She bumped her shoulder against mine. “I am, all things considered. I’m doing okay these days, Chels. And I hope you are too.”
I nodded too quickly.
“But I still miss him every day,” she continued. Her voice wasn’t sad, it was wistful. Like she was talking about a wonderful place she’d visited long ago, or a beautiful dream she’d had but could barely remember.
“Same.”
It came out in a shaky whisper.
“Why don’t we go inside and sort through some of the things he—”
“No time today,” I said quickly. “Sorry.”
We both fell silent except for the whooshing sound of our feet sweeping through the leaves and the distant jingle of dog tags.
“Thanksgiving is going to be wonderful,” she said, reorienting the conversation to something safer. “I can’t wait to use Taylor’s new kitchen.”
“I hope that means you’re assisting her with the food.” Taylor was many things but a chef was not one of them. I was the only Higgins daughter who had a clue how to cook. “I mean, I’ll obviously be there as sous chef, but we still need you to take the lead.”
“Happy to!” She beamed. If there was one thing my mother wanted, it was to help and be helpful. She was the most giving person I’d ever met. “I’ll even show you the secret to my prizewinning corn bread.”
“You mean Greek yogurt?”
She jerked back. “Darn, did I already tell you that?”
I laughed. “You did.”
“Well, don’t tell your sister. It’ll be our secret.”
I circled my arm around her shoulder and leaned over to give her a kiss, knowing that my sister was already in possession of the secret as well. “I won’t, I promise.”
We rounded the final turn on the path and the house came into view in the distance, as welcoming as ever.
“Hold on, where’s Bird and Edith?” I stopped and looked around for real. I’d been so caught up in the conversation thatthe dogs had run off somewhere out of sight. “Birdie!” I let out the shrill whistle that worked for quieting chatty humans in class and recalling wayward dogs.
I heard the jingle of their tags before I saw them. “Good girls!” I cheered as they ran closer. “Good work!”
They arrived at our feet panting and with mud on their necks and faces. I gave them each a little treat for their responsiveness.
“Dirty girls! Looks like someone got into...” I paused when I realized. “Nooo, Bird!” I looked closer at the puppy. “And you too?”
“Deer poop,” my mom said. “I can smell it from here. C’mon, let’s go get them in the bath.”
We trudged back to the house while I fussed at the dogs, even though deep down I was happy that they gave me an excuse to stay a little longer.
chapter twelve
Why did I feel nervous?
If I looked at the facts it was just a dog training client coming in at the end of the day for a private session with me, and even though the dog in question was deaf, it wasn’t like the pup was my first nonhearing student. I’d traineddozensof deaf dogs. I could train deaf dogs in my sleep.
But I couldn’t just look at the facts because the person who was going to be handling the other end of the leash was none other than Andrew.Hewas my real student, and even though it pained me to admit it, it freaked me out, big-time. I wasn’t looking forward to the Gibson Glare tracking me while I tried to work.
I ran to the bathroom to make sure that I didn’t have any bats in the cave or food in my teeth. It was a basic hygiene check that I did before meeting with any new clients, but I also grabbed the tube of nude “pout gloss” Taylor had given me and slicked it across my lips.
Because they felt dry.Notbecause I was trying to look cute. And I was wearing my “going out” jeans that just happened tohighlight my ass because all my others were in the laundry, which I had conveniently forgotten to do.
I checked my phone. He was due in five minutes. It had been a week since I told my mom I was going to call Mike and I’d finally done it today knowing that Andrew was probably going to try to rile me up by talking about how big my space was compared to his. We had a week until the Howl/Swole parties and he swore up and down that none of his guests would get in the way of mine, but it wasn’t just his clients I was worried about. The parking lot was going to be anightmare. I needed to convince him to get his bros to park their monster trucks on the grass, so my clientele could walk their dogs right in.
