I stared straight ahead, willing Kringle to take the hint and go back to sleep.
Heavy breathing noises came from the other side of the wall.
A look of disgust spread on Greg’s face. “There is a large animal in your office.”
“Matt adopted an emotional support puppy,” Eli said.
“I have never before seen that dog in my life,” I lied. “Now back to the question of funding.”
Wet sucking noises sounded behind me. I turned to see Kringle licking the glass, leaving slobbery streaks all over it.
“Maybe he wants to go out,” Eli said, standing up to open the door.
“Leave him.”
Too late.
As soon as the sliding doors opened, the dog pushed into the small conference room. He immediately went over to Greg.
“Get that animal away from me,” Greg hissed.
“Kringle, come!”
The dog crawled under the table, crouching but still accidentally banging it with his head and sending the water glasses tumbling.
“It seems you have your hands full.” Greg stood up and buttoned his jacket.
“We can still talk about funding,” Eli begged his brother.
Greg ignored him and stalked out of the room.
“You just cost me millions,” I told Kringle.
The dog just wagged his tail.
“I guess I’ll have to walk him.”
“We have that call with AstraDrone in an hour,” Eli reminded me.
Kringle spun around in a circle.
“Hire a dog walker,” Eli said, pulling out his phone. “My brother just developed an app where you can barter or hire people to do stuff.”
He typed on his phone. “I just added a posting for a dog walker.”
“I’ll just have my assistant hire a professional.”
Eli gave me a blank look.
“This is a small town, not Manhattan. There’s not an army of professional dog walkers here. You have to take what you can get. Oh, sweet, someone accepted the job. Said they’ll be here in five minutes.”
I frowned. “That was quick.”
“Probably someone who works around here.” Eli shrugged. “Are your older brothers coming into town for the Christmas festival? Maybe we could convince them to invest.”
“I think their girlfriends are dragging them in for a long weekend. They’re not staying with me, though,” I stated. “Oliver is at Belle’s, and I don’t think she has the space. And good luck getting a hotel.”
“They could stay at the Wynter Estate.”
