The Art of Wag (31 page)

“Maybe.” He rubbed his eyes. “It would take me a while to find a new job.”

Tracy sighed. This was hard. “I have an apartment that does take dogs. Or at least one small dog. My place is tiny, but it does have a super-low rent, thanks to the family discount. And it’s in a good neighborhood. But it’s located in an employment wasteland.”

He reached over and took her hand. “Yes. I think you’ve tried out most of the available jobs.”

“I know, and most of them I wouldn’t wish on anyone, least of all you.” She looked into his eyes. “Would you even be interested in living here, if you could?”

“And leave the smog and my bad neighborhood in LA?” He squeezed her hand. “Not a problem.”

“Okay. So we didn’t get the huge web-site thing. Maybe we could do something else. Other web sites, maybe?”

“Like I said, I’m not much of a salesperson. And most people in little towns don’t have a lot of money for something like a web site. I don’t think there’s much of a market.”

Tracy took his other hand in hers. “You’re right. I mean, my mom probably has one of the more successful businesses in town, but if I asked her about a web site, she’d think I was nuts. She might not even know what a web site
is
.”

“So where does that leave us?” He squeezed both of her hands gently.

“Confused.”

“Yeah, I know.” He uncrossed his legs and pulled her into his embrace. “I’m not sure there’s an easy answer here.”

Tracy kissed him and turned to lean back on his chest. She looked out across the water. “We haven’t solved the immediate problem either.”

“What’s that?”

“I don’t want you to go. What if you just didn’t leave?”

He stroked her hair. “You know, I can’t realistically do that. I mean, I have some savings, but not that much. If I quit, I need another job.”

She gazed out over the expansive view of the lake in front of them. “I know. But if you got rid of your apartment, you wouldn’t need a job immediately, right?”

“Maybe. I have student loans, though. And a car payment. That car you love costs money, you know.” He pushed a windblown lock of hair back, away from her face. “What are you suggesting? Run away to Rio?”

“While that does have some appeal, if I don’t quit my job and you stay with me, we can live cheap. Really cheap. I have vast experience with that.”

“I suppose. But I draw the line at Cap’n Crunch. I’m not eating another crunch berry, ever. I could sell my car too.”

She turned around to face him. “I’m going to try not to think about the car.” She sighed. “This is sort of crazy, isn’t it? I mean, I’m asking you to dump your whole life and trade it for mine, which isn’t that great, unless you’re fond of being broke. Taking a vow of poverty sounds a lot more romantic than it really is.”

“Sometime crazy isn’t so bad. It was kind of crazy for me to ask you to help me with the meeting back in LA. But if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have gotten to know you.” He hugged her shoulders and kissed her behind her ear. “Maybe your life doesn’t seem that great to you, but the last few days have been better than most of my life in LA.”

“Yeah. I whine about Alpine Grove a lot, but every time I leave here, I want to come back. It’s home. Maybe that’s why I didn’t really care that much about staying in LA for school. It really is kind of a disgusting place. I mean, I talk about that whole Annette fantasy, but it isn’t what I want. Not really. Sure, I’d love to be able to do something art-related, but mostly right now, I rather be with you than have paintings hanging in some dusty gallery.”

“You won’t get any argument from me. Particularly when I’m sitting up here with you, staring out at possibly the most beautiful view I’ve ever seen.”

She turned in his arms to face him. “You know I love you, right?”

“I wasn’t sure. But I hoped that might be the case.” He kissed her. “Because I love you too.”

“I was hoping that too.”

He cradled her in his arms and kissed her again. “I’m glad we cleared that up. By the way, you never said. What is the name of this place?”

She put her hands around his neck and pulled him closer. “I’m not sure what the real name is, but we always called it Make-Out Rock.”

He bent to kiss her neck and murmured. “Another reason it’s not in the guidebooks.”

“Nope. Only locals know. Get ready to be part of the Alpine Grove in-crowd.”

Tracy was glad she had taken Friday and Saturday off from the clinic. She and Rob spent most of those two days either out hiking, walking Roxy, or curled up together planning Rob’s exit from La-La Land.

Saturday night, Tracy was lying on the futon on her stomach with her arms hanging off the end. “I have no idea how you do that.”

Rob rolled over and threw an arm over her back. “Do what?”

She turned her head to face him. “One kiss and I end up naked. I mean look at me. I’m exhausted. You really know how to show a girl a good time. For someone who claims not to have had much luck with cheerleaders, you certainly know what you’re doing with this one.”

“It’s not like I’ve never had a girlfriend, you know.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “And yes, I suppose some of the ladies were rather complimentary about that particular aspect of the relationship.”

“As well they might be. You are a very patient and methodical man.”

He chortled. “Patience is a virtue. I guess being mechanically inclined helps too.”

“What? Wait. Are you saying something disgusting?”

“No, I mean I’ve always been good at figuring out how things work. That’s why I’m good at my hopefully soon-to-be-former job. I see network diagrams in my head. How things fit together. I wasn’t that great at school—English classes were definitely
not
good. But I could fix things. The neighbors used to bring small appliances like toasters over to our house.”

“You fixed the neighbor’s toaster?”

“Among other things.”

“What does that have to do with sex?”

“I read some books. I’m good at visualizing. It’s not that complicated.”

Tracy giggled. “I wish other men felt that way. There’d be a whole lot more happy women in the world.” She kissed him. “I am going to miss you so much.”

“I know. I’m going to miss you too. But I’ll be back soon. I just have to go quit and deal with packing up my apartment. But right now, I don’t want to think about that.”

“Are you visualizing something?”

“Very much so.”

The next day, Rob packed up the car and headed back home. Tracy waved as the Prelude disappeared down the street. She went back up the stairs into her apartment, which, now that it was clean, seemed a little larger than before. With two people living there though, it was a good thing Roxy was such a small dog.

Although she hadn’t talked to Rob again about it, Tracy still was upset about the web-site project falling through. She had to do something. Talk to Ben. Explain that the screw-up with the presentation was her fault and that she and Rob could do the job.

She crouched down and looked into Roxy’s face. “Okay, little dog. I’m going to do this before Ben leaves town and I lose my nerve. If I don’t, I’ll always wonder. You behave yourself, okay?” Roxy wagged, which was probably as close as Tracy was going to get to a vote of confidence.

After some forceful convincing, Tracy finally got The Turd into motion. It seemed the car had enjoyed its time off and was not eager to go back to work. Glancing up at the sky, she hoped that the weather would hold, otherwise she might have to walk or swim back from Ben’s house on the lake.

She drove up the long paved driveway to the magnificent entrance and was again intimidated by the opulent house. She looked down at what she was wearing. Oh well. The car sputtered to a stop and quivered into silence. The huge wooden front door of the house was open and movers were taking things out of the house, to be placed in storage for the winter.

Most people with a summer cabin just locked the doors and left, but those places weren’t filled with valuables worth more than the GNP small countries either. If someone ripped off the cabin’s Corelleware, the owners could just get more at a yard sale and call it good.

Tracy walked into the house and looked up at the ornate woodwork on the ceiling. She stopped a worker who was hoisting a ceramic elephant. “Is Ben here somewhere?”

“Yes, he’s out back.”

Tracy walked through the house, exited the tall French doors onto a patio, and took a path down to the lake. Ben was standing by the huge tree on the lawn, looking out at the view.

She walked up alongside him. “Hi Ben. Have you run across Miriam Gray yet?

The tall man turned and frowned at her, “What are you doing here? Tracy, right?”

“Yes. From the meeting. I wanted to talk to you.”

“You came all the way out here to talk to me? You should have set up an appointment with my secretary. I’ll be back in the office tomorrow.”

“I thought it would be easier to stop by here. I want to apologize for...well...the meeting here the other day. I was so tired and I just sort of lost it. I know Rob would be able to do a great job on the site. He figured out the whole thing, down to the last detail.”

“Yes, the proposal was very comprehensive. But we’ve already selected another company.”

Tracy took a deep breath. “I know. But some big firm in LA doesn’t care like we do. For them, you’re just a number on a client list and they’re creating a web site about some place they don’t know anything about. With us, your project would be our priority. Alpine Grove is our home.”

Ben glanced at her. “Rob said he lives in LA.”

“Not anymore. He loves it here. He doesn’t want to leave and he’s moving here.”

He looked out across the water. “I can understand that. I love this place too. My family has had so many good times on our vacations up here. Wonderful memories. We adore this house.”

Tracy nodded. “It is beautiful. I live in town, but I can come out and see the lake whenever I like. Or hike the waterfall trail. Or just sit in the forest somewhere. This place and this project mean a lot to us. And think about it—-you’d even be supporting the local economy!”

“I suppose.”

“Selecting a local firm could be great public relations for your company.”

Ben crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I don’t think that’s really necessary for us.”

“Maybe not. I just wanted to let you know that Rob is really good at what he does and I know he wouldn’t let you down.”

Ben raised his eyebrows. “Apparently he thinks highly of you, as well. He sent me an impassioned e-mail telling me that you’re a brilliant artist who knows Alpine Grove like no one else.”

“He did? Well, we make a good team.”

“That may be true, but we had to go with the other firm. They’re in LA, but they have a lot of experience. Although their price was higher, we just felt more comfortable with them. It was a business decision. Nothing personal.”

“Okay. Well, I just wanted to make sure you know how I feel before you leave town.”

Ben furrowed his brow. “I know where I’ve seen you—the Italian restaurant! I didn’t recognize you without that outfit.”

Tracy shoulders drooped. “Yes. That was me. I’ve lived here my entire life, with the exception of some feeble attempts at higher education. That’s why Rob said I know Alpine Grove so well.” She waved at the lake, toward the general direction of town. “You can’t get much more local than a townie like me.”

Ben pressed his lips together and said, “Well, it’s been nice talking to you, but I have to get back to the city now. Let me see you to the door.”

“That’s okay, I can find my way. Thank you for your time.”

Tracy walked up the path to the house and out to The Turd. She got in and laid her forehead on the steering wheel. Staring down at the filthy, worn floor mat, she turned the key and listened to the car’s noisy protests as it attempted to turn over. This had been a complete waste of time. Not to mention humiliating. What had she been thinking?

She ground the key in the ignition again and finally the car cooperated with a gigantic cough of exhaust. As part of its deep unwillingness to move, it seemed to be having some new sort of convulsive catastrophe. At length, the engine finally settled down into its normal sputtering cacophony of automotive angst. She put the car in gear and steered it down the driveway toward home.