Come to think of it, he’d been getting a lot of female attention today. The woman who owned the Akita had asked him if he wanted to walk their puppies together and had given him her phone number. The one with a black Lab had asked him if his girlfriend liked dogs—after looking at his finger and seeing no ring. The owner of the beagle had smiled a lot and told him fifteen times how cute Gabby was.
He’d heard that a puppy was the best way for a man to pick up women. Maybe there was something to that.
“What’s your puppy’s name?” Marge had to be thirty years older than Conrad.
“Her name is Gabby, but she’s not my puppy. I’m watching her for Kenzie.”
Marge’s face fell. “Oh. The two of you are together. I’ve seen you watching her.”
Conrad started to say they were just friends but decided it was really none of Marge’s business. Some part of him wished he and Kenzieweretogether, so it didn’t bother him in the least that Marge had made that assumption.
He glanced over at Kenzie and saw that she was watching him. She met his gaze, then looked away. Had she overheard?
Conrad watched while Gabby and Snickerdoodle slowly became friends, eventually rolling and playing together like the other puppies.
“Look at him!” Marge smiled. “Snickerdoodle’s not afraid now.”
Kenzie walked over to them. “He just needs to move at his own pace.”
Conrad felt a sense of pride in Gabby—which was stupid because she wasn’t his puppy. He had done nothing to mold her behavior. In fact, he was teaching her to be a juvenile delinquent, letting her sleep in his bed and poop on his floor.
Playtime ended. The puppies were leashed and led around the room to experience all the stuff that Kenzie had set out for them. Some tried to avoid the artificial turf, probably because it poked their paws. Some struggled with the stairs. The Great Dane knocked over the metal trash can, yelped, and ran. Most hesitated to enter the tunnel—but not Gabby.
Gabby wasn’t afraid of anything. She darted around on the artificial grass, made her way up and down the stairs, ran inside the metal trash can, and made a game of darting through the tunnel.
Kenzie walked up to Conrad, that sweet smile on her face. “How’s she doing?”
“She’s fearless.”
Kenzie nodded. “That’s one of the qualities we look for when picking a puppy to train for SAR and HRD work.”
That made sense to Conrad.
They worked on Sit and Follow after that. Gabby was a pro, doing what he told her to do, taking the treats from his fingers. As far as he was concerned, she was the valedictorian of her class.
Then it was over.
“Remember to practice throughout the week,” Kenzie called to her clients as they carried tired puppies out the door. “Consistency is the key.”
Ms. Akita came up to Conrad, tilted her head, and looked at him from beneath sooty lashes, puppy in her arms. “Do you want to take the dogs to the park now? The puppies can play, and we can get acquainted.”
She was pretty—tall, blond, athletic. He should have been attracted to her, but he wasn’t. The woman who interested him stood nearby watching this exchange through narrowed eyes.
Uh-oh.
Conrad took a chance. “Sorry. I can’t. Kenzie and I have a brunch date.” He looked over at Kenzie. “Are you ready?”
“Um … oh, yes.” Kenzie struggled to cover her surprise. “Let me lock up, and we can go.”
Ms. Akita’s face fell, but she quickly covered her disappointment with a smile. “Maybe some other time.”
Kenzie walked up to him, arms crossed over her chest, waiting to speak until the others had gone. “You’re welcome.”
“For what?”
“For being your excuse not to hang out with that woman.”
“I wasn’t just making an excuse. Want to have brunch with me?”
