“Lawyers?” he interjected.
“Boxers.” She laughed. He made a dejected face. “Okay, andsomelawyers.”
No matter how rusty Cora was at flirting, she knew without a doubt that that’s what they were doing.
He reached over and grabbed her wrist. She jumped.
“Sorry! I just noticed the scar on the top of your hand. How did you get it?”
“Take a guess... how do you think a dog trainer gets a scar on her hand?”
“Of course. Dog bite. What happened?” He was still holding her wrist, examining the scar in a clinical fashion, bringing it close to his face.
Cora felt tingly. The room was getting dark, and Charlie Gill wasn’t letting go of her.
“Too embarrassing to say. Let’s just chalk it up to a rookie mistake. It wasmyfault, not the dog’s.”
Charlie ran two gentle fingers over the constellation of raised skin. “It must have been a big mistake. Looks like it was brutal.” He placed her hand on the table and looked at her. “Sorry it happened.”
In that moment, though, Cora wasn’t sorry.
In an attempt to shift the energy in the room, she adjusted her chair and sent her wineglass sailing. Shattering on the floor, it woke Oliver from his nap and effectively killed any of the mood that had been building.
“Merde. I amsucha klutz. I’m so sorry!”
“No biggie, they’re cheap glasses.” Charlie walked to the sink to grab paper towels.
His phone went off on the table, and Cora saw that Madison was Skyping him. She blushed. “Your phone—someone is calling you,” she said, as if she hadn’t seen the screen.
Charlie rushed over and answered it, leaving the wine pooling on the floor and Oliver doing his best to lick it up. “Hey, Mads!” Cora took the paper towels from him, making sure to stay out of sight, and got to work cleaning up the mess.
“Hiiii, baby!” Madison gushed. “I miss yoooou!”
Charlie cut her off. “Mads, Cora is here, and we just finished Oliver’s lesson. We were both starving so we grabbed some sushi, and now we’ve just had a wine emergency. Can I call you right back?”
There was a pause. “Wine emergency? She’s there with you right now? Okay, that’s fine.” Madison sounded clipped and businesslike now. “How did Oliver do?”
“I’ll let Cora tell you.” Cora panicked as he turned the phone around and handed it to her where she sat on the floor like Cinderella, surrounded by purple-stained towels and a straining Oliver. Madison looked beautiful, even in the flat unflattering close-up of the phone.
“Hi, Madison, how are you?” she asked, not expecting an answer. Cora gestured to the mess on the floor. “I just dorked out and spilled my drink everywhere! Um, Oliver is doing really great! He’s super smart and super easy to train. He misses you, though!”
“Isn’t that sweet? How can you tell?” Madison smiled but her eyes narrowed.
“Oh, well, a dog trainer just knows these things!” she trilled as the blush crept up her neck. Cora resented that Madison wouldn’t take her well-intentioned embellishment at face value.
“I can’t wait to see howperfectyou’re making our dog. When I come back he’s going to be aperfectlittle gentleman. Right?”
“He’ll be a gentleman, you have my word.”My word,she thought ruefully.Here I am thinking smutty thoughts about your boyfriend and I’m talking about my “word.”
“I expect nothing less,” Madison replied, sounding cloyingly sweet but cutting at the same time.
Cora nodded, hoping that the awkward showdown was coming to an end. She rubbed an itch on her cheek and a few grains of rice fell off.Wonderful, she thought.I had food on my face the whole time.
Charlie took the phone back. “Babe, I’ll call you in a little bit. Love you!”
“I love you too, baby! Muuwhah!”
Cora saw Charlie silently pucker his lips at the screen then hang up.
