Shit.
She had finished piddling and had wandered over to the fence line where she was busy sniffing God only knew what.
Conrad ran, bare feet against the frosty grass, his gaze searching for the owl. A dark slash of wings against the sky. Talons reaching.
“Get out of here!” He waved his arm and shouted at the owl to frighten and distract it, sending it skyward again. He scooped the puppy into his arms.
The owl soared back into the tree.
Conrad looked at Gabby, his pulse still pounding. “You were almost breakfast. You understand that you’re snack-sized, don’t you?”
Gabby wagged her tail, clearly not getting it.
“That owl could have carried you off and eaten you.” He headed toward the back door, his feet freezing. “I need to be more careful when I let you outside.”
How would he have been able to explain that to Kenzie?
Sorry, but an owl swooped down and carried Gabby away.
He’d gotten lucky.
“Hey, mister!” An older woman’s voice came from next door. “Get some pants on! What kind of neighborhood do you think this is?”
Conrad glanced around and saw a woman’s head sticking out of one of her back windows, curlers in her hair. “Sorry, ma’am. I had to save my puppy from an owl.”
She wasn’t appeased. “I look outside to see what all the noise is about, and I see you running around with your frank and beans hanging out!”
Frank and beans?
Conrad fought not to laugh. “It won’t happen again.”
The woman slammed the window shut.
He stepped through the back door into the warmth of the kitchen and carried Gabby back to the bedroom, determined to get a few more hours of sleep.
* * *
Gizmo wokeKenzie two minutes before her alarm was set to go off. She unlocked the doggy door so he could go outside and then opened the blinds in the kitchen. The weather had changed overnight, leaving frost on the grass. Clouds hung low over the mountains, hiding the high peaks from view.
Kenzie went back upstairs and threw on a pair of jeans and a sweater. She had an impulse to text Harrison to see how his first night with Gabby had gone, but she didn’t want to risk waking him. She knew only too well how a puppy could disrupt sleep.
When Gizmo came back inside, she fed him, then put on her rubber boots and led him over to the kennel, where her boarders were anxiously waiting for their own trip outdoors—and breakfast.
She stepped inside to excited yaps, barks, and wagging tails.
“Good morning to you, too.” She opened the kennels with the press of a button, and the dogs dashed out, or trundled, as in the case of Miss Piggy, a plump Chihuahua. Most headed out the dog doors to the play yard, but Crank, the pit bull, rolled onto his back, demanding belly rubs. “You’re just a big lover boy, aren’t you?”
Tongue lolling, paws bent in front of his chest, he seemed to grin at her.
By the time Inéz, her weekend manager, arrived at seven, Kenzie had fed the dogs, given Miss Piggy her medication, and poop-scooped the play yard, something she and her staff did several times a day depending on the number of dogs boarding with them. That was the reason for her rubber boots. They cleaned easily if she happened to step in dog poo—a hazard of the job.
Yes, her life was glamorous.
“I’ll take it from here.” Inéz scratched Bentley, a spoiled Goldendoodle, behind the ears. “What a sweet doggy you are.”
“Thanks.” Kenzie left Gizmo with Inéz, hurried home for a quick shower, then made a quick trip to Food Mart for a box of donuts.
Saturdays were Puppy Kindergarten days.
