“It’ll be worth it in the end, won’t it, baby?”
Ashanti pulled into her parking spot at the daycare. Shedidn’t bother with Duchess’s leash, carrying her up the steps and into the daycare.
“How’d it go at Geaux for Fi-Deaux?” asked her receptionist, Deja Fontenot.
“Duchess didn’t win Best in Show, but I sold out of the treats I made, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we get some new customers,” Ashanti said as she made a beeline to the smaller, inside play area. Duchess squirmed in anticipation. “Okay, okay. We’re almost there.”
The moment Duchess saw Puddin’, she dove out of Ashanti’s arms like Tom Daley off a ten-meter platform. She and the poodle danced around, behaving like long-lost friends who hadn’t seen each other in ages. They had been together just a few hours ago.
“These two are ridiculous,” said Leslie, Deja’s cousin and Ashanti’s second-in-command.
“At what point does their obsession with each other go from being cute to problematic?” Ashanti asked, observing the dogs as they wrestled with each other over Duchess’s Peppa Pig plush. The moment one dog won the tug-of-war, it would immediately offer the plush to the loser.
Leslie shrugged. “It’s still pretty cute to me.”
Ashanti matched her shrug. “Let’s get the rest of the dogs fed, and then Duchess and I are going home.”
“I’ve already handled tonight’s feeding,” Leslie said. “And I brushed them all down.”
“Even Lulu and Sparkle?” The Sanchezes’ Pomeranians were notorious biters when it came to grooming.
“Done,” Leslie said. “Mark will be here for the overnight shift in another twenty minutes, so you and Duchess can head out now if you want.”
Barkingham Palace was the only boarding house in the city that offered staffed care onsite, twenty-four seven. They usually took turns doing overnights, but because of all the baking she had been doing lately, Ashanti had not worked one in more than a month.
“Okay, then,” she said, excited at the prospect of an extra hour of free time she hadn’t anticipated. Maybe she could catch up on an episode ofBridgerton. “Let’s go, Duchess.”
Her dog stopped in the middle of jostling with Puddin’. She looked from Ashanti to Leslie, then darted behind the play gym.
“Uh-oh. Looks like someone doesn’t want to leave her boyfriend.”
Ashanti sighed. “Not today, Duchess.”
“Leave her,” Leslie said. “She’s fine. Mark won’t mind her being here tonight.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “I must say, I feel some kind of way about my dog choosing a boy over her mama.”
“Face it. Puddin’ can do more for her than you can.”
Ashanti narrowed her eyes as she pointed at the dogs. “You two better behave.”
They both barked, then simultaneously converged on Peppa Pig.
2
Okay, Monday, I’m gonna need you to stop acting like a Monday.”
Ashanti dropped to her knees and peered underneath her bedroom dresser, searching for her purple-and-white polka-dot ponytail holder. She spotted a hoop earring she hadn’t seen in ages, a lone sock, and the plastic chew toy Duchess had rejected like a scorned girlfriend rejects excuses on Valentine’s Day. But no ponytail holder.
She did not have time for this today.
The oven timer chimed with the distinctive tune that she had begun hearing in her sleep. She pushed up from the floor and darted down the short hallway, through the combined living room and dining room area, and into the kitchen. Even a minute longer in the oven would render the dog biscuits unsellable, and with the number of orders she had on her hands this week, there was zero margin for error. Geaux for Fi-Deaux had been extremely good for business.
Ashanti yanked open the oven door and retrieved two cookie sheets from inside, then searched in vain for somewhereto put them. It wasn’t until she’d launched this unintended side hustle that she finally understood why her mother used to complain about the kitchen’s lack of counter space. She was one big order away from this setup being unsustainable.
Who was she kidding? Her current situation had become unsustainable the morning she woke up with a silicone baking mat stuck to her face.
As she carried the cookie sheets to the dining room table, she spotted Kara bounding down the stairs with a sheaf of papers. The tips of her jet-black bob were aqua today to match her aqua Nikes.
