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“Max!” I panicked. Sure, Max had been around town before, but never on a weekend. And always with my supervision. Where was he off to? Why? Was this my fault? What was he thinking?
I grabbed my purse, found my phone, and took off. I hit the double-gated entrance/exit at the same time as Jack and Buttercup. “Max, he just—”
“We’ll find him,” Jack said.
We all went through the two gates and I ran as fast as I could with Jack and Buttercup right next to me. I made it to the entrance of the vet clinic and skidded to a halt. I saw an elderly woman facing away and said, “Excuse me, have you seen a big dog run by?”
When she turned, I saw that she was visibly upset.
Jack immediately went to her side and said, “Ma’am, are you all right?”
The woman adjusted her glasses and said, “Oh, dear. Oh, my. Oh, dear.”
“Can we help you?” I asked.
“I dropped my keys. Then my handbag. And my glasses fell off,” she said, rattling her walker. “And I don’t know how, but I lost my peaches.”
“Do you need a ride home, or to the store?” I asked, wondering where she’d lost her produce. I didn’t see groceries scattered, or Max either. Cavolo! I hope Max hadn’t knocked her over! Although, if he had, she’d probably look a bit mussed. Possibly bleeding. Since neither one appeared to be a problem—
“Store?” she asked. “Why on earth would I need to go to the store? And I can’t go home, not without peaches.” I saw tears well in her eyes, and wondered what kind of monster she lived with that she was so upset she couldn’t even go home!
Jack said something to the lady that sounded reassuring and I scanned the area for Max. I didn’t see him anywhere so I opened the GPS app on my phone. And saw my battery was at two percent. Che macello! (What a mess!)
“No, no, I’m in no danger,” I heard the lady tell Jack. “But Peaches might be. She’s quite old, terrified of the vet you know, and half blind.”
Oh! Peaches was a pet? Okay, now things were starting to make sense. “Is Peaches a dog or a cat?”
“A little apricot colored poodle,” the lady said. “A teacup.”
“Are you Dottie’s mother?” Jack asked.
Dottie’s mom? Dottie being Greg and Lana’s babysitter? Oh, she’ll be so worried if we don’t find Peaches and get her mother home!
“Yes. Yes, I am. How did you know, and who are you?”
“Jack O’Donlan, ma’am. Your Dottie babysits for my brother Greg and his wife, Lana.”
“Oh!” she said, and covered her mouth. “You’re the sheriff!”
“Yes, ma’am. If you’ll point us in the right direction, we’ll find Peaches for you.”
“Oh dear, oh my. I just can’t say. She disappeared so fast! But I did see a large German Shepherd run by.”
Max! “Did you happen to see which way he went?”
“Well, yes, of course. I’m old, not blind dear, bless your heart.”
And I’m Italian but I still know that saying ‘bless your heart’ in the South meant, ‘you idiot’ or something along those lines. Anyway. “We’ll be happy to look for your dog. Would you mind pointing out which way the big dog ran?”
She pointed left. “Right around that corner, there.”
Okay, that meant Max was headed to the town square. “We’ll be back soon. Maybe you want to go inside where it’s cool? We’ll bring Peaches back here to you.” If we can find her, I added to myself.
“That’s very kind, thank you.”
Once Jack helped her safely inside, I started toward the corner with Jack and Buttercup beside me. “Why do you think Max just took off like that? Am I a bad dog owner? Is he that disobedient?” I asked Jack.
“Honestly? I think Max either heard what was going on, or saw the dog run off.”
“Would he know something like that?”
“Aye, and why not? Dogs know all kinds of things we don’t give them credit for. Max, especially, has a strong protective streak. You’re absolutely not a bad dog owner.”
My gaze scanned both sides of the street as we rounded the corner. I didn’t see a dog, large or small. “If I was a small poodle and saw a big ox like Max running at me, I’d make a break for it. Should we call out to her?”
“Couldn’t hurt, I don’t think.”
We whistled, we called, we cooed. Nothing.
We hit the next corner and there they were. Max had a pink leash in his mouth, a glint in his eye, and a small orange, very senior poodle trotting along beside him.
I felt my heart drop back into place. Max wasn’t bad at all! He was only helping!
I knelt down as Max got close and gave him a big hug. “Good boy, Max! You’re such a good boy!” I ruffled his fur and his whole body wagged. Jack took the poodle’s leash and I hooked Max to his.
Jack said, “Well, all right. That solves the ‘who’s a good boy’ puzzle.”
“Now he knows.” I couldn’t help but grin.
We got back to the vet clinic and went inside. The elderly woman was sitting in a chair wringing her hands and staring into space. Jack took Peaches to her and Max and I stood back.
“Oh!” she said, “Where in the world was she? Peaches, don’t do that to mommy, you scared me half to death!” And she scooped up the small dog and hugged her so hard the poodle’s eyes bugged. Her nubby tail wagged her entire body. “Woof!” she said and the older woman laughed. “I can’t thank both you enough.”
“We didn’t do much, ma’am. Sophie’s dog, Max, found her. He was bringing her back here when we found them.”
“Max? You’re a hero, Max! A real hero!” She knelt down and patted Max’s head. Max melted onto the floor, tail wagging, tongue lolling. He looked happy and proud. “What a dear dog you are. Smart and so well behaved!”
I furtively glanced around in case she was talking to some other dog. Max gave me the stink eye. Buttercup may have laughed a little.
Jack helped the lady and her dog out to the car, and I gave Max another hug and walked him outside. I was so proud of him, I thought about giving him a fat steak for dinner, then remembered Bailey said no. One thing I could do though, and that was to let Max use Danny the Dog Drawler’s book as a chew toy.
Once the woman drove off, I turned to Jack. “Farts? Really? Groping? Moles? You pig.”
“I couldn’t very well let another man have a go with my woman, could I?”
His woman? Well, maybe I wasn’t so expendable after all. Especially since Jack went to so much trouble sabotaging all my dating possibilities. A happy warmth spread through me.
“You do realize you owe me,” I said. “All that emotional suffering.”
Jack pulled me in for a kiss. “Anything,” he said.
“Ice cream?”
“Of course.”
“Good. We can go somewhere, get cozy, and talk about our feelings,” I said, feeling a tad smug.
A look of horror crossed Jack’s face. I laughed. Max and Buttercup barked.
“Can we bring the dogs along?” Jack asked.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way. And the cat, too,” I said, and we made our way back to the dog park to pick up Tilley.
#KickingLooseOfThisPlace
#IFeelLikeSaturdayNightFever
#MaxWouldSay-Don’tTouchTheHair
Until next time... Love, Laugh, Bark!
