She exhales. Her hand shakes as she reaches toward mine, taking the treat at the end of it. Holding it with her thumb and index finger as lightly as possible, she brings it near the fence.
“Tell him to be gentle,” I say.
“Be gentle,” she tells Rex. Her voice shakes. The big dog stiffens, pointy ears focusing like antennas on her voice. He leans forward, doing as he’s told, and gently takes the treat from her hand. She giggles. “Good job, Rex!”
The treat is devoured in half a second. Rex wags his tail for more. “Can I give him another one?”
I hand her another lamb stick. “Looks like she’s warming up to you, Rex.”
She kneels down, getting to the dog’s eye level, and presses the treat through the fencing again. “Wait, is there more back there?” she says, peering through the doggie door at the back of Rex’s indoor kennel.
“Come see,” I say.
She follows me, telling Rex he’s a good boy as we walk out of the building. The kennel building has a connected kennel run,a fenced in grassy area where the dogs can run and play safely then come back into the indoor area through a doggie door. Rex follows us outside, tail wagging happily as we walk down the length of the fence.
“This is a really nice set up,” Charlotte says.
“We have space for three more dogs,” I say, gesturing to the other kennels. “One day I plan to add more buildings, maybe even ten or twelve. We can fill them with dogs who need homes and work hard to find them all perfect families for their retirement.”
“That’s a very noble goal,” she says. It’s not too hot outside, but her forehead glistens with sweat. Maybe she’s more fearful of Rex than she lets on.
“How about we go get some lunch?” I ask, clapping my hands together in front of my chest. “I’m starving. I’ll drive us.”
“No thanks,” she says, glancing at her smart watch. “I’m actually still on the clock.”
“You get a lunch break, don’t you?” I nod toward the house. “Let’s go inside and I’ll make you a mean BLT.”
“I’m good,” she says, wiggling her leg to pull her sharp heel out of the grass. “I think I’ve seen all I need to see for now. I’ll head back to the office and get started on…well…everything.” She glances at her clipboard and swallows. “Is this a good email for you?”
She taps my email address which is printed on the outside of the folder. “Yep. That’s my number, too. Call or text anytime.”
“Great,” she says, all back to business. “Thanks for the tour. I’ll be in touch.”
And then just like that, the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen—not that it matters—walks right back to her car, leaving this whole damn property feeling a little emptier.
chapter five
Charlotte
No other event has ever made me wish for a bigger desk at work but here I am, desk covered in papers and sticky notes and two paper coffee cups, and I’m wondering why Jenny put us all in one room with these small desks! We couldn’t have had cubicles with L-shaped desks for more room? At this point, I need an entire NASA laboratory to do all the planning that needs to be done for Alden Brothers K9.
Jenny’s heelsclick, click, clickas she ventures out of her nice, spacious office, and walks over to the coffee bar.
I peel off sticky notes from the edge of my computer monitor and try to arrange them. Every new idea I have goes on a sticky note. My coworkers tend to type everything but I’m a paper person. My memory works better and my thoughts feel more organized when I write them all down.
With a fresh coffee cup in hand, Jenny stops in front of my desk. “Girl, what happened here?”
I heave a sigh. “You dumped Felony Melanie’s work on me at the last minute and now I’m planning a huge event with next to no time.”
She rolls her eyes. “Don’t work harder than the job requires, Charlotte.”
I heave another sigh as she walks back to her office. Maybe she’s a little bit right, here. I’m an event planner, not a miracle worker. If this were another cat wedding, I wouldn’t feel the need to stress out so much. But Alden Brothers K9 has an important mission and this is a big night for Caleb. I don’t want to let him down, even if this is a mess I didn’t start.
It’s been two days and I’ve secured three more donors. Two local businesses came in at the five thousand dollar level, which I’ve deemed the Silver level, and the third, a mobile pet groomer, donated five hundred dollars. I’ve reached out to dozens more potential donors, so I’m waiting to let Caleb know until I have even better news.
I work until just before noon, and my brain feels overwhelmed. My body feels itchy. I think I’m just sick of sitting here at my messy desk while my coworkers have a seemingly much easier time working on their simpler events. They seem to talk so much louder today than usual, and everyone is in a great, bubbly mood while I’m over here stressing my butt off all by myself. I pinch the bridge of my nose and try to focus.
While talking to one of our vendors for table rentals, I realize I never measured the interior of the barn so I can’t order anything until I know it’ll fit. I apologize to the sales lady and tell her I’ll call her back, then I pull up an email to Caleb and type out my request for him to measure the space. I stop short of sending it.
