Cora looked around the room and realized that with Eli and the woman, and Maggie and Juan, glued to the dance floor she had no choice but to retreat to the VIP section.
Fran intercepted Cora as she passed the bouncer. “That’s Paige,” she stage-whispered.
“Who?” Cora asked.
“WithEli. They’ve been ‘hanging out,’ as he says.”
Cora realized that the mystery blonde was probably the date he’d mentioned the night he got Nell. “Oh. Do you like her?”
“She’snice.Perfectly nice.” Fran paused for a beat. “I hate her.”
“Why?” Cora asked, amused by her boozy candor.
“Because she’s notyou!” Fran shouted, exasperated that Cora couldn’t follow her logic. “You and Eli belong together. I’m a matchmaker par excellence,and I know you’re perfect for each other. But you said you weren’t interested, and I let him know. Gently, mind you. He was quite disappointed. Now Paige is on the scene, and he claims they’re just friends, but it doesn’t look very friendly to me.” Fran jutted her chin toward the dance floor.
Cora scanned the room and spotted Eli and Paige on the center of the floor. Paige flipped her long hair as Eli grasped her shoulders and gently led her body from side to side. She managed to look graceful and pornographic at the same time. Eli spun her so that she ended up flush against his body facing out, and they undulated together like snakes. Cora’s jaw dropped.
“Wait a sec ... he said he couldn’t do that,” she muttered, thinking out loud.
“Mmm?” Fran asked.
“Nothing,” Cora replied, nearly shushing Fran so that she could focus. Eli and Paige looked incredible together, and for the first time she allowed the thought she’d been ignoring all night fully into her consciousness.
She was jealous.
THIRTY-SIX
“So what do you want Nell to learn? What are your goals for training?”
Cora was trying to stick to her usual training script, but she wanted to talk about the nature of Eli’s relationship with Paige.
Eli paused and looked down at the little dog nestled beside him on his couch. “She’sreallygood already. I never knew that I could fall in love with a little dog. You know how we all have a vision of what we think we like, and we stick to it without even questioning why?” Cora nodded. “Well, I always pictured myself with a big dog. Little dogs didn’t even register. But then I got to know Nell, and I can’t get over how awesome she is. She’s smart, she’s silly, and yes, she’s even cute to me now. Right? Don’t you think she looks cute?”
“She’s one hundred percent cuter now. I think because she’s so happy.” Cora leaned over to pet Nell, who flipped on her back to allow full belly access.
“Yeah, we both are,” Eli said with a smile.
Cora watched him interacting with Nell and wondered if there was more than just the little dog that was making him happy.
“So why am I here?” Cora asked gently.
“Because I want her to be even better! Plus training is an important relationship step. I read that somewhere...” He looked at Cora with a comic intensity, eyebrow cocked.
“Got it, ChienParfait. You’re quite the brownnoser.”
“All my teachers loved me.”
The comment hung in the air. “Let’s get started. How about we focus on coming when called today?”
“Perfect, if we can get these lazy bones off the couch.” Eli leaned down close to his dog and sang quietly to her as she dozed.“Nell, Nell, she’s been through hell, moved on up to Eli’s place and all is well!”
“You already have a song for her?”
“Asong? I have about a dozen already. That’s our all-purpose song, but we also have a ‘let’s go poop’ song, a dinnertime song, a sleeping-in-on-Sunday song, and a ‘don’t worry I’ll be home soon’ song. Please don’t tell anyone and blow my cool-dude cred.”
“You’d be surprised how many people have songs for their dogs, it’s not as weird as you think.”
“Yeah, but are they opera songs?” Eli put his hand on his chest, paused dramatically, and began singing in an impressive baritone, “Sweet maiden named Nell, fairest lass in the dell, dancing and playing, I am under her spell!”
