Page 37 of Sweet Devotion

“Right.” Aiden nodded. Why did he feel like Alice falling down the rabbit hole in Wonderland? “Colleen and I will hit all the wine booths. Someone should probably find her favorite treat and set it out. She might come back on her own if she picks up the scent of a treat.”

“Oh,” Abigail clapped her hands together. “She does love her chopped liver.”

“Okay. She can’t have gone that far.” Aiden stretched out his arm and snatched Colleen’s hand in his. “We’ll find her.”

A few feet from the table, Aiden leaned into Colleen. “Am I dreaming?”

“If you are, I’m having the same dream.”

The two nearly doubled over with laughter. After all, didn’t everyone spend their Saturday afternoons at the festival chasing down a poofy dog with a penchant for wine and chopped liver?

The minute they were out of Abigail’s hearing range, Colleen lost the battle and hands on her knees, bent over laughing.

Aiden lasted exactly one second longer before joining her. “Cauliflower,” he wheezed. “Who names a dog cauliflower?”

“She didn’t.” Colleen pressed one hand to her stomach. “Her husband did. She only thought it sounded exotic. I believe she didn’t talk to her husband for a year or two when she found out he’d not picked a romantic French name but a vegetable.”

“Lucky man,” he teased.

That set her off again. When she finally straightened, fanning herself with one hand, Aiden watched her with that half grin that made her feel far too light for a woman who ought to know better. “You done?”

“Not even close, but I can walk and laugh at the same time.”

“Good. Because if that little dog is really missing, we’d better find her before Abigail starts drafting a funeral program.”

Still laughing, they headed toward the nearest row of booths. Colleen didn’t have to think about it; they’d already fallen into a rhythm. He scanned ahead, quick and practical. She watched faces and listened for scraps of useful information.

At the lemonade stand, she asked, “Have either of you seen a tiny white Pomeranian?”

The high school girl at the till blinked. “A small white dog barked at my brother.”

“Did she go anywhere after that?” Colleen asked.

“She chased a balloon.”

Aiden looked up at the sky.

Colleen bit the inside of her cheek. “A balloon?”

The girl pointed. “Pink. She really wanted it.”

“Of course she did.” Aiden bit back another laugh.

Next stop, several onlookers claimed to have seen Shoo Shoo. None of them agreed on where.

“She went that way.”

“No, she was under the duck pond table.”

“I thought she belonged to that cheerleader.”

“She tried to steal my corn dog.”

“Actually,” the kettle corn woman interrupted, “she only sniffed at it. Then she sneezed and left.”

By the time they circled back toward the center of the field, Abigail had acquired an audience and was standing on tiptoe waving both arms. “Choufleur!”

Several heads turned.