Love in a Nutshell - Janet Evanovich [62]
The door swung open, and Myrna greeted them. She looked no happier to see Kate than Kate felt about this entire mess. But since this wasn’t the Savages’ fault, Kate took care to be super polite.
Myrna ushered them into the living room, where Ed stood waiting with a dog’s travel crate at his feet. Kate caught a glimpse of Stella’s ginger coat and her heart began to drum. She wouldn’t be able to breathe properly until this was done and she had her poodle back.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to propose a few guidelines,” she said to the couple. “How about if you’re on one side of the room, and I’m on the other? Matt can put Stella—”
Myrna stood her ground. “Bitsy.”
“The poodle,” Matt suggested.
Kate pressed her lips together. “Matt can put the poodle in the middle of the room. Whoever she goes to first, keeps her.”
“How do I know you’re not cheating?” Myrna said, suspiciously sniffing Kate. “You smell like bacon.”
Kate emptied her pockets onto the table. No bacon. Myrna sniffed again. “I think you still smell like bacon.”
Matt picked up a can of Febreze from beside the couch. He generously sprayed both the women and stepped back. “Okay, then. Let’s do it,” Kate said, wiping her sweaty palms on her pants legs.
Matt retrieved the travel crate from Ed while Myrna moved to her husband’s side.
Matt placed himself in the middle of the room. “Everybody ready?”
“Yes.”
Matt opened the crate and withdrew Stella, who emerged with an obvious show of stubbornness. She didn’t care that she weighed five pounds. She was mistress of her own domain.
Stella looked healthy, though she probably felt a little embarrassed by the hokey haircut—a pom on the end of her tail and balls on each hip, just as Kate had suspected.
Stella looked around, her brown eyes bright with curiosity, and Kate focused on her poodle, willing her to look her way. Please, baby. Please remember me.
Matt set Stella down.
Myrna clapped her hands and made some kissy noises. “Bitsy-kins. Come to Mommy.”
Stella looked Myrna’s way once, then took a casual sniff at Matt’s shoe before turning away from him, too. Kate smiled. Who wouldn’t love a poodle that played hard to get?
“Come on, Bitsy.… Be a good precious babykins,” Myrna cooed.
Kate figured that even in the time Stella and she had been apart, her dog couldn’t have had a personality transplant. And that being the case, Kate knew just what to do. She plopped herself down on the beige carpet, her back to the beige wall, and feigned total disinterest.
Stella grew a tad miffed at Kate’s nonchalance. She took one step, then another toward Kate, just as Kate had hoped. Now was the time for a little girl talk, Stella-style.
“Hey, Stella,” Kate said. “You’re looking pretty good. How have you been doing? Scare any Dobermans lately?”
Stella’s ears perked up, and she ran to Kate and settled in her lap.
Kate nestled her cheek against Stella’s soft fur. “You’re the Best Dog Ever. I missed you so much.”
And Matt was the Best Man Ever, Kate thought. He’d brought her back together with her Stella.
FOURTEEN
Stella must have been royalty in a prior life. Kate could find no other reason for the dog to be so unimpressed with the hotel Matt had chosen. Kate, on the other hand, was wowed by the Townley Inn. Her room looked like something out of an English country manor—all dark woods, plush carpets, and rich upholstery. And her bed was a fantasy-worthy, feather-down dream made for lovers. At the moment, though, she shared it with a cranky poodle.
Kate sat alongside the dog at the end of the mattress. Matt sat opposite them in a desk chair he’d pulled up to their white-linen-covered room service cart. “They must have been feeding her from the table,” Kate said. “Look at the way she’s turning up her nose at the food I bought her. It’s going to be tough getting her back on regular dog food.”
Stella was eyeing the final bite of tenderloin on Matt’s plate. He