“Good boy,” I said, and then I reached out carefully and picked him up. He was light and easy to carry in one arm. I took a look at his tag. His name was Sunshine, and I put his address into my maps app. When I asked it to give me directions, it told me to walk about a minute south to get to his house. I had to turn my phone around to determine that south meant left.
“Let’s get you home,” I told him. “I bet somebody is missing you.”
Sunshine’s house was a bungalow that reminded me of Noah’s place, and I knocked on the door. An older woman with long white hair answered the door. “What?”
Did she not see that I was holding her dog? “I found Sunshine here on the side of the road.”
She shaded her eyes and stepped forward. “I didn’t realize that he’d gotten out. How were you able to carry him? Sunshine doesn’t like strangers.”
“He seems to like me.” I was good with difficult dogs. We had an understanding. The understanding was that I would ply them with treats if they made a minimal effort to do what I wanted. It had worked out well for me so far.
“I suppose you better come inside,” she said with a grimace, and I followed her in. A real curmudgeon, as my mom would say. “I’m Gladys Kravitch.”
“Juliet Nolan,” I responded.
“You out wandering the neighborhood looking for lost dogs?” She closed the front door once I’d stepped inside.
“I was just up the road at Noah Douglas’s house, helping out with Magnus.” I lifted his leash, in case she hadn’t noticed him, either.
She fixed her annoyed gaze on the dog, and Magnus hid behind my legs. “Bah. The movie star.” She said the words with disgust, the same way I’d say the spinach and kale salad.
“This way.” Magnus followed us as she led me down a narrow hallway into her living room, and it struck me how sparse it was. My own grandmother had died years ago, but I remembered her house being full of tchotchkes and knickknacks. While there was definitely a grandma vibe to the decor, with heavy burgundy drapes, a lace doily on the coffee table, and older oak furniture, there were no mementos out. No collectibles or walls full of pictures. There was, in fact, only one picture.
“Is this you and your husband?” I asked.
“Yes.” She paused. “Was. Was my husband.”
“I’m so sorry. When did he pass?”
“Last year.” I heard the way her voice caught. “My Bruce and I were married for forty-seven years.” She sat down on the couch and pointed to a stuffed, quilted armchair and said, “Sit. There.” Like I was one of the dogs.
I just did what she told me. It was easier. I usually dealt well with prickly people, because I realized that everyone had more stuff going on in their lives than they usually cared to admit, so it was easy to ignore the small, offensive things. I put Sunshine down, but he immediately turned around and tried to get back up in my lap, so I let him.
“You expecting a reward?”
“No! I just wanted to bring Sunshine home.”
She pointed to the writing on my polo shirt. “Waggin’ Wheels?”
“It’s my company,” I told her proudly. “A mobile dog-grooming service.”
“Do you ever do dog sitting?”
Huh. I’d never considered that. Maybe it would be a good idea for me to include more services beyond grooming. It could mean more clients. “I haven’t, but I guess I could. Why?”
She pointed toward the hallway, and it was then that I noticed a large suitcase. “My fool sister broke both her legs when she was taking down her Christmas lights. I’m her only living relative, and I have to fly out to Montana to look after her. Her condo complex doesn’t allow any pets, so I need someone to take care of Sunshine. He already seems to like you.”
“I’d love to, but I can’t take him home with me. My apartment doesn’t allow dogs, either.”
“Stay here. I have a guest room.”
“Here?” I asked, surprised by how sudden this all felt. “But you don’t even know me.”
“I was going to call a service and have them send a stranger over that I’d make the same offer to. How is this any different? At least this way I already know that Sunshine won’t bite you, which gives you a leg up over anyone else. I’d need you to be here for two weeks. I can pay you fifteen hundred dollars. Half now, half when I get back.”
I didn’t even know what to charge her, or if that was fair or maybe even too much. I didn’t want to take advantage of her. “If you’re on a limited income, you don’t have to—”
She cut me off. “I can take care of myself just fine. My Bruce made sure of that.”
I felt like I was going to insult her if I refused or offered to do it for less, so I said, “I’d love to.” This was definitely going to solve my money problems, and it presented me with a way to diversify my business for the future.
“Good.” She nodded. “I tend to trust my gut, and it’s saying you’re the right person for the job. Can you start tomorrow?”
“Yes.” That would give me a chance to go home and pack a bag.
“Come on. I’ll give you the tour.”
As I stood up and looked out of her window, I caught a glimpse of Noah’s house.
And it was only then that I realized I was about to become his closest neighbor for the next two weeks.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Gladys’s house had three bedrooms and two bathrooms. She showed me the guest room and where she kept the spare linens and towels. In the hallway there was a picture of Gladys and Bruce on their wedding day. She was wearing a long, flowy yellow dress and had a wreath of flowers in her hair.
“You look so beautiful in this photo,” I told her.
“My Bruce convinced me to elope. I wore my prom dress. He always did have fool ideas about things.”
In the family room, she showed me the TV and the various necessary remotes. I was instructed not to mess with the DVR recordings of her “stories.”
“My Bruce was always messing with the timers,” she said. I could hear the ache in her voice every time she mentioned her husband. She probably just thought they had been average people in a regular relationship, not knowing how many people probably looked at them and hoped they would find what she’d already had.
I know I did, even if it was impossible for me to have that in my own life.
We went into her kitchen, and she pointed out several places where the wood floors were buckling. “We had some water damage a few years ago. My Bruce always intended to replace them but he never had the time, and then he got sick . . .” She trailed off and shook her head. “Just keep an eye out when you’re in here.”
She showed me where she kept Sunshine’s food. She had already written out her daily routine with her dog, and it boiled down to feeding him at specific times in the morning and evening and taking him for two daily walks. Easy.
Sunshine also had an orange teddy bear that he adored but was often misplacing. She told me to keep an eye on it. I told her I would.
“Any questions?” Gladys asked.
“Not that I can think of.”
I put my phone number into her cell phone and then called it so that we’d have each other’s numbers. She told me she would Venmo me the seven hundred and fifty dollars, and I tried not to look surprised that she knew how to do that. She then went to a drawer to give me a copy of her front door key. “I’ll be leaving for my flight at six in the morning tomorrow. You should come over sometime after that.”