Page 126 of Sit, Stay, Love
‘Totally,’ Tia squealed. She waved as she herded the dogs towards the gate.
A red carpet with little black pawprints on it was rolled out in front of Sera as she walked back to the house, and she quickly leaped over it.
‘Is it too much?’ Lena asked as she joined Sera on the verandah.
‘I think it’s super cute.’
She nodded. ‘I’ve got one for the kennels too. Can we look at the space?’
Lena glanced around as Sera walked her to the kennels and exercise area. ‘This place is great. You must love living here. It’s like being on a farm, except with the beach down the road.’
‘Best of both worlds,’ Sera said. ‘There won’t be any animals in the kennels when the party is on. I’m going to pop the cats in my house, and we’ll keep a couple of dogs onsite to meet the guests, but the rest are having a sleepover at my vet’s place.’
‘Your friend the vet?’ Lena’s eyebrows arched. ‘Ethan mentioned him. Said something about him being the most un-vet looking vet he’s ever seen.’
Sera’s brows knitted. ‘What does that mean?’
‘I think he was saying he was too good-looking to be a vet.’ Her head tilted. ‘Is he?’
Sera snort-laughed. ‘I didn’t know there were rules about that kind of thing.’
‘Ethan is a doll. One of my fave clients,’ Lena said in a tone that suggested there was a ‘but’ coming. ‘But he’s a handsome semi-famous actor with a semi-big ego to match. He’s used to being the best-looking man in the room, where every eye lands. Which must mean your vet isveryhandsome.’ She cocked a brow. ‘Just a heads up, so we don’t have any problems. Don’t tell Ethan I mentioned it.’
Problems? Oh god.Surely there were enough of those already. ‘I won’t say a thing.’
She knew Ethan was uncomfortable with her friendship with Toby, and she’d done her best to manage that – to manage both of them – which was a little like juggling swords. But she didn’t know Ethan had even noticedthat Toby was quite good-looking.Pfft. Quite good-looking.What was she talking about? He was bloody gorgeous.
‘How can people just toss animals away?’ Lena asked, pulling Sera from her thoughts.
Sera shook her head. ‘I have no idea. I’ll never understand it.’
‘Then let’s get them lots of money tonight.’
Sera peered around the cluster of oil barrels, assorted car doors and other debris. Why did she have to be called out today? Couldn’t the dog have waited just one more day to get itself lost? There were people all over her property preparing for a party in honour of her animals, and she was standing in the middle of a mechanic’s yard several suburbs away. ‘And you’re sure it’s back here?’ she asked the man wearing grease-smothered overalls.
‘It’s definitely in here somewhere,’ he said. ‘We locked the gates to keep it in. But it could have gone under the building. The boys and me shone a torch around, but couldn’t see it. Tom here said to call you. Said his mum got a dog from you last year.’
Tom waved. ‘Joey. Terrier-cross.’
Sera waved. ‘How’s he doing?’
‘He’s Trevor now. Don’t ask.’
Sera laughed. ‘Okay.’ She turned back to the building and put her hands on her hips. She was going to have to go under there.Damn it. She dropped to her belly and shone a light around the stumps of the old house doubling as a mechanic’s office. Sera pulled out her phone and checked the time, shoved it in her back pocket and tried not to whimper. It was just over three hours until guests would begin arriving at her fundraiser.
She wiggled forward. The gap between the floor and the ground was a tight fit, and her head bumped on the wood beams more than once. ‘Fuckity-fuck fuck,’ she whispered as she winced and rubbed her head.
Something rustled to her left then flashed past her. She shone the torch around.Please don’t be a rat, please don’t be a rat. The beam of light landed on a tiny, very grubby dog.
‘There you are! How about you give me a break? I have a party to get to.’ The dog scampered further into the darkness. ‘Of course,’ she groaned, wiggling deeper under the house.
‘How’s it going?’ the man called from outside.
‘Just keep your eyes peeled in case it pops out,’ she called back.
Her flashlight lit the dog up again, this time cowering against a pipe that was blocking its way, but in an area too low for Sera to manoeuvre into.
She reached into her treat bag, pulled out a handful of liver bites, put them on the ground and scooched back.
