Page 50 of All For You

I grabbed Max and hurried outside. This would be fun, and a rare chance for me to shine for the viewers. I was still annoyed with myself about losing it in the cooking competition yesterday. I needed to appear sane and pleasant to placate clubhousedonors. Try not to get too distracted by Lizzy’s beautiful dark eyes and her playful manner.

“Okay, Max, sportsmanlike behavior,” I muttered as we ran down the stairs. “And also—crush them without a thought.”

Outside, I caught sight of Harry, the red light on his camera indicating he was already recording. He gave me the thumbs-up, and I grinned, pleased at his support.Let it go.But I could still winandlet it go, right?

Knightley was surrounded by six dogs—one huge, one tiny, one old and drooling. And…oh good lord—was that even a dog? The Balfours had joined us, and they already had Oodles on the leash. I tried to catch Lizzy’s eye, but she was too busy waving Oodles goodbye. Why was Oodles leaving? Max pulled at the leash, wanting to follow him.

Knightley clapped. “Okay. Today, we’ve added a little twist to our event.”

I was trying to listen, but I felt transfixed by the sixth dog.

Said dog had so much going on, it was hard to pinpoint what was so odd about the poor creature. Its tongue was permanently hanging out the side of its mouth. One ear stuck straight up, the other flopped. Head too big for its long body. Legs too short. A fluffy tail that would not have been amiss on a massive Alaskan Malamute.

Oh my God, that was the ugliest dog I’d ever seen.

Knightley gave me a dirty look. Shit, had I said that aloud? The others looked annoyed too.

“In a cute way,” I said, backpedaling.

Wills moved beside me, obviously ready to shut me down.

The most bewildering thing was this dog’s attitude. It smiled all the time, a distinctive upturn at the corners of its mouth. Must be something like a pig, where they looked like they were smiling but they weren’t. And the attitude. The dog was the happiest of joiners. This unfortunate mutt paused at eachperson, tail wagging, jumped up on their legs, and then ran around the other dogs.Yeah, we’re the cool kids, this dog seemed to be saying. The other dogs merely regarded it with annoyance.

Knightley cleared his throat. “We’ve used this opportunity to shine a spotlight on six of our dogs who have not been adopted in months, and for a variety of reasons, one has been with us for…a year.”

Knightley definitely snuck a look at The Dog and then away, as if he were covering up.

The Dog looked up at us all as if to say,Yeah, can you believe it? Gobsmacked.

“What a surprise,” I muttered to myself.

“Shh,” Wills hissed and elbowed me in the ribs.

Hang on, why wasn’t he standing next to Jane? What was going on? He wasn’t even looking at her. He was pointedlynotlooking at her. Now she was walking over. Did he stiffen? No, I must have imagined it.

“We are hoping viewers will meet these wonderful creatures—” Knightley swooped a hand at them as though they’d all won prizes for beauty and stamina “—see how friendly they are, what wonderful dispositions they have, and offer them a new forever home.”

“Not bloody likely, mate,” I muttered, looking away as The Dog lay down and licked itself. Everyone else, similarly transfixed by The Dog, looked away.

“Darcy,” William scolded under his breath. Back to being old Wills. I was clearly imagining this new attitude toward Jane.

“Okay, we have assigned one dog to each of you today for the training,” Knightley announced.

“What? No, no, no,” I blurted. “Max and I have been practicing.” Shit. Should not have said that. This place, this weekend, was seriously messing up my cool.

“I’m confused,” Knightley said in front of the camera. “Why would you be practicing?”

I needed good public opinion to complete the kids’ clubhouse. And I was ballsing it up again. If I had any question whether anyone had noticed my faux pas, the resident barometer, Harry, paced toward me.

I gave him what I hoped was a plaintive look.I thought we were mates?

He shrugged back.But you insist on being a right spanner,so here we are.

Turning my shoulder slightly to the camera, I gave Knightley a hard look. He knew bloody well I’d been practicing the course with Max so I could win. He may have been a softy when it came to animals, but he certainly didn’t intend to let this human man off the hook.

“Carry on,” I said. Couldn’t we get through this morning? Jane joined Wills, and he moved away from her, closer to me. Or was I imagining that?

I surveyed the available dogs. The old rheumy dog was the only one whose legs were long enough to make it over the jump. Maybe.