The Art of Wag (26 page)

“Wow, good girl!” Tracy scratched Roxy’s ears and looked at Kat. “So she didn’t damage the house this time?”

Kat shook her head. “I didn’t say that. Joel had to take out some drywall. But it was okay. Definitely worth it in the long run.”

Joel opened the door and came outside with Roxy’s crate. “Hi Tracy. Welcome back. How did the meeting go?”

Tracy readjusted her hold on Roxy. “I’m not sure. It was going pretty well, but then—I don’t know.” She glanced at Rob.

“We’ll see.” Rob said.

Tracy said, “Joel, this is Rob. He’s kind of the technology brain behind the whole web site thing. You guys probably have a lot in common.” She looked at Rob again, “Joel’s an engineer.”

Joel put down the crate and shook hands with Rob. “Hi. Nice to meet you.”

“You too. I actually install networks, so Tracy may be overestimating the technology aspect. I’m not officially a web developer. I’m kind of self-taught.”

Kat grinned. “That’s probably close enough to join the geek brotherhood.”

Joel put his arm around Kat’s shoulders and looked down into her face. “Geek brotherhood?”

Kat placed her fingertips on her chest and said, “Well, obviously
I
am not a member. It’s a brotherhood. Of geeks. I fail on both counts. You probably write your meeting minutes in binary code.”

Joel laughed. “I’ll never tell.”

Tracy put Roxy on the ground, dug around in her purse for her check, and handed it to Kat. “Thanks again for taking Roxy on such short notice. I think Roxy and I will actually be leaving you alone for a while.”

“If you need to board her again, it’s not a problem.” Kat crouched down to pet Roxy. “You behave Roxy. Stay out of walls, cabinets, and other small spaces, okay?”

Rob and Tracy packed up the crate, loaded Roxy into The Turd, and headed back toward town. As they clunked through the potholes, Tracy’s thoughts returned to recent events. What was next? Tomorrow she’d be going back to work. After the intensity of the all-nighter, the disastrous meeting, and the still somewhat astonishing festival of lust with Rob, what happened now? She looked over at him. He had his hand against the dashboard in an effort to mitigate the impact of the craters, but the expression on his face seemed contemplative. When did his vacation end anyway? Had he ever said? Maybe he was leaving tonight. Eventually he had to go back to work too. Time to break the silence. Tracy turned to him, “So hey, Joel actually laughed. Who knew that guy had a sense of humor? I know you’ve never met him before, but he’s usually really quiet.”

“Don’t underestimate the geeks of the world. Sometimes we can surprise you.”

Tracy smiled. That was for sure. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine how sexy Rob would be. Her dreams were nowhere near as creative as he was. She gripped the steering wheel more tightly. “So when do we hear about the contract? Did Ben say anything?”

“He said he had a bunch of meetings today. I think he’s here through this week, shutting down the house for winter. Then he goes back to LA.”

“But he didn’t say when he’d get back to us? He’s going to let us know either way, right?”

Rob sighed. “I sure hope so, after all that work.”

“Speaking of work, are you going back to work tomorrow? It’s kind of late now.”

“It’s been a busy day.” Rob put his hand on her leg, startling her and causing her to gun the car’s engine, which whined in protest. “I had planned to take two weeks of vacation. At this point, I’ve only used one. I know you have to work, but I’d like to see more of you.”

Tracy darted a glance at him and grinned. “I’m not sure there’s more of me to see than you already have.”

“Well, I liked what I saw. I meant I’d like to spend more time with you. Without computers. Or work. But without clothes would be great too.” He caressed her thigh and a little jolt of electricity shot up her leg. That could make driving a lot more complicated.

Tracy squirmed in her seat and looked back over her shoulder at Roxy. “Don’t listen, Roxy.” She glanced away from the road at Rob again. “I think that could be arranged. I have to go back to work tomorrow, but after I get out of there at three and get home, clothing could be optional.”

“After spending so much time looking at photographs, I’d like to explore this area. I can do that while you’re at work. I picked up all that information about hiking trails. And you said there’s a road that would be fun to drive, right? I mean in a car like mine, not this one.”

Tracy downshifted to help encourage The Turd to ascend a small incline. “Yes. I so want to drive your car on that road. So,
so
much.”

“We’ll see. You might be able to convince me during one of those clothing-optional afternoons.”

“I can be pretty persuasive, you know.”

“I hope so.”

Kat and Joel went back inside the house and were greeted by the sounds of angry canine barking. Kat took Joel’s hand, raised it and twirled around, doing a small pirouette under his arm. “Look at this fantastically empty house!”

He pulled her toward him into a hug. “And clean.”

“Yes, it’s too clean.” Kat snuggled her head into his chest and wrapped her arms around his body.

“Don’t worry, the dogs will take care of that.” Joel kissed the top of her head. “By tomorrow, you won’t be able to tell your mother was here at all.”

Kat gave him a final hug and released her hold. “Back to our own wild-and-crazy world, where we don’t have to wash our dinner plates the nanosecond we finish eating.”

Joel walked into the kitchen. “On that note, what’s for dinner?”

Kat spread both arms out toward the kitchen. “Anything you want! We still have Twinkies. I couldn’t sell those to my mother either. I need to invite Maria to come back up here.”

Joel opened the pantry door. “She’s not going to want to visit once it starts snowing.”

“That won’t be for ages, right?”

“Don’t be so sure.”

Kat peered around Joel’s body into the pantry. “Maybe I’ll send Maria a care package. Or—even better—I can call it a housewarming gift!”

He turned and tickled her ribs. “Because nothing says welcome to the neighborhood like a case of Twinkies.”

Kat scurried away from the tickling and sat down at the table. “I didn’t see anything enticing in there. The cupboard is looking a little bare.”

“Me neither.” Joel closed the pantry door and sat down next to her.

Kat leaned an elbow on the table and rested her chin on her hand. “So what do you think? Are Tracy and Rob having sex? Because I think they are. Tracy looked way more relaxed.”

“Have you picked up Maria’s ability to determine these things?”

“No. She is the goddess. I’m just guessing. I have no idea how she can tell with such accuracy when people have done the deed. But she’s never wrong.”

Joel leaned back in his chair and stretched his long legs out under the table. “I’ll take your word for it.”

Kat tapped one of his feet with her toes. “Hey, maybe we could actually go out somewhere to celebrate our lack of house guest!”

“Okay. Where?”

“Let’s go to the Italian place. I’ve never been there with you. It could be fun.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Kat jumped out of the chair and ran to the bedroom closet. “I could wear girlie clothes!”

Joel leaned in the doorway, observing while Kat rummaged through her side of the closet. He poked at a loose splinter of wood in the door frame. “Did you find out why your mother wanted those letters so badly?”

Kat paused in her clothing quest and turned to face him. “Sort of. She wrote to Abigail for years.”

“I know. She said that.”

“I guess she wanted the letters because they more or less chronicle her entire life with my father.” Kat walked over to the bed and sat down. “Including the time around when he died. The day my mother arrived here was the anniversary of his death.”

Joel walked into the room and sat on the bed next to her. “Well, that explains a lot. You don’t really talk about your father much.”

“You’re telling
me
I don’t talk about something. You? Mr. Clam Up and Walk Away? Really?”

He pushed a long lock of dark hair behind her shoulder and took one of her hands in his. “Okay, I know. Pot calling the kettle black and all that. I get it. But I have wondered what happened with him.”

“He was always really quiet. I mean, I guess those of us who lived with my mother kind of found our own ways of coping. Mine was to go hide out and read. His was to be very quiet and kind of disappear. It helped that he worked long hours and I hardly ever saw him, except at dinner. And then like I said, at some point we stopped eating together. I think you can guess why. On the weekends, he tended to leave the house to do errands or something. I don’t know. Once he told me he went to the library to read history books, which I thought was interesting.” Kat looked up into Joel’s face. “Anyway, we weren’t particularly close, but he always seemed to be such a kind person, you know?”

Joel nodded. “I’m thinking you learned kindness from him.”

“Definitely not from my mother. And my grandmother on my mother’s side makes my mother seem like Snow White singing to birdies and chipmunks in a Disney film.”

“Your mother doesn’t seem like a happy person.”

Kat looked down at her fingers interlaced with Joel’s. “No. She’s always been like that. I thought it was just that we’re so different. Which we are. But it’s not just me. She doesn’t seem to like anybody.”

He squeezed her hand. “Definitely not me anyway. When did your father die?”

“Three years ago. He had a massive heart attack, and was in a coma for a little while, then my mother had to pull the plug. It was what he would have wanted.”

Joel put his arm around her and pulled her close. “Still, that must have been hard.”

A tear slid down Kat’s cheek. “Yeah, it was kinda rough. He was only in his late fifties too. I know now that we weren’t technically even related, but he was my father. And you’ve met my mother. Overt displays of emotion aren’t exactly her thing. She kind of made it seem like nothing had happened and returned to her cleaning.”

“Everyone has their own ways of coping.”

“I know. And she never said much about Abigail after I found out about my complicated background either.” Kat snuggled into his shirt. “I’ve read about people who find out they’re adopted and freak out. They have a big identity crisis, running around shrieking how they don’t know who they are anymore. For me, it just explained some things about why I was so different from my parents. But in the long run, nothing changed. My mother is still my mother and my father was my father, you know?”

“Yes. I understand what you mean.”

Kat looked up into his eyes. “She didn’t show me the letters, but I’m guessing that’s where she let out some of her feelings. About falling in love with my father way back when, then life with him, and finally his death. Almost like a diary.”

“That would explain why she wanted to find them.”

“And why she hated you so vigorously.”

Joel cupped her chin with his hand and kissed her. “I thought she hated everyone. And particularly the guys you went out with.”

Kat took his hand again. “That’s true, but she seemed to have an extra-special venom for you. I think because you tend to be quiet. Perhaps that reminded her too much of my father.”

Joel raised an eyebrow, “What?”

“Eww. Don’t give me that look. I’m not having some weird daddy issues with you. I can talk to you. Maybe you don’t talk to anyone else, but you talk to me. Well, most of the time, anyway.” She reached out and tickled his ribs. “Are you going to tell me how you broke a bone?”

He grabbed her hands, pulled them away from his stomach, and held them out to the side. “Maybe later. It’s just us and the critters in the house again.”

Kat considered the twinkle in his deep green eyes and flopped backward onto the bed, pulling him onto her. A familiar thrill of excitement flashed through her body as he bent to kiss her neck. “I see what you mean. The critters never tell anyone our secrets. Maybe we can go out to eat some other night.”

He raised his head and smiled. “We’ll find some food here somewhere. Later.”

“Yes. Later.”