Read Online Save the Date by Mary Kay Andrews - Free Book Online Page B

found Shaz running loose on Victory Drive. Thank heavens, some good Samaritan picked her up and took her to the vet’s office. They recognized her immediately, of course, but then they checked the microchip just to be sure, and they called me.”
    That got his attention. He sat straight up in the bed and turned on the lamp. Now the dog was awake, too. Her ears pricked up, and her nose was quivering, as though she knew she was being discussed.
    “Zoey? Are you telling me that the dog sitting right here in this bedroom is not Shaz?” He buried his head in his hands. The dog edged closer and licked his ear.
    Her voice was shrill. “I don’t have any idea who or what you’ve got in your bedroom, Jack Finnerty, but yes, I am telling you that Scheherazade is being boarded at Dr. Katz’s office tonight. The vet tech said it’s a miracle she didn’t get hit by a car, crossing all that traffic on Abercorn Street. No thanks to you.”
    “You’re saying Shaz is at the vet’s office?”
    “Jack! Have you heard a single word I’ve said? Yes! I am telling you Dr. Katz has Shaz. See? You never listen to me, Jack. This is just one more example.…”
    He turned his head and was staring directly into the dog’s unblinking eyes.
    “Poppy?”
    The dog tilted its head and thumped its tail on the scarred wooden floor.
    “Christ,” Jack moaned. “You really are Poppy.”
    “Have you got a woman there, Jack?” Zoey asked.
    As if.
    “None of your damned business,” he growled.
    “Scheherazade is a very valuable dog, Jack,” Zoey went on. “The breeder said once she’s old enough to breed, her puppies could fetch as much as two thousand dollars. So I don’t appreciate your letting her wander around town without so much as a collar.”
    “I didn’t let her do anything,” Jack said. “I was taking her to that groomer of yours, who she detests, by the way, and she jumped out the window of my truck. I went looking for her and found another goldendoodle wandering down the lane behind West Charlton. I naturally assumed she was Shaz, so I tied a rope around her neck and walked her back home. What I didn’t know, since you couldn’t be bothered to tell me, was that I’d actually dognapped somebody else’s dog. A very angry somebody, who tried to sic the cops on me.”
    “Not my problem,” Zoey said airily.
    “Actually, it is your problem, since Shaz is your dog,” Jack pointed out.
    That shut her up. At least momentarily. Any other woman would have been feeling painfully guilty by now, for abandoning her lover and her seven-month-old puppy, to run off to California the day after hooking up with a Jimmy Buffett impersonator she’d just met at a bar on River Street. A guy who called himself Jamey Buttons, for God’s sake.
    But Zoey was not just any other woman.
    “You told me you wanted a dog,” Zoey said accusingly.
    “And you told me you loved me and wanted to have my children someday,” Jack said. “And just for the record? The dog I wanted was a black lab, not some funny-looking designer dog.”
    “I’m not going to let you put a big guilt trip on me, Jack,” Zoey said. “I actually wanted to let you know that Jamey has a gig playing on a cruise ship out of Fort Lauderdale for the next three months, and I’ve signed on to be the ship’s Pilates instructor. I’ll send for Scheherazade when we get back. Probably in August.”
    “Yippee,” Jack said bitterly. “Bye, Zoey.”
    “Wait, Jack,” she said quickly. “Don’t forget, you’ve got to pick Shaz up by noon, or pay an extra day’s boarding fee. As it is, you already owe them seventy dollars.”

 
    7
     
    Jack tried, but couldn’t get back to sleep. Poppy was no help. She rested her muzzle on the edge of the mattress, watching him with her big, sad puppy eyes. He turned away, facing the wall, but he could feel Poppy’s warm breath on his neck.
    Finally, he relented. He flipped back over and scratched under her chin. “There. Okay? Now can