Rafe’s phone rings, and he picks it up on his watch, speaking via his EarPods.
“Rafe here.”
He glances at the small dog that has begun to chase him as he paces, nipping at his heels. The dog is ostensibly the reason why he doesn’t want to open the door to go back outside. He paces by the glass doors like a caged lion as he speaks.
I pour his mom some coffee and hand it to her, along with some organic honey I found in the pantry.
“You might like it with a little honey,” I say.
“Good call.” She takes the coffee, sniffs it, and nods appreciatively. “And thanks. This smells wonderful.”
We both look over at Rafe, who has stopped pacing now.
“Great. Oh, thank God. When can he come over? Today?”
He pauses and bends to stroke Princess. I can see some of the tension melting off him.
“Great. We’ll be here all day. Tell him thank you. And also, no video or photos. I’ll need him to sign the standard NDA.”
Rafe hangs up the phone.
“Who was that?” his mom asks.
“It was a volunteer from the shelter,” he says, looking pointedly at me. “Girl by the name of Kenna. Said she found a trainer who could work with Princess. His name is Xander. He’s going to come over later today.”
Oh, shit. What has my evil twin done now?
“That’s great,” says his mom. “Why don’t you go take a shower and get dressed. And then you have to try these pancakes Lorelei made.” She helps herself to a little piece of pancake from Orly’s plate. “They’re oddly delicious. Lorelei, you wouldn’t mind whipping up some more for us, would you? I’m suddenly famished.”
lorelei
“Good Lord,Lorelei, what have you done?” Georgia moans, looking at the row of dressed-up stuffed animals on top of the pet clothing rounder. “This is a pet boutique, not Build-a-Bear.”
“Well, I thought it would be cute if people could see how the costumes looked on actual animals,” I huff, undressing the stuffed unicorn I put in the pirate costume. Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth. I was expecting her to be delighted when she got here, and I’d already spiffed up her boring display. I’d had the stuffies shipped priority, early morning delivery.
“Look, Lorelei. I know your heart is in the right place, but I’d prefer not to use random, stuffed animals to represent people’s actual pets.”
She speaks to me simply, like I’m the slow student in class. Not that I’d know, being homeschooled. But it was how the teacher onMoxiespoke to my idiot sidekick. I feel my face flush and take a deep breath to control it. I’m an actress. I don’t wear my feelings on my face.
But the deep breath doesn’t help. In fact, I feel the sting of tears threatening. This is the second time in two days I’ve lost it like this. I probably need more sleep.
“Hey now, I do really, really love what you did with the leashes,” Georgia says as she pats me on the shoulder. “And you’re right. It would be better if people could see some of the outfits on a more generic animal. Maybe there’s a mannequin or two I could order. That’s a really good idea.”
“It’s fine,” I say. “I’ll just donate these to a shelter or something.”Except I’m totally keeping the walrus. I already named him Wally.
“What do you have planned for today?” Georgia asks.
“I was hoping you’d help me out with that,” I admit. “I’ve got the day off. I have no idea what Kenna would normally do.”
“Kenna never takes days off. She can’t stand sitting still.”
“Does she belong to a gym?” I ask hopefully. Maybe I can get in a good workout and sauna.
“Ha!” Georgia snorts. “That’s a good one. I didn’t mean that kind of not sitting still. I mean, she’s always doing stuff. Volunteering at the shelter, taking pet portraits, working at a food bank, taking food over to the senior center …”
“She sounds like a saint. Does she ever do anything else?”
“She hangs out here a lot.” Georgia casts a glance back at the chair that’s still shoved in the corner.
