“Usually Léger is tooReal Housewives of New Jersey,but you make it look elegant. I’m so proud of our scruffy little dog trainer!” He tilted his head, appraising her again. “I need to do something really quick, come here.” Darnell ducked behind the counter, grabbed a makeup bag, and ran a few brushes over Cora’s eyelids, brows, and cheeks. She looked in the mirror and was once again stunned by what she saw. In a few strokes he had changed the landscape of her face.
“Now, can I ring you up, baby? Because when a dress looks like this, it’s meant to be. You have an event in your future, I feel it! So buy the dress already,” Darnell insisted. “I’ll be your date to whatever it is, even if it’s some weird dogs and cats party.”
“I’d give you my employee discount... ,” Maggie offered.
“Plus it’s going to go on end-of-season sale soon. Markdowns galore,” Darnell added.
“Guys, I have no reason to buy something like this. I’m not fancy. And I’d have a really hard time spending so much on a dress.”
Maggie snorted. “You know you could totally afford it. You work nonstop, and you never go out. Buy the dress, audition for that damn show, and then save it for when you’re up for an Emmy.”
Cora rolled her eyes and shook her head.
Darnell started to visibly deflate.
“I promise, if something la-di-da comes up in my world, I will come back and buy this dress. Scout’s honor.” She held up three fingers.
“Deal,” Maggie answered.
“Hating you,” Darnell said with a pout.
Cora grabbed Maggie’s phone from the counter and looked at the time. “I have to go, I have a client this afternoon—the one whose dog I’m worried about. Time for me to change back into a pumpkin.”
SEVENTEEN
Cora made it to Beth Ann’s building with six minutes to spare. Even though Beth Ann had given permission for her to go straight up, she paused in the lobby to see if Eli might be around. The only other person in the cavernous space was the doorman, who didn’t look up from his phone as Cora raced to the elevator. Once again Cora heard Chanel’s barking the minute she stepped into the hall, which led her to believe that her client might be late again, or worse yet, a no-show.
She knocked and triggered a more intense barrage of sound from behind the door, a combination of shrieking howls and mad scratching. She waited, convinced that she was being stood up, until she heard the doorknob rattle.
“Did we have a lesson scheduled for today?” Beth Ann looked like she had just gotten out of bed.
Cora was dumbfounded. “Yes, uh, we do. Every Friday at two for the next three weeks. You picked the day and time, remember?”
Beth Ann rubbed her eyes and looked down at Chanel, who was running into the hallway to jump on Cora, then back into the apartment over and over again. “I’m sorry, I totally forgot.” She was wearing an oversize sweatshirt with the neck cut out so that her shoulder was exposed and overlong pajama bottoms that were dirty at the bottom from being stepped on. Her hair was piled on top of her head in a greasy bun, and her face was splotchy and pale. She wouldn’t look Cora in the eyes.
“Are you sick? Do you need to reschedule?”
“No, no, it’s fine. We can do it now, come in.” Beth Ann turned and shuffled into her apartment, beckoning Cora to follow.
“You know what? I want to take Chanel on a quick walk before we get started. It looks like you’re just waking up, so she probably has to potty. I’ve got a leash, don’t worry about finding yours.” Beth Ann nodded and walked away, and Cora reached into her bag to grab it as well as a pair of nail clippers. She had wanted to show Beth Ann how to begin the desensitization process for nail clipping, but she wasn’t even sure if they were going to have a real lesson. Cora couldn’t bear the thought of the dog walking on stiletto claws for another day.
Cora leashed Chanel up on the tiles right in front of the door. As predicted, the little dog squatted and let out a stream of urine the moment Cora touched her to clip on the leash.
“We’ll be back,” she shouted into the dark apartment, not expecting to hear an answer.
Chanel walked to the elevator briskly and Cora used their time alone to assess the unfortunate little dog. Beth Ann was an unfit pet parent, but Cora wasn’t sure what impact the neglect had had on Chanel. Some dogs that grow up in a deprived home environment are so nervous about life outside the front door that they completely shut down when presented with anything new, while others seem unflappable and well adjusted no matter how dire their circumstances.
Cora knelt and petted Chanel during the elevator ride down to the lobby. Though she loved dogs of all sizes and breeds, there was no sugarcoating the fact that the little dog was an odd-looking creature. The dirty patchy fur, stained eyes, talon nails, and snaggle tooth made her seem like an unloved street dog, even though she was living in an expensive high-rise with a young woman who seemed to have unlimited shopping funds.
Cora lifted her hand to her nose and sniffed. Chanel smelled awful.
The little dog high-stepped through the lobby like she did it every day. She didn’t seem scared or nervous, which made Cora feel slightly better about her circumstances. Maybe she did get walked every so often?
“Excuse me,” the guard called out. “Is that your dog? Because you’re going to need a visitor’s pass if you’ve got a dog with you.”
“No, this is Beth Ann Devlin’s dog. She’s in number one-one-one-five.”
“Miss Devlin has adog?” He frowned and typed something on the tablet in front of him. “Huh, I guess it says here that she does. I had no idea.”
