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“Not here,” Greta chirped.
Reva raised her hand. “For the record, I did not go to their other field trip destination. I’ve been working.”
“Rolling around with Grunt seems like a pretty sweet job,” Hero called from the front.
Reva rolled her eyes. “Put a sock in it, Hero. You’re the one who likes to come in when it’s Barbara’s spa day.”
Hero peaked his head around the wall separating the front and back. “What can I say? T
he bitch loves me.”
King and Easy both walked into the back. King kneeled in front of a cage and cooed to the dog inside.
Reva nodded to the cage King was in front of. “That’s cranky Elvis. He’s not too happy with me after giving him a bath and expressing his glands.”
King cringed. “I gotta say the guy has a right to be a little cranky, then.”
Easy held the same dog in his arms.
“You do know you’re going to have to give Bixby up when his owner gets here, right?” Greta laughed.
“Reva said I could hold him,” Easy whined.
“I think you’re the one who should have become a vet,” Greta laughed.
Easy shook his head. “Nope. You got all of the smarts. I’m good with fixing bikes and coming over to Reva’s to pet the dogs.”
“I’m good with that as long as you let me get my work done.” Reva nodded to Greta and Indiana. “We need to finish Grunt and get him in the drier before his owner gets here.”
I watched Indiana for a few minutes as she helped Reva but wandered to the front when they got the dog under the drier.
“How is it I’ve never been in here?” King asked. “Damn place is right across the street from the clubhouse.”
“Probably because you don’t have a dog?” Hero suggested. “Not much of a reason to come into a dog groomers when you don’t have a dog.”
King sighed and leaned against the front desk. “It’s been two years since Red died. Meg’s been bugging me to get another dog, but it’s kind of nice not to have that kind of responsibility.”
“Still can’t believe that dog lived to almost sixteen,” Hero sighed. “He really was a good dog.”
“Sure was. Probably has something to do with the way Meg babied him.” King laughed. “I about shit my pants the day she came home with a fucking doggie stroller. Damn dog couldn’t go on walks anymore because his hips were going out, but Meg insisted he loved them so much, so she was going to walk him in that damn stroller.”
“I remember seeing her the first time with the stroller and thought she had somehow adopted a baby without any of us knowing,” I laughed. Cruising home from school on my bike, I about crashed when I saw Meg pushing the stroller.
“Nope,” King laughed. “Just Meg going above and beyond to make sure Red had the best life ever.” His voice cracked. Even though he acted like Red was Meg’s dog, there were more times than I could count when Red trailed behind him in the shop and around the clubhouse.
“I give it a week before Meg is in here looking at all the dogs Reva is grooming and then another week before you’re out picking up your new puppy,” Hero laughed.
“Or two,” I added. Meg’s motto was go big or go home. I saw at least two puppies in King’s future.
“Don’t give her any ideas. Trust me, she’s got enough in that head of hers.” King grabbed a brush Reva had for sale and turned it over in his hand.
“I already texted Meg a picture of Bixby,” Greta called. “She then texted me back an ad for Australian Shepard puppies for sale up in Falls City. She asked me to go look at them tonight.”
King hung his head.
Greta laughed. “There are only two left.” A phone dinged from the back. “And she just sent me the money for a deposit on them.”
“Fucking hell,” King groaned. “I don’t even get to help pick out our next dog?”
