Phillip got major heat over the dogs getting stolen from his house.”

  “Which is exactly why he invited you,” he reasoned. “To take some of the focus off him.”

  “So I guess that’s the only way a guy like him would be interested in me?” She was glad she’d turned off the TV or the light would be sparkling off the tears building in her eyes.

  “He’s just using you.” Felix’s grip tightened. “There’s nothing there between you. Can’t you see?”

  She narrowed her eyes, her nose an inch away from his. “You’re just jealous.”

  “Jealous? Of that pompous asshole? Ha!” But his laugh didn’t sound real either.

  “Daddy!” Naia called again.

  “Coming!” he yelled back. “Don’t go anywhere.” He pointed a finger at Addison, like he could be talking to anyone else. “We’re not done talking about this.”