The Art of Wag (34 page)

Chapter 15

T
wo weeks later, Rob and Tracy were walking Roxy down the main street of Alpine Grove. Tracy recognized Michael, who was standing outside the former real estate office. He had his hands in his pockets and was staring at the large plate-glass window.

Tracy waved. “Hi Michael. It’s nice to see you again.”

He turned and gave them a welcoming smile. “Hi, you guys. How was Napa?”

“Better connected now.” Rob said. “It was a fun trip, but it’s good to be back home.”

Tracy stopped and convinced Roxy to pause in her march down the sidewalk. “Yes, it was the best trip ever! Hey, I never asked you. Where were you going? Someplace fun?”

“Russia.” Michael waved his arms expansively. “It was incredible. Jan did research on all the history about the places we went. It was like having my own tour guide.”

“I’ve never been to a foreign country,” Tracy said.

“It was for work. One of my clients is based there and I talked Jan into coming with me.”

“That wouldn’t take much convincing for me,” Tracy said.

“You’d be surprised. But we had fun.” He grinned and raised his arms in a gesture of victory. “And the best part is that Kat is still speaking to me, so Swoosie must have behaved herself.”

Tracy laughed and looked down at Roxy, who was sniffing at a particularly fascinating leaf on the sidewalk. “Yeah, so did Roxy! Or Kat just didn’t tell me if Roxy did something awful. Sometimes she doesn’t.”

Michael nodded. “Yeah, she told me Joel decided to take up running. I’m pretty sure Swoosie helped with that decision.”

Tracy pulled Roxy back over to her. “So you have a client in Russia? What do you do?”

“I’m in advertising.” Michael inclined his head toward the building. “This will be our office after I get some work done on it. I was wondering what your contract was about, actually. It sounded like a good thing. Congratulations.”

Rob said, “We’re creating a data-driven web site about Alpine Grove. It will connect to the local multiple-listing service and show houses for sale.” He waved his hand. “And a bunch of other stuff. We’re just starting on the project. We need to find office space.”

Tracy gestured toward the gift store. “We tried setting up one computer in my apartment and it didn’t go well. We have a spatial-relations situation. Either we can sleep or use the computer. It’s complicated and a lot of cords are involved.”

Michael pointed at the brick wall in front of them. “I just bought this building. My offices will be downstairs, but the upstairs has offices that I’ll be renting. I can’t put up the sign until the sale is final and I get the keys.”

Tracy looked up at the two-story structure. She had always thought of it as “the old Frederickson’s,” since years ago it had housed a department store by that name. “You bought the entire building?”

Michael said, “Yeah. I was going to rent space, but then my house in San Diego sold. So I decided to invest.”

“That must have been some house,” Rob said.

“It was nice and right near the beach. But I was ready to leave.” Michael looked at Rob, then at Tracy. “Maybe we could talk about web sites sometime. I’m working on the marketing plan for that client in Russia. They make vodka, and we’ve been talking about getting the business online. It’s a global company and they’re excited about the whole world-wide aspect of the web.”

Rob smiled. “Sure. Any time. And we’re definitely interested in the office space too.”

“Okay. The place should be mine in about a week. Feel free to stop by then and take a look.”

Tracy and Rob agreed and continued down the street, holding hands. Roxy charged ahead of them, her feathery tail waving happily in the breeze. They went up the stairs to the apartment and Tracy unlocked the door. Roxy rushed in and stood by her food bowl. Ignoring the dog’s plaintive look, Tracy examined the painting on the easel. “I know what it’s missing.”

Rob sat on the floor and turned on the laptop. “You should finish it.”

She pulled out paints from the box and picked up her paintbrush. She began working as Rob quietly tapped the keys on the laptop.

A few minutes later, she stepped back from the easel and put down her brush. Rob looked up at her. “Done?”

“Yes. It’s finally done.”

He extracted himself from under the coffee table and walked over to stand next to her. They gazed at the painting, which was a landscape showing the view over the lake from a rocky ledge. Tracy had added two people holding hands silhouetted at the edge of the outcropping.

Rob put his arm around her shoulders. “You really captured the feel of the place. What are you going to call it?”

“The Heart Never Lies.”

Rob wrapped her in his arms and kissed her. “That sounds like a greeting card.”

“Maybe. But it’s true.”

T
hank you for dedicating some of your reading time to
The Art of Wag.
I hope you enjoyed the adventures with Tracy, Rob, and Kat and I wanted you to know that I’ll be writing more books that will feature Kat, Joel and various other residents of Alpine Grove who bring dogs to the new boarding kennel. Be sure to keep an eye out for the fourth novel,
Snow Furries
.

If you would like to be notified by email when I release a new book, you can sign up for my New Releases email list at
SusanDaffron.com
.

I know that not everyone likes to write book reviews, but if you are willing write a sentence or two about what you thought of
The Art of Wag
, I encourage you to post a review at your favorite book vendor site or share a message with your social networking friends.

If you would like to share your thoughts about the book with me privately, you can reach me through the
contact page
on the SusanDaffron.com web site.

I look forward to hearing from you!

~ Susan C. Daffron

Like all of my books,
The Art of Wag
is dedicated to
my husband James Byrd,
my best friend and biggest supporter.

Thanks for everything!

W
riting a novel is never easy and I’d like to thank my husband James Byrd for his support and encouragement throughout the writing and publishing process.

Thanks also go to Daniel R. Marvello and Caroline Grimm for their contributions to the scene that includes the name of the boarding kennel. (Kat thanks you too.)

I’d also like to thank my alpha and beta readers for their eagle-eyed reading and great feedback:

• James Byrd
  
• Cynthia Daffron
  
• Dian Chapman
  
• Kathy Goughenour
  
• Kate Turner
  

Finally, a special kudos to our ancient Coleman generator for providing electricity during an extended power outage. Being able to use my computer definitely aided in the completion of the manuscript.

S
usan Daffron is the author of the Alpine Grove Romantic Comedies, a series of novels that feature residents of the small town of Alpine Grove and their various quirky dogs and cats. She is also an award-winning author of many nonfiction books, including several about pets and animal rescue. She lives in a small town in northern Idaho and shares her life with her husband, two dogs and a cat—the last three, all “rescues.”