The last thing Josie suggested to him at the end of her lesson was that he might pick up a few books for Shannon. Josie had thought the girl might welcome some reading about shelter animals to help her properly work with the dogs at the shelter. The more he thought about it, the more Declan warmed to the idea.
That was why he decided to go into town and stop by the local bookstore, Chapter One, the following day. Although he didn’t go into town all that often, Declan was aware that the bookstore had changed hands less than a year ago. Word had it that Chapter One been purchased by Lucy Tucker who was herself a recent transplant from the neighboring North Carolina city of Charlotte.
As Declan approached the store, he couldn’t help overhearing the sound of raised voices. Apparently, Lucy was in the middle of a rather serious conversation with someone. Even though he tried not to listen, Declan thought he recognized the other voice as belonging to Calum Ramsey. Calum was the owner of Pins and Pints, the local bowling alley located one door down from the bookstore.
Declan neither liked nor believed in eavesdropping, but it was rather difficult for him to tune out the raised voices since he had literally walked in on the duo.
Lucy and Calum seemed to be involved in some sort of loud disagreement.
As the door abruptly closed behind him, Lucy and Calum turned almost in unison to look at the man who had just walked in.
Caught, Declan cleared his throat. “Um, sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt you. I’ll just go and come back later,” he offered.
Lucy, a very pretty young woman with light brown skin, recognized the man who had come in. She was quick to absolve the customer of any sort of wrongdoing.
“That’s all right. There’s nothing to apologize for,” she told Declan, saying, “We were just talking.” She glanced back at Calum. “Maybe a little more passionately than either one of us realized,” the bookstore owner allowed.
“Right. What she said,” Calum told Declan, embarrassed to be caught like this. He began edging toward the front door. “Well, I’d better be going anyway,” he said, avoiding Lucy’s expressive dark brown eyes. “Stop by for a beer sometime. Or maybe a game,” he told Declan just as he left the shop.
Declan nodded, echoing, “Sometime,” although it was already too late for Calum to have heard him. The man was gone.
Even though Calum had absolved him of any blame, Declan couldn’t help feeling that he had walked in on something he shouldn’t have. The problem was, he wasn’t sure exactly what that was, or how to actually word his apology.
To his way of thinking, the best way to proceed was just to fall back on the reason he had come here in the first place. Turning toward Lucy, he was just about to ask the bookstore owner if she had any appropriate nonfiction books on caring for animals that he could buy and give to his fourteen-year-old niece.
However, it seemed that Lucy had other ideas at the moment. She immediately latched onto Declan’s arm and began to draw him over toward her office, which was located at the back of the store.
“Have you met my foster dog, Buttercup?” she asked, smiling brightly at Declan.
Since he felt that his presence had managed to chase Calum away for some reason, Declan didn’t feel right about turning the woman down outright, at least not immediately.
“No, I haven’t,” he told her, sensing that it wouldn’t end with that.
“She’s wonderful—although, of course, she’s needed some special care,” she told Declan.
He wasn’t really sure what she was talking about. But the fastest way to find out was to ask, so he did. “What do you mean?”
The words were no sooner out of Declan’s mouth than he saw exactly what she was referring to. Buttercup, a golden retriever, was lying on a soft blue blanket. She was also very visibly pregnant.
“I’m so excited for the puppies to come,” Lucy said. “But I’ve already started the process of trying to find good homes for them once they arrive.” She raised her eyes hopefully and asked, “Would you be interested?”
Declan in turn looked at the placid, fluffy mama. “She’s very cute,” he told Lucy. “And I’m sure her puppies will be, too.”
She could detect hesitation in his voice. She was very familiar with that by now. “I hear a ‘but’ in your voice, Declan.”
He saw no reason to lie. “Very astute,” the breeder remarked. “I already have a dog. His name is Champ,” he told her. “He’s a one-man dog and I get the feeling that if I take in a puppy, that puppy will have to watch his or her back all the time. Champ doesn’t care for competition and he’s pretty jealous, not to mention protective when it comes to me.”
Lucy nodded. She had already begun to suspect something like that.
“Well, I had to ask,” she told him.
“I understand,” Declan answered. “Now, about the books I’m looking for...” he said, getting back to the reason he had stopped by the bookstore to begin with.
“Of course,” Lucy said. “Let’s get out of my office and back to the bookstore proper.” As she closed her office door behind her, she looked up at her customer. “It goes without saying that if you happen to run into anyone looking to acquire an adorable puppy, you will steer them in my direction,” she told him.
Declan decided not to mention the fact that his niece as well as his riding student were both putting in time at the animal shelter. Saying that seemed too much like willfully dashing the poor woman’s hopes.
So instead, Declan just nodded his head. “If I happen to run into anyone,” he promised, “I’ll definitely send them your way.”
“Thank you,” Lucy responded with a smile. “Now, about those books you were looking to buy.”
“Josie,” Ruth said, looking up from the tea she was brewing. She had just heard Josie’s voice as the latter called out to her granddaughter. “Didn’t I hear you tell Shannon that you used to own a catering company when you lived back in Florida?”
As had become her habit, Josie had stopped at the Hoyt house to pick up Shannon before going to the animal shelter.
Hearing the young woman greet Shannon, Ruth came out to talk to her before Josie could leave with her granddaughter.
Used to own.
Even though she was still thinking about relocating permanently, it was difficult for Josie to think of her catering business in the past tense. To her it was a very viable part of her life.
“Yes, I did,” she deliberately added.
Ruth didn’t seem to hear the qualifying statement. Instead, she just pushed on, focusing on the fact that Josie had run a catering company.
“Well, I have a proposition for you,” Declan’s mother told his student.
“And that would be?” Josie politely asked. She, as well as Shannon, were due at the shelter, but she was not about to cut Ruth off. So, she politely waited to hear what this “proposition” was all about.
“Well, I have a friend of a friend,” Ruth began, unraveling her story slowly. “Her name is Regina Mackenzie. Regina periodically throws charitable events for local organizations,” Declan’s mother added, looking at Josie to see if her words were making an impression.
Josie nodded politely. She had heard the woman’s name mentioned before though their paths had never crossed. “Yes, I know.”
Ruth began to get warmed up. “Well, I told her all about you.”
Josie didn’t really understand why Ruth would mention her to the other woman at all. “Why would you do that?” she asked.
Ruth began getting excited. “Her caterer got sick and the woman is not going to be able to cater this latest soiree that Regina is throwing this Saturday and it’s too late to call it off. All the invitations have already gone out.” Ruth drew closer. “I was wondering if you would be able to step in and, you know, save the day by handling the catering for her,” Ruth suggested hopefully. “You’d be a real lifesaver,” she told Josie with feeling. “And it would mean the world to Regina. Regina is a very good friend to have,” Declan’s mother added. “She has a lot of influence in this town. Do you think you can do it on such short notice?”
Josie bit her lower lip. Her life was already extremely busy. Quite honestly, she felt that she really didn’t have any free time to spare.
But the truth of it was, if she was looking to start a new catering business here in Spring Forest, this sort of thing would be the perfect opportunity to begin building her reputation.
She already had a small head start because of the biscotti she was selling at the coffee shop in response to the owner’s request.
“Yes,” Josie finally answered, nodding her head. “I can do it.”
“Wonderful!” Ruth declared happily. If her hands hadn’t hurt as much as they had, she would have clapped them together in celebration. As far as the woman was concerned, it was a done deal. She was glad to be able to facilitate things for the younger woman who had made such a difference in her son’s and granddaughter’s life.
Josie’s mind was already racing, thinking about all the preparations she needed to make by this coming Saturday. But she had promised Shannon that they were going to go to the rescue shelter today and she wasn’t the type to just go back on her word.
Not to mention the fact that Bethany was expecting her there as well.
“Okay, Shannon, we’ve got to get going,” Josie told the teenager, beginning to usher her toward the front door.
“We’re still going?” Shannon asked in surprise. She had thought that because of what her grandmother had just said, their outing would be called off.
“You bet we are,” Josie told the girl with feeling. “It might be our last time for a few days, but we definitely are going today.”
Even as she said that to Shannon, an idea suddenly occurred to Josie. This unexpected catering gig might lead to something else as well.
“Thank you for the recommendation,” she told Ruth just before she and Shannon left.
“My pleasure entirely,” Ruth called after her, happily beaming over the way that everything was turning out.
By the time she and Shannon had arrived at the animal shelter, Josie had worked out most of the details in her mind. Not about the catering gig itself, since she’d need to talk to Regina about what she wanted, but about what it could yield if she went about this in the right way.
But first, she knew she needed to run this all by Bethany.
After dropping off Shannon where the puppies were being kept so the teenager could continue working with them, especially with Harlow who the teen couldn’t stop talking about, Josie made a point of stopping by Bethany’s office. The director looked just as crestfallen as she had the other day.
“Things no better than they were the other day?” she asked the other woman.
Bethany raised her eyes from the spreadsheet that had been giving her such headaches. Try as she might, she couldn’t find any extra money, or any solutions to her dilemma.
“If anything, the situation is even worse than before. Two more strays have been dropped off at the shelter since I talked to you the last time.” She sighed, rubbing the area just above her eyes. There was a very intense headache building up.
“Luckily, they don’t need any extra medical care beyond the usual checkup, shots and neutering,” Bethany said. “But I don’t even have enough money for that, much less the money for the outstanding medical bills we already have.” She raised her head to look at Josie. “I really don’t know what I’m going to do,” she confessed helplessly.
“How about having a fundraiser?” Josie suggested eagerly.
“That would be great, but that kind of thing takes a bit of doing,” Bethany told her. “I don’t have the time. That’s not just something that you can pull out of a hat at will.”
According to what Ruth had already told her and what she’d heard around town, Regina Mackenzie had a wonderful reputation for throwing very successful fundraisers. The woman enjoyed putting her name behind good causes—and this could definitely be classified as a good cause.
“Leave it to me,” Josie happily told the director. “I’ve got an idea how we can find that money you need for the animals.”
For the first time since she had walked in on the woman several days ago, Josie saw Bethany looking really hopeful.
“What sort of an idea?” Bethany wanted to know.
“One that can help provide the funds for those mounting bills you were attempting to juggle.” Josie patted the woman’s shoulder. “Let me see what I can do,” she told the director.
“You’re not going to tell me, are you?” Bethany guessed.
“Not until I can see if I can get this fundraiser off the ground,” Josie told the woman. She didn’t want to raise Bethany’s hopes until she was certain she could get Regina interested in this proposition.
“You’re being extremely mysterious,” Bethany told Josie.
“I prefer to think of it as being overly cautious,” Josie replied. “Don’t worry, I’ll let you know the moment I make any progress with this,” she promised.
To her surprise, the director rose from her chair. Rounding her desk, Bethany actually hugged her.
“I haven’t done anything yet, Bethany,” Josie pointed out.
“I know.” Bethany dropped her hands, but she remained standing beside Josie. “That was just to thank you for trying.”
Later that day, as Josie drove back to Declan’s house to drop Shannon off, she thought about what she was going to say to Regina once they’d connected. She just assumed, since this had been Ruth’s suggestion, that Declan’s mother had paved the way for her and had touched base with the woman, but she wasn’t entirely sure that she wasn’t just taking things for granted.
The moment she climbed up the stairs to her small upstairs apartment, Josie placed a call to Regina.
The phone rang a number of times before it was picked up. Josie half expected to find herself talking to either an answering machine or possibly a secretary, since Ruth had told her how very busy the woman usually was.
Instead, Josie heard a clipped voice on the other end say, “Yes?”
She had no idea what the woman sounded like so, nervously, she asked, “Is this Ms. Regina Mackenzie?”
Rather than confirm her identity, Regina ordered, “Talk quickly, I’m in the middle of searching for a caterer,” the woman on the other end told her.
So, the woman hadn’t found another one yet. Score one for me, Josie thought.
“Ruth Hoyt gave me your number. I’m an established caterer from Florida and she just told me that your caterer got sick. If you’d let me, I’d like to offer my services,” Josie told the woman.
There was no hesitation, no long litany of questions. Instead, Regina simply asked her, “How soon before you can get here?”
“Would tomorrow morning be all right?” Josie asked the woman.
“Today would be better,” the woman replied authoritatively.
Not waiting for her caller to answer, Regina rattled off her address, then informed Josie, “I’ll be waiting,” before the connection terminated.
Stunned, Josie stared at the phone before she put the receiver away.