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“Why? I haven’t been sick.”
“Oh, Nate, I’ve just been so busy with this big deal I’ve been working on and it’s like my head has been in the sand. I just saw the Youtube video! What the hell! How did that happen?”
“I have no idea. I suppose one of the diners must have taped my proposal.”
“Well, I’m not going to let them get away with it. I’m going to sue his or her ass for every penny they have. Let’s see how funny they think that is!”
Nate counted to five. “How have you been, Jessica? I hope everything is going well for you.”
“What? Oh, work is work and that’s helped some, but…the truth is, I miss you terribly.”
He had no idea how to respond to that. Luckily, he didn’t have to. Lola Davies came into his office. She stood by the open door, silent as a mummy with her hands on her hips, which was code for she wanted to speak to him.
“Sorry to interrupt you, Romeo, but your sister is here to see you.”
Lanie was here to see him in the middle of the day? That usually meant she was up to something. “Jessica, I need to go.”
“Hold on, I need to tell you—”
“It was nice talking to you.” Then before she could say anything else (because knowing Jessica, she would have more to say), he hung up. “Lanie’s in the waiting room?” he asked Lola.
“Employee parking lot. She refuses to come inside.”
Nate frowned. “Why is that?”
“What do I look like? The information police?”
“Why don’t you like me, Lola?” He probably asked
her that almost every other day. One day he expected to get a real answer. As usual, she ignored the question.
“Let me go on record here as saying this a bad idea,” Lola said.
Nate closed his laptop. He’d have to finish reading the article later. “What’s a bad idea?” Before she could answer with another one of those deadly quips of hers, he stood and said, “Never mind. I’ll go find out for myself.”
She smiled. In that Cruella deVil way of hers. “Good idea.”
Nate took one step out in the employee parking lot and froze. Lanie stood by her car, and in her hands was a brown looking…blob. A blob that was wiggling and yapping and trying very hard to generally be cute. Only Nate wasn’t buying it.
“Absolutely no,” he said. “I already told you I don’t have time for a dog.”
“But this isn’t a dog. It’s Hector! Your soul mate. Named for the greatest warrior in all of Troy.” Lanie raised the puppy so that their faces were side by side. “Look how adorable he is.” She faked a sad expression and the puppy began licking her on the nose.
“If you love the dog so much, why don’t you take him?”
“You know I’m already over my limit at the apartment. One more dog and they’re kicking me out of the place. Although…that might not be such a bad idea. I could move in with you and we could get more dogs!”
Nate sighed. “What about Mom?”
“Mom has Charlie and you know how spoiled he is being an only dog and all. Besides, she’s making plans for her big Mediterranean cruise and she’s already stressing about being away from him for so long. Add a puppy in the mix and that might put her over the edge.”
Connie Miller wouldn’t go “over the edge” simply because she’d added a puppy to her household, but Lanie was right, Charlie was getting on in years and he was getting to be a lot of work for Mom. She’d agreed to go on the cruise but it hadn’t been an easy sell.
“But, sweetie, that’s your money!” Mom had said. “I don’t want you to spend it on me. You should save it.” He’d kissed her on the cheek and told her the money was tainted as far as he was concerned. “It’s cursed,” Lanie had added, making their mother smile in a way that said she knew was being played by her two children.
In the end, she reluctantly agreed to go on the cruise, but Nate suspected that deep down she was secretly counting the minutes until she got on the plane. She deserved a nice vacation and he didn’t want anything, including “Hector” to spoil it for her.
“Oh my God! Is that a puppy?” someone shrieked.
