“I cannot believe how successful this turned out,” Evie said as she connected Waffles’s leash to his harness. He’d spent the day in one of the daycare’s fancier suites. “I can’t wait to tell Bryson how much we raised.”
“Mmm,” Ashanti said.
“Because he has a stake in what happens with the rescue,” Evie clarified. “We’ve been working together on this for weeks.”
“Mmm-hmm,” Ashanti said.
Evie rolled her eyes. “Shut up. I’ll see you at Rid’s in an hour.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to leave Waffles here?”
“Rid said it’s okay to bring him,” Evie reminded her.
“Oh, yeah, I forgot about the soft spot she suddenly has for dogs. I’m a little suspect, if I’m being honest.”
Evie laughed. “It’ll save me a trip back here to the Lower Garden District, so I’m not going to question it. I’ll see you over there.”
She tried getting in touch with Bryson on her way to the grocery store to pick up Ridley’s gift, but he had just begun a gastropexy that would last at least another hour, according to the tech she’d spoken to.
“You are not sad that you can’t speak to him for an hour,” Evie assured herself, despite the melancholy encroaching on her good mood. She looked at Waffles in the rearview mirror. “Things are getting pretty ridiculous.”
Waffles tipped his head to the side, wrenching out a laugh from her.
“Sit tight. I’ll only be a minute.”
She ran into Whole Foods and picked up what she needed for Ridley’s birthday celebration, then headed for her friend’s condo.
Evie watched the numbers on the elevator climb as she balanced a container of berries and Chantilly cream cupcakes in one hand while carrying a bottle of Cristal she’d picked up from Total Wine in the one that also held Waffles’s leash. It was a splurge, but today was Ridley’s thirty-fifth birthday. Her friend didn’t handle birthdays well; a mid-milestone birthday like this one would no doubt have her in a salty mood.
The elevator stopped on the twelfth floor of Ridley’s downtown high-rise building and Evie headed for her apartment. She used her foot to knock on the door.
“Open up. It’s me,” she said.
A minute later, Ashanti answered the door. “Oh good, you have cupcakes. I wanted to buy a cake, but I was running late and didn’t have the chance to stop.”
“Is that Ev?” Evie heard Ridley call.
She deposited the cupcakes and champagne on the entryway table and walked over to where Ridley sat barefoot on the sofa.
“Happy birthday, honey,” Evie said, giving her shoulders a squeeze and pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
“Enough with that,” Ridley said. “Grab those cupcakes and bubbly. According to that one over there, we have things to discuss.”
“Really, Shanti?” Evie said.
“Aht. Don’t blame her,” Ridley said. “I would have known the minute you walked in. I smell the sex on you.”
Evie rolled her eyes. “Let me get Waffles settled in,” she said.
“There’s a dog crate in the second bedroom,” Ridley said.
“A what?” Evie and Ashanti asked in unison. They looked at each other, then took off for Ridley’s guest room.
Evie entered the room and came to a sudden stop. “What in the world?” she said.
The crate was at least four feet wide and three feet high, with a gabled roof and an ultra-plush doggy bed inside.
“Do you think she’s dying?” Ashanti asked. “This isn’t a sign of her trying to buy her way into heaven, is it?”
