Listen to Your Heart - Fern Michaels [33]
“I guess that takes care of that,” Josie said. “Call your friend, Kitty. We’ll bite the bullet and pay her whatever she wants. It’s not like we have a choice. Tell her we’ll sign a six-month contract. That will take us through August. We’ll be winding down then since you’ll be leaving the first of the year. If she’s half as good as you are, I might keep her on and keep the business going. Let’s just get through this immediate crisis any way we can. Later will take care of itself.”
“No word from the big Cajun, huh?”
“I didn’t think there would be,” Josie said. Liar, liar, liar.
“You’ll have to hear from him eventually. After all, you have his dog.” Kitty twinkled.
“Look, let’s not get into any of that because I’m not in the mood. I have to pick up those dishes you ordered. While I’m out, is there anything else you want me to do?”
“You can pick up my dry cleaning. And, you can stop at the music store and pick up that new CD I’ve been wanting. I just can’t seem to find the time to do anything lately. Write this down, Josie, so you get the right CD. It’s Corinda Carford. Her CD is called Mr. Sandman. Pretty lady with a great voice. There’s a song on it that’s a hoot. It’s called ‘The Pantyhose Song.’ You’re gonna love it. Better yet, pick up two because you aren’t getting mine. Listen, I know this is sneaky but why don’t you, you know, sort of cruise by Paul’s house or hey, go inside and pick up some of Zip’s toys. You could, ah . . . look around. You don’t have to touch anything. Just look. You do have a key, and he did tell you if you needed anything to go in and get it. You might pick up some clues as to what makes that guy tick. I’d do it!”
“You would, huh? Well, I’m not you! That’s right up there with breaking and entering. No, I’m not going to do that. Keep your eye on the dogs, okay?”
“Sure. I think you should go for it. Once in a while you need to do something unJosie.”
The moment the Explorer was out of the driveway, Kitty clapped her hands and said to the dogs, “She’s gonna do it! I ain’t her twin for nothin’.”
Zip threw his massive head back and let out an earsplitting howl. Kitty shivered when Rosie ran under the big dog and cowered.
“Relax. You two aren’t going anywhere. I think, Zip, we just inherited you. It’s okay, Rosie. He’s staying.” A smile on her face, Kitty watched as the boxer picked up Rosie by the scruff of the neck and carried her back to the cool moss under the old oak. “Harry loves me like that,” Kitty said happily. “He does—he purely does.”
The last of her errands completed, Josie loaded the van and headed for the dry-cleaning shop. She had a good hour before she had to be home to help Kitty load the food into the van for a private dinner. She could stop for coffee, get a double praline crunch ice cream cone or perhaps she could drive by Paul’s house. Driving by wasn’t the same as going in the way Kitty suggested. “What would you do, Mom? Kitty is so . . . so much like you. Sometimes I wish I was more . . . impulsive like she is. Maybe I’m using the wrong deodorant. He did say he would call. I have his dog. That means he has to come back for him. Do I need more guts? What’s wrong with me, Mom? These last few days all I feel like doing is crying. That double praline crunch isn’t going to make me feel one bit better. Would you do it, Mom?”
Josie turned the corner but not before she rolled down the window. She eased up on the gas pedal when the overpowering scent of lily of the valley from the house next to Paul’s wafted through the window. She blinked and then shivered as she looked around. The flower border on Paul’s neighbor’s lawn was made up totally of lilies of the valley nestled in and among thickets of spiky monkey grass. Her eyes filled with tears. “I’m taking this as a sign, Mom. I’m gonna do it!”
Her legs felt like jelly as she got out of the car and walked boldly up the driveway to Paul Brouillette’s house. He’d said Zip knew how to open the French doors. Maybe it would be better if she walked around the back so the neighbors wouldn