It was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so the overall atmosphere at Junebug Farms was festive and celebratory. Nobody was really doing much actual work. Most people were chatting and visiting and eating some of the many snacks people brought in.
Mia knew this would be the case until after New Year’s, when she used to be the kind of person who realized with horror just how many Christmas cookies she’d eaten over the past month and then would become a fiend at the gym. No more of that nonsense. No. The holidays were meant for enjoyment and celebration, and the size of her hips was so unimportant in the grand scheme of life. She wished she’d learned that so much sooner than she had.
She and Beth had been walking a couple of very sweet shelter dogs, both pit bull mixes. Lisa didn’t like them to be called that because, in actuality, that was an umbrella term for several bully breeds—American Staffordshire terrier, American pit bull terrier, and Staffordshire bull terrier, to name a few. They got such a bad rap, but Lisa had explained that if they were raised right, they were loving and affectionate dogs. Mia didn’t always love walking them, but only because they were such strong animals, and she was merely one tiny woman. But today’s was a gentle giant named Hulk, slate gray with soulful eyes and goofy ears. He was an old guy, a senior dog, and he seemed to get that she was a bit nervous, so he took his time, continually glancing back at Mia to check if he was doing okay.
She was in love in a heartbeat.
Back inside, she was about to unleash Hulk when she heard the clicking of heels on the cement floor of the dog wing and looked up to see Jessica headed her way.
“Good afternoon, ladies,” she said. “Can I ask a favor of you both?”
“Of course,” Mia told her, rubbing Hulk’s velvety ears between her fingers. Then she kissed his head and closed the door to his kennel, feeling a little pang in her chest.
Beth closed the kennel to her dog, too. “Whatever you need.”
“Great.” Jessica seemed slightly out of breath, though she always seemed like that to Mia, the poor girl. She ran herself ragged taking care of this place. She loved it with everything she had. Anybody could see that. But some days, it seemed like it was an awful lot. “We’re tallying up the votes for the Junebug Farms holiday king and queen. I’ve got all the computer votes counted, but there were some last minute old-school paper votes that came either in the mail or were left by visitors and other people who couldn’t make Barktoberfest. They’re in a box in my office. I’ve left the computer tally open on my monitor, but I have an off-site meeting in”—she checked her watch and blanched—“gah, ten minutes ago. Would you two mind just finishing the count? I shouldn’t be long, but I’d like to get this done so I can call the winners on Friday and make sure they’re up for the tasks ahead.”
“I have time,” Beth said, then looked to Mia. “You?”
Mia waved a dismissive hand. “Consider it done.”
“You guys are the best. I don’t know what I’d do without you. Thank you so much.” She gave them each a hug and hurried back the way she’d come.
“I worry about her,” Beth said. “She takes on too much.”
Mia nodded. “I think this cut to the state funding has caused her a lot of stress.” They started down the hall toward the exit, cooing to various dogs as they went, stopping to pet a couple through the fence doors of the kennels. “I do like the idea of this fundraiser awareness thing for the holidays, though. Could really help.”
“Man, I hope so. I don’t know what happens if there isn’t enough money. Does the shelter shut down? They wouldn’t do that, would they?”
The thought took the little seed of worry she already had and multiplied it. “I have no idea. I hope not.” She wouldn’t just be sad for all the animals who would lose their spaces, would probably be shipped off to other shelters that were maybe not no-kill—she’d be sad for herself. She spent so much time at Junebug. It was a part of her. The thought of losing it was unbearable. “Hopefully, this holiday campaign will work and bring in a bunch of money.”
“Maybe the king and queen will be very rich people and will hand over a fortune.”
“God, wouldn’t that be nice.” Mia held the door of Jessica’s office open for Beth, and they went inside.
As promised, Jessica’s computer was up and there were two lists on her monitor, one of potential queens and one of potential kings, along with the number of votes each had so far. There was also a stack of mail and a small box containing several folded scraps of paper. Mia sat down behind Jessica’s big desk as Beth came around and stood behind her.
“Hey, look, your granddaughter is in second place for queen,” Beth said, pointing at the screen.
Sure enough, there was Sammi’s name, right behind the owner of a local restaurant Mia was familiar with. “Well, would you look at that.”
“I’m not surprised. Everybody loves Dr. Sammi.” Beth squeezed Mia’s shoulder. “Okay, how do you want to do this?” Beth asked.
“Why don’t you give me the box? I’ll count those votes and you do the mail.”
“Deal.” Beth went around to the front of the desk and took a seat there, then handed the box of slips to Mia. As she looked over the names on the list again, she noticed the name right behind Sammi’s.
Keegan Duffy.
She was only a few votes behind Sammi. And when Mia looked at the list for kings, Keegan also had more votes than the top guy on that list.
Interesting. And just like that, a tiny kernel of an idea began to take shape.
It took about half an hour to go through all the slips and all the mail, tally them up, and when they did, Mia sat there and blinked at the computer monitor.
Sammi had won queen, and she told Beth as much.
“Oh my God, Mia, that’s amazing! How fun!” Beth clapped her hands together and did a little shimmy in her chair. Then she asked about the king.
Before she could stop herself, Mia typed a couple of quick keystrokes, which moved Keegan’s name to the opposite column, and said, “Keegan Duffy. Oh, hang on…”
Beth furrowed her brow. “Wait. Keegan’s a woman.” She got up and came around the desk to look over Mia’s shoulder.
Mia blew out a breath as she nodded. “She is. But look.” She pointed at the final numbers of all the votes tallied up. “Keegan has more votes than the highest man, and she’s just under Sammi.”
“She has way more votes than any of the men—they both do,” Beth confirmed, rubbing her chin with her fingertips. “She must’ve been put in the wrong category by somebody. Her name is gender-neutral, so it makes sense that could happen. What do you think we should do?”
If she gave voice to her idea, there’d be no turning back. Mia knew this. She couldn’t suggest what she was about to suggest and then shrug and let it go if she was met with resistance. No, she’d have to stand firm and battle if necessary, though she didn’t think she’d need to do that with Jessica, for obvious reasons. She took a deep breath, turned to Beth, and said, “I think we leave it as is. I think we tell Jessica these are the final results—because they are.”
“And we have two queens.”
“And we have two queens.”
Beth took a moment and seemed to roll it around for a bit before nodding with a grin. “I like it. And who knows? Maybe it’ll bring a bit more attention to Junebug for being progressive.”
“Oh, I like that.” The part she left unsaid: If anybody does have an issue, they’re not going to want to come across as even the tiniest bit homophobic to the lesbian CEO of Junebug Farms, so they will likely keep their mouths shut. And the best part of all, which she also left unsaid, was that Sammi and Keegan would now be spending a lot of time together doing holiday things with dogs. Because that’s all they needed, Mia was sure. Just a little more time together.
It was already crystal clear to her that Jules was not it for Keegan. She just needed a little help to see that maybe Sammi was. She took great pride in her matchmaking skills. Somehow, she could see when two people should be together. To date, she’d matched up six different couples. They were all still together. A one hundred percent success rate. Okay, she had to finagle things a bit here. It wasn’t like Keegan didn’t get more votes, so Mia wasn’t taking the king spot away from anybody. It was just a teeny tiny edit. That’s all.
And if it worked the way she thought it would, it was totally worth it.
She sat back in Jessica’s chair and surveyed her handiwork, the lists with Sammi’s and Keegan’s names at the tops.
With a nod, she looked at Beth and smiled. “It’s done.”