Dog Days in the City by Jodi Kendall

Author:Jodi Kendall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2018-07-24T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

TURN OF EVENTS

As soon as the puppies heard my feet on the stairs, they started barking inside the crate and tumbling over each other. These wigglers sure were ready for a walk! I had read in one of my puppy guides about how important it was to exercise your dog first thing in the morning.

“Hiya, puppies!” I unlocked the door to the crate. They bolted across the living room and jumped on the couch. They tried to climb up my legs and scratched my shins. They yelped and sniffed and jumped. “Hang on, hang on! I need to grab your leashes!”

I stepped in a surprise puddle on the floor. How did that happen so fast? Ugh! I quickly cleaned it up with paper towels and took the dogs on walks in two groups. My forehead already glistened with sweat from the humid July air.

Cars whooshed down the street. A mom pushing a baby stroller on the sidewalk offered me a “Morning!” and a little wave. Two puppies scampered alongside Sugar and me, who actually seemed to like the company even though she was a total slowpoke.

That’s when I saw it and stopped in my tracks. There had been loads of Under Contract signs over the years on our block, but never, ever next door at Mrs. Taglioni’s. It had appeared on her front window, the way flowers bloom on our dogwood tree: sudden, overnight, and without telling us.

I felt my spirits deflate. So it was true about Grace moving in. I had hoped that was all some mix-up, like maybe she got her address confused. Ugh. Wishful thinking.

Mrs. Taglioni had been my next-door neighbor my whole life. She’d lived in that townhouse for decades, probably. Sure, we hadn’t always gotten along. But things were different now—weren’t they? She was like my wise old grandmother, just one door down. We had lemonade on her front stoop. I helped her plant her bulbs. I bought her chamomile tea sometimes with my allowance money. And, most importantly, we visited Hamlet together every month.

Like, last weekend.

I shook my head in disbelief. We spent all day Saturday together. How could she not mention anything about this? Then another horrible thought struck me. Was Mrs. Taglioni moving away because of us? Were we so loud and chaotic that living next door to us was too stressful? I felt my mouth go dry. I thought we were friends now. Maybe I’d been wrong?

I sighed. It seemed like I didn’t understand any of my friends anymore.

I rubbed Sugar’s soft golden neck, staring at the Under Contract sign, and whispered, “There’s just no way.”

It might as well be an alien invasion, that’s how strange it felt to see such a thing.

Sugar leaned against my leg, and she whimpered, making the puppies perk their ears. “Yeah,” I said. “That’s how I feel right now, too. C’mon, let’s go inside.”

She wobbled on the steps getting back into the townhouse, but I helped steady her legs. It was only eight a.m., but it felt like half the day had passed.

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