Fran stared at Cora for a few seconds, openmouthed. It was scary to see her shocked into silence.
“Oh my dear girl. Oh no.Really?”
Cora nodded her head sheepishly, as if his sin was suddenly hers.
“I don’t know what to say, darling. This must be very uncomfortable for you on several levels.”
“Honestly, I haven’t given it a lot of thought. It was bizarre seeing him on TV, and what he said was awful, but I just sort of ... put it out of my head. That’s how I deal with stuff. I can’t believe that he’s even on TV—I’m just coming to terms withthat,and now based on what you’re telling me, it sounds like he’s going to be everywhere. I don’t know how to process it. Plus, I’m mortified that I was with someone who would say something so awful.”
“Want my advice? Just keep it to yourself then. You don’t need to insert yourself into his public shaming. He’s a mistake from your past, and now he’s dealing with his own mistake. You have no part in this—it’s obviously not your fault, and he is not your responsibility. Okay? So let’s move on, darling...”
Cora was grateful to end the conversation quickly. “Thank you, Fran. It seems like you have a lot to take care of today, so why don’t we leash up and get outside?”
Fran turned to dig through her oversize bag for the leash, and Cora leaned in closer to Sydney, pushing his unruly bangs out of his eyes.
“Mon petit monster,” she whispered to him so that Fran couldn’t hear her. “Are you going to be a good boy today?” Sydney tilted his head at her, as if considering the question. “Are you ready to learn some stuff?” Cora smiled at him, regarding the dog like a mischievous kindergartener, then cupped his head in her hands and planted a kiss on his forehead. She noticed a figure out of the corner of her eye and turned to find the lanky UPS-chaser watching her with a half-smile on his face. Cora went scarlet, sheepish that her pep talk with Sydney had a witness.
Fran’s voice rang out. “Well, hello, Eli! Cora Bellamy, please meet Eli Crawford. Cora is helping me train my naughty boy, and Eli helps me train my naughty computer.”
“Also known as an IT manager. Sorry to interrupt your conversation with Sydney. It looked important.” Eli nodded at the dog and walked toward Cora. Sydney jumped up and ran to greet him, blocking Eli’s path so that he had to acknowledge the dog before he got to Cora. Eli gave in to Sydney’s demands, and didn’t seem to care when the dog playfully nipped at his pant legs as he walked toward Cora.
“Just going over some last-minute tips before we get started.” She struggled to stand, and Eli offered his hand in greeting as well as to help her up. Cora was impressed that he could focus on her completely, smiling reassuringly, while preventing Sydney from jumping on him.
“What can I do for you, Eli?” Fran asked.
“I just wanted to chat with you about the upcoming phone migration ... do you have time later?”
Cora watched them as they discussed their schedules in a friendly shorthand. Eli was a head taller than Fran, but he leaned against the edge of Fran’s desk so that he didn’t tower over her as they negotiated. Sydney threaded between them as they talked, soliciting pats from Eli as he scrolled through his calendar. He made an indecipherable inside joke as they finalized their meeting time, and Fran doubled over with laughter.
Eli turned to leave and Sydney escorted him to the door. He leaned down and whispered something in the dog’s ear.
“I talk to dogs, too.” He winked at Cora and walked out of the room.
EIGHT
Cora’s dog trainer friends were nearing the bottom of their first round of drinks by the time she arrived at their monthly gathering. Even though they called themselves The Boozehounds, they rarely made it to a third drink. Winnifred, the older Earth Mother dog trainer with butt-length white hair, was telling an animated story when Cora walked in, her gauzy sleeves dragging across the table every time she gestured. Vanessa, a stunning African American newbie trainer who was apprenticing with Winnie, was watching her teacher with her typical rapt expression, as if trying to absorb every bit of her wisdom. It was impossible to look at the varied trio of women and guess what drew them together, unless you looked close enough to see the dog hair on their clothes.
“Let’s start with the gossip. Anyone have any juicy stuff going on? Cora, you want to talk about the Aaron stuff?” Winnie asked, assuming her role as the unofficial ringleader of the group.
“Absolutelynot. Pass.” Cora was doing her best to continue filtering Aaron from her life, but his comments had turned him into the handsome villain everyone loved to hate. Vanessa was probably dying for Cora to spill insider gossip about Aaron, since she lived for reality television.
“I’ll let Winnie give you our updates. She’s a better storyteller anyway,” Vanessa answered with a shrug. She and Winnie trained in tandem until her apprenticeship was complete.
Cora considered asking them if they’d ever had a crush on a client, but kept her mouth shut. She didn’t want to give voice to what was rattling around in the dark parts of her brain.
“So did any of you see the Animal Asshole last night?” Winnie asked, slamming her empty mug on the table. The group always tried to make each other laugh with alternate names for Boris Ershovich.
“It was awful,” Vanessa replied.
“I didn’t watch,” Cora said. “What happened?”
Winnie pretended to gag. “Oh, the usual choking, kicking, hanging, and yelling, all gussied up to look like dog training. It was a young dog—areallyyoung dog. I had to turn it off.”
Cora shook her head. “It makes me want to throw up. Why can’t people see that he’s abusing those dogs?”
“If it’s on TV, it has someone’s blessing, right? If it’s on TV, it has to be okay. We should make them do one of those disclaimers at the beginning of the show; ‘using these techniques may cause your dog to freak the fuck out, bite people, cause property damage, develop redirected aggression, blah, blah, blah,’ ” Vanessa said.
“But what can we do to stop him? Aside from Cora’s wonderful blog that she won’t let anyone read and protest letters to the network, we’re powerless to do anything,” Winnie said.
