“Alright, easy.” Sebastian shook out his hand at his side and scratched Honey’s head up. “You almost drew blood with that one.”
Toy bear latched between her jaws, she pressed her front paws to the ground, lifted her butt into the air, and wagged her tail.
“Do you need me to hold her?” I asked.
“Nah, I got it.”
He rummaged in his bag and came out with the prefilled syringe in his palm, covered in a handful of treats. Honey rushed over, nose moving like a bee after a flower. He tossed the treats a few feet across the floor. She ran to them. At lightning speed,while she gobbled them down, Sebastian jammed the needle into her flank.
She didn’t so much as flinch.
Watching the two of them in awe, I shook my head. “I don’t know how you do it.”
“Hell of a lot easier with a chunker.” He gave her flank one more pet, smoothing down her fur, and rose from his knees. “The dogs who aren’t food motivated make everything harder.”
“Honey’d eat herself to death if I let her.” I stood with him and reached for my purse on the table. “The usual eighty?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Hands in his pockets, he pressed his lips together. “Unless you wanna make a barter?”
Slowly, I set my wallet back into my purse. “What kinda barter?”
“Well, you know Lizzie.”
“I do know Lizzie,” I said.
Lizzie was Sebastian’s preteen niece. The whole backstory and how he'd wound up with custody of her? No idea. But she was around the ranch on her days off from school while Sebastian worked with Rhiannon’s animals. She was friends with a few of the teens who lived in the apartments in town.
“She sort of—” Sebastian scratched his head and grimaced. “She’s not welcome back at her music school.”
I choked on a laugh and set my purse down. “What the hell’d she do?”
“Nothing serious. Just some inappropriate verbiage she used with a teacher.”
“That checks out.”
“Yeah, so I’m looking for someone to help her with her winter piano recital.” He nodded out the window. “Rhiannon has her on the solo performance list. But she still needs help with a couple songs, and I know how good you are behind the keys, so I just thought, I don’t know. Maybe you’d be down to make some extracash? I’d rather it go to a teacher she likes anyway. And you guys get along.”
Huh. I squinted at him. While most of my expenses were covered here at the ranch, my nine-to-five didn’t pay the greatest. Like all the other girls here, I was working on building up a nest egg to start a business of my own someday.
“I’m not gonna turn it down.” I leaned against the dinette table. “But I’m not really a teacher.”
“Yeah, I know. But she already knows how to play.” He spoke quickly, hands still jammed into his pockets. Opposed to his usual perfect posture, he slouched the slightest bit. “She’s been playing since kindergarten. Just needs a little guidance when she’s taking on a new song.”
That, I could understand. “In that case, sure. I’m down. What day and time is good for you guys?”
“Her usual lessons were every other Friday at 7, but if that doesn’t work for you, we can figure something else out.”
“I’m usually off by 5 on Fridays, so that’s perfect.”
“Awesome. Great.” Nodding quickly, he raked a hand through his shoulder-length brown waves. “I paid the school two hundred a lesson. So I figured I’d just give that to you?”
“Minus Honey’s shot.” I wasn’t one for handouts. The very reason it’d taken me years longer than it should’ve to wind up in any women’s shelter. “That’s the barter, right?”
“That’s the barter. And uh, I don’t know. Maybe we could go get something to eat after? Just, ya know, my way of saying thanks.”
I cocked my head to the side. “Me, you, and Lizzie?”
“I, uh—I was thinking just me and you. But sure, yeah. If you want Lizzie to come.” He nodded quickly again, throat bobbing with a swallow. “Yeah, that’s fine.”
