Blame It On The Dog

It was as if someone had popped the top of a shaken soft drink. Selena caught them up on Axel and Sam and Quinn and Drew and the appointment this morning.

“Middle school is cruel,” Derrick said. He should know. His oldest was at that between stage, too. “Is Drew being bullied? What did his teachers say?”

“They said the school has a zero-tolerance policy and a student-teacher-parent conflict resolution committee to handle problems. Drew’s never brought an issue before the committee, but his teachers say he isn’t very assertive. They say he hovers at the fringes of all the groups. He doesn’t seem to have found his niche yet. Lord knows the arts department saved me in school.”

“Football, here,” Derrick said.

“Academics for me,” Bailey added. “But that was high school. Drew’s not there yet.”

“No, and it’s tough being a seventh grader who looks like a sixth grader. Even his teachers noted he’s small for his age and quiet. That in itself has made him, on occasion, a target of teasing, some jostling. Some adolescent ostracism in the cafeteria. Not overt bullying, but unpleasant and potentially damaging nonetheless….” Her eyes welled up, stopping the flood of words.

Bailey reached across the table to lay her hand atop Selena’s.

“His teachers told me…” This wasn’t easy. This was her baby. “To…to try to get Drew to open up. I’ve tried. But he’s shutting me out. They suggested I get him into a group extracurricular activity to build his self-esteem and encourage social skills. How could I have raised a child with low self-esteem?”

“It’s the age,” Derrick said comfortingly. He grinned. “Plus San Francisco. I just read a great quote. Something about the city dwellers having an existential angst that comes from straddling a fault line.”

Selena laughed despite her pain. “You’re good friends,” she said, dabbing at her eyes with a napkin.

“Hey, we’ve been there,” Bailey said. “And with kids, you know we’ll be there again. And again and again and again. You’ll be there for us.”

Derrick turned serious. “Maybe working with this Quinn guy would be helpful. Male role model and all.”

“Oh, please.” Selena was just starting to feel better. She didn’t need to find out the light at the end of the tunnel was a locomotive. “He’s opinionated and unbending. In a word, insufferable. Not qualities conducive to letting Drew shine.”

“But if he knows what he’s doing with dogs, if he really can get Drew to control Axel, think how good Drew will feel. About himself.”

Selena looked squarely at Derrick. “What do you know about dogs?”

Derrick threw his hands in the air. “In a word? Zip. Call this guy.”

Realization dawned on Bailey’s face. “I think Drew’s not the only one with issues here. What really gives, Selena? Is this man, perhaps, attractive?”

“Only if you’re a dog. And don’t say it.”

“Come on. What does he look like?”

“I didn’t notice. His alpha-male personality obscured any other impression he could have made. I think he has a head—very large, I can tell you—two arms, two legs. More than that, who knows?”

“I don’t believe you.” Bailey nudged Derrick under the table. “I suspect you find him attractive, but I also think, if he’s as strong-willed as you say he is, you know you couldn’t wrap him around your little finger the way you do all the guys you choose to date. And that’s what bothers you.”

“I liked it better when we were focused on Drew.”

Their lunches arrived just in time to interrupt this nasty detour. “So, how are the girls?” Selena asked in an attempt to refocus the conversation.

“Great!” Derrick said, tucking into his lunch.

“We’ve discovered the trick to keeping a twelve-year-old girl out of trouble,” Bailey added. “Keep her so busy she barely has time to breathe. Leslie’s trying out for the premier softball league, and we’re encouraging it even though it has a more rigorous schedule than the regular league. Anything to burn off preteen angst. And Savannah’s suddenly crazy for junior ballroom dancing, can you believe it?”

“How do you juggle work, school—” Bailey had just recently enrolled in a local business college “—and the girls’ activities?” Selena asked.

Derrick grinned. “We tag-team.”

There it was again. That pairs thing.

“Hey, speaking of teams,” Derrick added, “did you hear Robert wants to get a Margo’s Bistro softball team going this season? There’s a sign-up sheet at the counter.”

Maybe she’d join. Sometimes the solution to life’s little aggravations was to whack something.

Driving the short distance home, Selena admitted to herself her friends had come close to being right on two counts. Drew probably would benefit from a mastery of Axel, who outweighed him. And, although she didn’t want to waste time and energy exploring this troubling fact beyond acknowledging its existence, a very, very, very—did she mention very?—tiny part of her did find Jack Quinn attractive. But the truth didn’t make it any easier to take the next step. To entrust her dog, let alone her son, to Quinn’s regimented course of action.

She’d told Sam and the Animal Control officer they’d consulted a dog behaviorist, and that had assuaged the greengrocer’s rage. But she didn’t tell him Quinn hadn’t actually worked with Axel. If Axel’s behavior didn’t improve, Sam and the rest of her neighbors weren’t going to stay mollified.

But, oh, how Quinn had looked at her yesterday. As they’d walked in the intimacy of the fog, he looked as if, at any moment, he could have eaten her up. And she’d felt strong enough to resist until he’d told her he’d seen one of her installations. And he’d gotten it. He knew what it was. He even knew how he was supposed to interact with it without being told. A man that perceptive could prove dangerous.

Dangerous even without the addition of a hard body, a luxurious head of dark wavy hair and chiseled features. Not that she’d noticed what he looked like.

She was prevented from dwelling on the unnerving Mr. Quinn by the necessity of searching out a parking space. Even though her Honda Element was compact enough for even the most challenging San Francisco parking situation, she had to drive around before finally finding a spot two blocks from her loft. It might be time—she’d have to massage the budget—to look for a garage to rent. As she passed Nikki’s tattoo parlor, she heard her name. Again. This time the tone was different. Trouble loomed, for sure.

Nikki came running out of her shop. “Babe, you know I love you, but we have a problem.”

Now what? Drew was in school. Axel was in the apartment.

The body artist moved to the curb where her vintage Cadillac was parked in a space nobody else in the neighborhood ever—ever—used if they knew what was good for them. Lovingly, Nikki ran a hand adorned with Celtic runes over the Caddy’s right fender. Selena thought she saw scratch marks. Her heart sank.

“Maxine came by your place,” Nikki said. “Axel escaped.”

“Oh, no!”

“Don’t worry, we caught him,” Nikki replied, still caressing the car’s custom baby blue finish. “But not before he did this.”

Selena tried to think if her car insurance had any clause that would remotely cover Axel damage.

“I talked to Sanchez up the street,” Nikki continued. “He thinks he can buff it out. And he owes me. But if it needs a paint job—”

“I’ll pay.” There went any prospect of a garage in the near future. “You know I’m good for it.”

“I know you are, babe.” Nikki was toughness itself, but her words weren’t unkind. “But you gotta see to that mutt. Before something happens to someone who doesn’t love you.”

“I will,” Selena promised for the second time in only four days.

She knew how critical the situation was, but did Drew? Enough to put Axel in Quinn’s hands? Perhaps the very guy who pushed both their buttons was the one who’d already provided a nonthreatening opening. The DVD he’d brought over yesterday. On dog behavior. The one she’d put on the top of the bookcase and promptly forgotten. Maybe it was time to break out the popcorn for an after-school special. She loved Axel’s exuberance. She just couldn’t afford it anymore.

CHAPTER FOUR

“DID SELENA MILANO call to make her third appointment?” Jack asked.

Andy looked up from the computer in the trailer office where he was doing his phone-and-scheduling turn in the rotation. “Not since the last time you asked. Fifteen minutes ago. Why does this particular woman make you nervous?”

Andy had to be pulling his leg, although it was hard to tell. Jack did extensive background checks on his employees and interns. He paid well. He created an excellent work environment. But he didn’t befriend the staff. Right from the start, however, Andy bent that unspoken rule, whether with personal comments or questions like the one he’d just asked. Outgoing himself, he didn’t seem content, leaving Jack to the sole company of animals.

“The only reason I’m asking,” Jack explained, “is that I want to make sure you tell her—if she calls—she gets an additional session. The way things worked out, the others barely amounted to one.”

“Are you counting Sunday when you made a special trip to deliver that DVD?”

“I thought if her son saw it—”

“Relax, boss.” Andy grinned. “I’m riding you. You don’t have to explain yourself to me.”

Apparently he did.

“If she calls,” Andy continued, “how about I let you handle it?”

“No. I have a workshop with the interns this morning. I’ll be busy.”

“Do you even think she’ll call? Her kid was pretty bent out of shape.”

“I don’t know.” He’d delivered the documentary the day before yesterday. Plenty of time for them to watch it. Plenty of time for her to respond.

“Why don’t you call her?”

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