“You mean you’ve been following a syllabus?” Darla asked.
“A bunch of them,” Kit admitted. “I get the used textbooks cheap online.”
“This is what you do for fun?” Darla shook her head sadly. “You definitely need to get laid.”
Kit shrugged. “I want a better way to support Ollie. Something I’m interested in.”
Hadley put down her spoon and leaned over the table. “Kit, let Alex fix that awful old place up. Then you’d have college money for Ollie. And yourself.”
“She’s got a point,” Darla said. “Plus, if he’s grouchy and doesn’t talk, that might be a positive. If he wants to work silently and get stuff done, let him.”
“This has been great, but I still feel anxious.” Kit placed a hand over her heart.
Hadley didn’t mention the uncomfortable, steady pounding of her own heart. She knew Cam well enough that she totally understood his unilateral focus on a goal. But what her friends had just said took Cam’s dilemmas to a whole new level. One she wasn’t sure she really wanted to understand.
Chapter 14
The day of the Blueberry Festival dawned clear and hot, a perfect summer day. Hadley was up early setting up her booth on the green, along with what seemed like every other business in town, artists and artisans alike. She loved being part of this yearly ritual, loved being around all these talented people taking pride in their town.
Food trucks were stationed in the lot of the oceanside park, filling the air with wonderful aromas from all kinds of delicacies. Like her favorite, Italian sausage with peppers. And fresh-squeezed lemonade that quenched a thirst like nothing else.
She turned to the doggie playpen she’d assembled earlier, which was now filled with a motley assortment of dogs.
“Okay, all of you.” She approached the pen and clapped lightly. “Listen up. It’s a big day, and I want you all on your best behavior.” Jagger, who was heads and tails taller than all the other dogs, immediately pranced up and began aggressively nudging her hand, as if he were saying, Bust me out of here! Take me home!
Hadley laughed and smothered him with kisses and hugs. “You are a lover, aren’t you?” Of course then she had to take a turn with all the other dogs too. She had to admit, Jagger had stolen her heart with his silliness and the way he seemed to intuit her moods. But how could she bring him into her tiny apartment? How could she leave him alone all day with the gruesome hours she kept? It wasn’t a good life for a dog. And so she straightened his spiffy green bow and smoothed down his nicely groomed hair and went back to the business of trying to get these fellas and ladies adopted.
She was straightening pamphlets when she saw a couple approaching, hand in hand.
“Mom and Dad?” she exclaimed. “What are you two doing here?” Every Saturday morning, her dad jumped on a conference call with his partners. And her mom usually left her weekly work behind to focus on writing her next book.
Her mom laughed and gave Hadley a hug. “We decided to take a morning off and enjoy the festival.”
“We don’t work all the time,” her dad said, a little defensively, as he hugged her too.
“Plus we wanted to see what you have going on here,” her mom said. “Your grandmother is so excited that her doctor gave her the okay to sit with you today.”
“I brought that nice cushioned outdoor chair for her to sit in,” her dad said. “It’s in my car.”
Her parents walked over to the dog play area and examined the crew.
“Where did all these dogs come from?” her mom asked. “Oh, look at the darling little bulldog, Stephen.” She’d noticed Bubba, the brindle bulldog that Nick had rescued, who was snorting and wheezing a little but not too bad. “He’s so cute!”
Her dad moved to her mom’s side, sliding his hand sweetly around her back as they bent to pet Bubba, who sat stoically with his wise old expression and proud jaw. “He’s a cute little guy, isn’t he?” Before Hadley could even put in a pitch, her mom said, “Maybe we should adopt one.”
Who were these people, and what had someone done with her workaholic parents who’d said a million times they were too busy for a pet?
“You’re not giving Bowie away, are you?” her mom asked as he nudged his way to the side.
“Nah.” Hadley waved her hand. “He’s just hanging out with his buds.”
Next they inspected Hadley’s table. Her dad looked over the pamphlets. “Nice job on these.”
“My goodness, you’ve done a lot in a short time here.” Her mom’s words struck Hadley. Her parents understood the value of hard work. Maybe they could come to see that running Pooch Palace required a lot of it.
Her dad patted his pockets. “I keep forgetting, I left my phone at home.”
“You left your phone at home?” Hadley asked incredulously.
Her mom nodded. “We’ve started something called phoneless mornings.” Phoneless mornings? “Let’s go get one of those giant elephant ears with sugar on top.” She turned to Hadley. “Can we bring you one?”
“I’m holding out for the sausage hoagie myself. Have fun, you two kids.”
As she watched them wander off hand in hand, stopping at various booths on the way, she felt like she was in an alternate reality, where her parents actually took time off to do normal things.
A deep voice from behind her interrupted her thoughts. “You must be Hadley.”
She turned to see a good-looking, tall, blond guy in dark blue scrubs that perfectly matched his eyes.
“I’m Fuller Mason.” He glanced down apologetically at his scrubs. “I’m afraid I’m not dressed for the festival but I just finished my office hours and I wanted to meet you.” He pointed down Main Street in the direction of the vet practice.
“Are you the new vet?” Hadley asked, offering a hand. “I’m Hadley Wells.”
“Great to meet you.” Fuller took her hand with a strong, firm grip. His eyes really did match his scrubs. Very nice.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement. A quick glance showed Cam walking by. More like stalking by, full-out staring at her and Fuller with a big, growly frown. She ignored him. She was not going to allow him to ruin the first time she’d spoken to a cute guy since…since her breakup disaster.
“I heard you were taking in strays.” Fuller crossed his arms and looked over the dogs. “Seashell Harbor could really use a dog rescue.”
“I’m just helping my grandmother for the summer while she recovers from surgery,” Hadley said hurriedly. She didn’t want him to think she was full speed ahead on the dog rescue. “But to be honest, I’m wondering about the possibilities.”
“I’d love to talk to you about the possibilities,” he said, flashing her a smile that made her wonder if he was flirting with her. “I think you may have inadvertently started something important for the community, and there might be ways to find you veterinary help.”
“Vet help?”
He nodded eagerly. “I’m a part-time clinical professor at the vet school at Rutgers. Our residents need the experience doing spays and neuters, and if they came down here to do them, it would be part of their training. Basically, a free service. Or very cheap. Maybe even covered by grant money.”