Gracie barely smiled. “I want to help them.”
He scooped up Kat and nested her in his arm like, well, like a football.
“Follow me,” he said, putting a hand on her back. “If there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s avoid a tackle.”
Clinging to Newt, she ran alongside Marshall, catching sight of her family guiding Red and the wayward popcorn maker out the door. When they reached the front lobby, the smokealarm suddenly stopped and left everything bathed in a shocking silence.
They threaded their way around families and dogs, then out to the snowy steps to spot Benny and Olivia running around with their whistles. A firetruck’s siren blared in the distance as a white poodle came running. A gray pittie loped over to his owner. A little Chihuahua barked his fool head off as he scampered to the loving arms of a boy about Benny’s age.
With each reunion, Gracie breathed easier until finally Olivia and Benny stopped running and blowing their silent whistles, breathlessly high-fiving each other.
“We did it,” Benny said as they came back to where Gracie and Marshall waited with the dogs. “We got?—”
“Can you find Petunia?” The little girl who’d launched the program whispered her request to Benny, her eyes wide and full of tears.
“Where are your parents, honey?” Gracie asked, bending down to her size.
She blinked. “In heaven,” she said, and Gracie nearly swayed and fell over. “My grandma brings me here and she had to work.”
“Oh.” Still holding Sir Isaac Newton, Gracie put a hand over her mouth to hold back a whimper of sadness.
“We’ll find Petunia,” Benny said, looking around with a serious scowl. “I promise you, Annie.” With that, he marched away, shoulders straight, whistle out. No, that was arealwhistle this time. He blew it with full force.
“Attention! I need everyone’s attention! Right now!”
Conversations quieted and a few families stepped out from the side doors, listening to him.
“We are missing Petunia the Yorkie!” Benny informed them with the strength and authority of a man twice his age. “Form teams. Go in every direction. No cars can move. No one leaves until we find her! Move!”
“Let’s go this way, Benny!” Olivia grabbed his arm and pulled him.
“I’ll stay with you, Annie,” Gracie said to the little girl.
As Gracie turned, she came face to face with Marshall, who gave her a strange look she couldn’t interpret.
“Can you watch Kat, too?” he said, holding the dog’s leash out to her. “I’ll look for the missing dog.”
“Of course. Come on, Annie. Let’s wait together.”
“Benny will find her,” Annie whispered, looking up with a sincerity in her eyes that absolutely seized Gracie’s heart. “Benny can do anything. He was my favorite person at camp. He’s everybody’s favorite.”
“He is?” Gracie felt a wash of warm pride and satisfaction. “Well, he’s my favorite, that’s for sure.”
With her hands full of dogs and one sweet little girl, Gracie headed inside, insanely proud of her son, who might have lost the contest but certainly won at life.
In the timeit took for the firetruck to come and give the all clear—with a stern warning to Red—Benny’s “specially designed for small dogs” whistle brought Petunia home. Gracie and Renee were able to call her grandmother, who had to leave work to pick up Annie early.
The families and dogs were invited back into the rec room to “finish” the dog show, though most of them had left. The room wasn’t nearly as crowded when they gathered, so Red took the opportunity to walk around to those who were there and personally apologize for the inconvenience.
One family that had stayed? The Hamptons.
Olivia and Marshall sat in the row behind Gracie, with Kat. Gracie introduced them to her family, and Uncle Jack instantly recognized the man who must have been a decently well-known running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
While the men chatted, Nicole inched over with her “I told you so” look.
“If he wasn’t interested, he would have left,” she murmured. “I demand you ask him for coffee.”
Gracie just slid her a look, saved by Renee taking the stage again.
