The Art of Wag (23 page)

Kat clenched the harness in her hands. Uh-oh. “I told you that she has a little problem with disappearing. She’s small, but she has a warped sense of humor.”

Mary waved her hands in exasperation. “You have to do something. I’ve been looking everywhere.”

Kat looked over at Joel. “We’ll help you look. Where did you last see her?”

Mary turned and walked back into the bedroom. “We were right in here. I was working on organizing the shelves. She was right beside me. Then I looked around and she was gone.”

Kat said, “Well, I don’t think she does stairs. Tracy and I carry her everywhere. So she’s probably down here somewhere. You didn’t open the door and go outside, right?”

Mary shook her head. “No. I haven’t.”

Joel said, “I’ll get a flashlight. Kat, maybe you could start pulling stuff out of the closet.”

Mary wailed, “I just got it all cleaned up and organized!”

Joel looked at her but said nothing, and then turned and left the room. Kat crouched down on the floor and looked under the bed. No eyes peered back at her. But it was remarkably free of dust under there. How bizarre. She crawled over to the closet, looking under the furniture as she crossed the room. She sat in front of the sliding door and began removing the boxes from the floor, in case Roxy was hiding behind something. “Come on Roxy. Not again. This is
not
cute. Really. I mean it.”

Mary sat on the bed with her hands folded. “I can’t believe this. She was
right
there.”

Kat removed a few more boxes. While her mother was preoccupied, it might be a good time to get this conversation over with. “I know you won’t tell me what you’re looking for Mother, but clearly you haven’t found it. Don’t you have things to do back at home?”

Mary straightened. “Are you saying I’ve been a bother?”

Kat stopped moving boxes, sat back on her heels, and put her hands on her thighs. “You hate my boyfriend, you hate my dogs, and the cats are afraid of you. No one has seen them in days. And to top it off, we can’t even stand to eat together. Why are you here?”

“I thought Abigail had something of mine and I wanted it back.”

Kat leaned back on the bedroom wall with her legs out in front of her and gazed up at her mother. “What is it? I spent a lot of time cleaning this place when I first moved in. If it’s canned goods, you’re out of luck. I threw those away.”

“What? No. That’s disgusting. Anything canned would be spoiled by now.”

“You have no idea.”

Now Kevlar-free, Joel walked back into the room with a flashlight and his toolbox. He crouched down next to Kat to shine the light on the closet floor. “Did you see anything?”

Kat turned and peered into the closet. “Nope.”

“Hear anything?”

“Nope.”

Joel sat on the floor and pulled out some more boxes. “This built-in thing is attached, so at least she can’t be behind that.”

Kat tapped on the wood. “Do you think she could get behind the drawers?”

“I don’t think so, but I didn’t think she could get behind a cabinet either.”

Kat sighed. “Roxy is very creative.”

Mary said from behind them. “Why do you think she’s in there? She could be anywhere!”

Kat said, “Because the door to Joel’s office was closed and there’s no place she can go in the hall. Unless you were digging in the storage closets again, that leaves this room. Roxy likes to get into small spaces. It’s her thing.”

Mary said quietly. “No, I already went through those closets the other day. What can I do? I feel terrible.”

Joel raised one eyebrow at Kat and moved a few more boxes. Kat said, “It’s okay, Mother. Joel will find her. He always does.”

He touched Kat’s arm. “Maybe you could pull those drawers out?”

Kat stood up. The built-in cabinet in the closet had three shelves and four drawers below them. Starting at the top, she pulled out the drawers and stacked them on the floor. The contents of the drawers were organized into neat little piles. Her mother had been busy. But no dog appeared.

Joel got on his hands and knees and crawled into the closet. He shined the light in the corner under the row of shelves that ran up the side. “There’s a hole back here.” He laid down on his stomach and shined the light into the hole to get a closer look.

Kat sat back down on the floor with a thump and put her face in her hands. “Oh no.”

Joel started thumping his knuckles along the drywall at the back of the closet and was rewarded with a small
yip
.

Kat dropped her hands and bowed her head. “What is
wrong
with this animal?”

Mary stood up and walked over to the closet to peer inside over Joel and Kat. “Is she really in there? It’s okay, Roxy. I’m so sorry!”

Joel backed himself out of the closet and sat next to Kat. He rummaged around in his toolbox and then looked at her. “Do you think you can convince Roxy to come out? If not, I have to shred another wall, you know.”

“I know. I think I have bad karma.”

He pulled a small saw out of the toolbox. “I think the walls have bad karma. If we live here long enough, eventually I’ll have to cut holes in all of them.”

Kat moved around Joel, crawled into the closet, and laid on her stomach. She held a dog treat into the hole. “Come on Roxy. Lookie, it’s a treat! Don’t you want it? Come out and I’ll give it to you.”

There was a lot of scrabbling and whining. Roxy seemed to be making an effort to leave and get the treat, but it wasn’t working. Kat crawled back out and looked at Joel. “Maybe she’s too long to turn around?”

“I guess dachshunds don’t do reverse?”

“Apparently, this one doesn’t. Maybe because she has three legs? I don’t know.”

Joel sighed. “Okay. I guess I have to do it.” He grabbed the saw and laid on the floor and began cutting the drywall.

Mary had been silently watching the proceedings. Suddenly, she bent down and pulled something out of the empty area where the drawers had been in the built-in cabinet. It was a stack of letters. She clutched the papers to her chest. “Oh my goodness. It’s them!” She ran over to the bed and sat down. “Abigail saved them after all. I knew she would.” She bent her head and began sobbing quietly.

Kat stood up and walked over to her. “What is that?”

Her mother looked up and wiped a tear off her cheek. “Letters. All the letters I wrote to Abigail. We corresponded for years. I told her all my hopes and dreams when I was a young girl. I miss writing to her so much. I just wanted to see the letters again.”

Kat sat down on the bed next to her. “I had no idea. I didn’t even think you liked Aunt Abigail.”

Mary wiped her eyes with a fingertip. “Oh, she was my favorite aunt. I could tell her anything. But after I had the huge fight with her friend, we only communicated in writing. I just couldn’t face her.”

Kat put her arm around her mother’s shoulder. “I think I told you, I talked to Louise. She feels bad about your argument too. Maybe you should talk to her.”

Mary sniffed. “Perhaps I’ll write her a letter.”

A cracking noise came from the closet and Roxy ran out. Kat jumped off the bed, grabbed the little dog, and sat down on the floor with her, snuggling her in her lap. “Welcome back, Roxy! Here’s your treat.”

Joel crawled out of the closet and put his tools back into the toolbox. Mary crouched down to pet Roxy. She turned to Joel. “Thank you.”

He smiled. “You’re welcome. I’m glad Roxy helped you find what you were looking for.”

Chapter 11

A
fter they returned from dropping Roxy at Kat’s, Rob and Tracy managed to get a few more screens designed before she went home and fell asleep. Her apartment felt quiet and dreary without Roxy’s small energetic presence. And she spent way too much time thinking about kissing Rob. Apparently, he had quite a few undiscovered talents. In addition to amazing lips, he was an absurdly fast typist, making Tracy wish she’d taken typing class in high school. She’d heard enough things about the typing teacher, Ms. Hightower, that she’d evaded that particular elective class. Ms. Hightower had always proudly proclaimed that touch-typing was the only way to type and the hunt-and-peck approach was slow. Now Tracy realized just how much slower it really was.

The next day, Tracy got out of the clinic as quickly as she could. She grabbed a few things from her lonely apartment, walked down to the H12, and knocked on the door of Room 2.

Rob opened the door. She walked by, threw her bag onto one of the beds, and handed him her coffeemaker. “Here it is. I hope you got coffee.”

Rob took the machine and tilted it to the side to examine it. “Wow, I haven’t seen a Mr. Coffee like this one in a long time.”

“Think of it as a cherished heirloom from the heyday of the Alpine Grove commune. With vintage harvest gold floral accents.”

Rob put the coffeemaker on the dresser. “As opposed to a yard-sale reject?”

Tracy sat down in front of the computer. “Very funny. I’ll have you know I found that when I excavated my apartment. My mother had it for years. It probably really did live at the commune.”

Rob said, “You’re serious? There was a commune?”

“Yes. My parents were card-carrying members. Except I’m sure they didn’t have cards. That would have been catering to the Establishment.”

Rob sat down at the desk. “Where was it?”

“Out past Kat’s place, way out in the woods. It was beautiful. Or it was when I was a kid, anyway.”

Rob folded his arms on the back of the chair and grinned. “You were a flower child? How groovy.”

Tracy turned on the computer. “Don’t knock it until you try it. I had a lot of fun. There were a lot of people there, so it wasn’t like I was unsupervised. But I had the opportunity to splash around in creeks, play with goats, and run around in pastures. Stuff that today would be deemed unsafe for a child.”

“You could have stepped on a nail or drowned.”

“Exactly. But I didn’t.” She splayed her arms above her head. “I lived to tell the tales. And there are many, but I’m sworn to secrecy.”

“Did you take a hippie oath or something?”

She put down her hands and shook her index finger at him. “If I told you that, it wouldn’t be a secret, would it? But I do have a hippie name.”

“Tracy?”

“No. That’s my regular name. I never tell anyone my hippie name. It’s another secret.”

Rob tilted his head. “That hippie code sure is complex. But I bet your mother would tell me. She likes me.” He stood up, crossed over to the computer, and stood next to her chair. Very close. She could feel the warmth of his body next to her. He said, “So where were we? Do you want me to type again?”

Tracy looked up at him. From her vantage point in the chair, he really did have a nice build. Tall, broad shoulders. She already knew those shoulders were muscular. It would be interesting to find out what the rest of him was like under those clothes. Wait. This was ridiculous. When did she start thinking he was cute? Sure, the date with Todd was demoralizing, but she’d kissed Rob exactly once. And now she was acting like a goof in front of him. This was stupid. Sure, he was nice and easy to talk to, but they’d been hanging out for days. What was her problem?

He touched her shoulder. “Is something wrong?”

She stood up quickly. “Nope. I’m fine. Doing great.”
Yes. Not fine. Feeling like an idiot.
“Why don’t you type first?”

“Okay. Then maybe you can work on those illustrations for a while.”

“Sounds good. My mouse will be at the ready.”

Tracy pulled over the other chair and told him what colors to use, where to add photos and put in placeholders for her illustrations. Periodically, she’d lean in a little too close and lose focus again. The way Rob’s hair curled around his ears made her want to reach out and touch it. And whatever shampoo he was using smelled really good. Mmm.

After about an hour, Rob turned and looked at her. “I need food. Let’s switch for a while. You can draw some illustrations and I’ll go over to the cafe and get something to eat before they close. Betsy is probably starting to shut down by now.”

“You’re starting to know the neighborhood better. And the neighbors.”

Rob put on his coat and said, “Betsy is really nice. And I’ve eaten so many meals there, I’m probably helping to put one of her kids through college. I’m actually at the point where I’m looking forward to cooking something myself again.”

“You know how to cook?”

“Of course. Doesn’t everyone?”

Tracy sat down at the computer. “Sure.”
No. Not really.

Rob left the room and Tracy found an illustration she was supposed to be finishing up and opened the file. She began working and was so deep in concentration that when Rob opened the door, she almost had a heart attack.

Rob put the white bags of food on the desk. “What happened? You look like you’re doing the Pledge of Allegiance.”

“Nothing.” Tracy looked down and realized she had her hand on her chest. “You just startled me.”

He looked over her shoulder at the drawing on the monitor. “Wow, that’s great. It looks like you’re done with that one.”

“Yeah. Moving on.” He needed to stop getting quite so close to her. “I think I need coffee, though.”