Page 1 of Heavy Petting

Prologue - Mabel

Six months ago…

“I can’t believe my sister left you all that money.”

Mom’s voice was cranky and resentful as she looked around the covered patio of the coffee shop where we were having lunch. It was the kind of place that my mother hated, of course she hated anything that I liked on general principle.

“Aunt Sue and I were very close,” I reminded her. “I spent every summer with her, remember? We talked every week right up until she died.”

My mother had never been particularly fond of her sister, but she’d been more than happy to take advantage of her offers for free babysitting in the summer when I wasn’t in school.

Aunt Sue had made her fortune working at a software startup, back when startups weren’t as cool as they were now, and by the time she cashed out her stock, she was a millionaire many times over. When she retired at forty-five and became a tarot card reader, my entire family thought she’d lost her mind. Except for me of course.

Aunt Sue had always been my hero.

“What does Stephen think about you buying a house and moving so far away?”

I resisted rolling my eyes. “I didn’t ask him, Mom, and why would I? We’ve been divorced for six months now and separated for over a year. I spent ten years married to that man and worrying about his opinion of me. That ended the day I moved out and filed for divorce.”

“I still think you’re making a big mistake, Maybelline.” My mother’s voice raised in agitation. “Stephen is a good man with a very respectable job. He’d probably still take you back if you’d just apologize to him. He really loved you.”

“No, he didn’t. He loved his money and himself, in that order,” I said. “Besides, he stole my dog.”

“He gave you a new one to make up for it,” Mom reminded me, her tone clearly conveying that I was being ridiculous.

We’d had this same argument many times over the last year. It still hurt that my mother had taken my ex-husband’s side in the divorce.

“He kidnapped Esmerelda, dropped her off at the county animal shelter, and brought home a designer something-doodle that he bought from a breeder.”

Mom gave my dog the side eye, even though Esmerelda was sleeping quietly next to my chair. Like my ex-husband, my mother wasn’t a big fan of my canine best friend.

“Goldendoodles are very popular. Much cuter than this mutant mutt you’re so attached to,” Mom said, sending Esmerelda another sour look. “Besides, Stephen spent a fortune getting you that dog.”

“I don’t care. That was the last straw,” I said. “What if someone had adopted Esmerelda before I got her back? Or they’d put her down before I found her?”

I wanted to cry just thinking about losing Esmerelda.

“I can’t believe you gave up a perfectly good husband for a dog.”

“And I can’t believe you’d want me to stay married to a man who would do something so awful,” I rejoined. “I’m forty years old, comfortably wealthy, and I just bought a house in my favorite town. It’s Mabel Time.”

Mabel

“How’s it going in Starlight Bay? Are you meeting a lot of people?”

My friend Renee was possibly the only thing I was going to miss about living in Chicago. We’d met when she started doing meal prep services for us back when I was married. Renee was one of the best private chefs in the city. When I found out that she also did cooking classes, I’d hired her to teach me some culinary skills. We’d been good friends ever since. She’d even let me stay with her for a couple of days after I left my husband.

“It’s only been a few weeks since I moved in. So far I’ve mostly met my neighbors,” I told her. “It’s weird because I spent so much time here as a kid visiting with Aunt Sue, so Starlight Bay feels like home to me, yet I’m a stranger here.”

“You won’t be a stranger for long,” Renee assured me. “My best friend Liz lives in a small town in Colorado, and once they figured out that she was staying, people pretty much adopted her. You’ll have more friends than you know what to do with before you know it.”

“I’m sure you’re right. I feel at home here, and that’s the important thing. Once I get settled, you and Rob should come out and visit me.”

Renee had met her husband Rob when she was hired by his kids to give him cooking lessons after he had a major heart attack. She helped him learn about healthy eating and picked up a great guy in the process.

“We will. Listen, I’ve got to go meet a client, but let me know if you need anything,” Renee said. “And try to get out and meet some people.”

“Thanks, I will.”