The Call of the Woof by Kassandra Lamb

Author:Kassandra Lamb [Lamb, Kassandra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: misterio press LLC

Chapter Thirteen

As I took Felix back around to the front of the house, Edna appeared on Sherie Wells’s stoop, as if she’d been waiting for me. Today’s muumuu featured large blossoms that looked like camelias, although I’d never seen that particular flower in quite that shade of neon orange. I spared a moment to wonder how she had so readily replenished her supply of wacky muumuus after the fire.

She grinned at me. “There you are, Marcia.”

“Be right over.” I took Felix inside, put him in a crate and gave him fresh water and a dental chew treat. As I headed back for the door, he was happily slobbering over the latter.

Buddy rose from the bed in the other crate. I was about to tell him to stay when suddenly my throat closed. Who knew how much longer I’d have him with me? I opened the crate door and signaled for him to follow me.

We went out the front door and across the narrow strip of lawn to Sherie’s front porch.

Edna opened the door before I could knock.

“Hey, Buddy,” she exclaimed as if it had been a month rather than a few days since she’d seen him last. She bent down and patted his head, then scratched his ears.

His expression was blissful, eyes closed, nose high in the air. My throat closed again.

We stepped into Sherie’s crowded living room. Not only had each Wells generation built onto the house but they’d also added furniture. And getting rid of anything seemed to be a family taboo.

Sherie beamed at me from across the room. “I’ll get the tea.” She turned toward the kitchen.

What the heck? Sherie Wells rarely beamed at anyone.

Edna perched on the edge of a loveseat and gestured for me to sit on the adjacent sofa. She was beaming too, but that was much less out of character.

As Buddy settled at my feet, she said, “So, how’s Will?”

That threw me a little. I’d expected the first question to be about how long Pete and his boys would be banging on my roof.

“He’s fine.”

Sherie returned with a tray. She set it down on her coffee table. “Unsweetened,” she said, pointing to the glass pitcher.

“Thanks.” I really appreciated that she’d remembered my distaste for sweet tea. It might be a Southern staple and technically I was now a Southerner, but I would never get used to iced tea that was as sweet as Kool-Aid.

Sherie poured and then we took turns doctoring our glasses with varying amounts of sugar from the crystal bowl on the tray.

Edna dumped three teaspoons into her tea. “So, you two got any plans, once your house is done?”

I cocked my head in her direction.

“You know,” Sherie said, a tad hastily, “to travel or whatever?”

“No. I’m looking forward to getting back into some kind of routine. And I need to get started with a new dog. No training means no income.” I might even attempt to start two dogs at once. That would be challenging, since I usually had one dog’s training almost completed when I started another dog on the basics.

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