Bark to the Future (An Alpine Grove Romantic Comedy Book 5)

by Susan C. Daffron

  After the conflicting emotions related to seeing Drew again, it would be a relief to be in her own space to decompress. Not to mention warm. She smiled at the idea of sitting outside and letting the relaxing warmth of the desert sun wash over her face.

  The next morning, Beth made waffles for breakfast because they were one of her mother’s favorite foods. Margaret loved any excuse to flood a plate with maple syrup, and she felt that waffles were superior to pancakes because the little indentations were ideally designed to hold onto the sugary maple goodness.

  After stuffing themselves, Beth and her mother prepared to settle in for a reading session. Beth was dying to find out what Drew’s novels were like. She asked her mother to see if she could find any of the A.J. Emerson books she had at the house.

  After a protracted search, Margaret finally unearthed the first book in the series from the gigantic pile of paperbacks she had stacked on the settee in her bedroom. She handed it to Beth. “Well, at least I found the first one. I’m not sure where the second one went. Maybe I lent it to someone. You really want to read the second one too, because of how this one ends.”

  “Don’t tell me what happens. I have a bunch of stuff to do today, anyway. Mostly I want something to read on the plane. I’ll bring it back when I return in March. Anyway, I’ll start with this one and see if I like it. ”

  Margaret grinned. “Oh you will, dear. I can’t wait until he releases the sixth one. I’m so glad you called the distributor. I want to be sure I have copies for the store as soon as it comes out.”

  Beth laughed. “I always knew it. You really only order those new books for yourself. Can you imagine if you didn’t own a used bookstore? You’d spend everything you had on books.”

  “That’s sadly true. As it is, I can support my reading habit and still earn a living.” She sighed. “Although less so in February and March. When you return, I don’t think you’ll have much to worry about as far as sales and dealing with customers, since it’s the slow season.”

  “Oh Mom, you worry about this every year and then it picks up again. By summer, you’ll be complaining about how you can barely move around in there because it’s so full of people.”

  “I know. You’d think I’d be used to the cyclical nature of Alpine Grove business by now. But when I look at the paltry receipts every day, it’s difficult not to panic.”

  Beth put her arms around her mother’s shoulders. “I probably shouldn’t say this, but the lack of customers did make it less traumatic for me to ease back into retail. Maybe next year you can think about doing something creative to coincide with that Chamber of Commerce Mardi Gras celebration you told me about. I’m sure your store isn’t the only one hurting at the moment.”

  “Well see.” Margaret waved her hands, shooing Beth away. “I’m not going to think about that right now. I’m keeping you from your novel. Go relax and enjoy! You have a long trip tomorrow.”

  Beth went downstairs and settled into her favorite cushy chair to read. The next thing she knew, Margaret was bending down next to her. “Beth? Didn’t you hear me?”

  She reluctantly pulled her gaze from the page. “What?”

  “Would you be willing to walk Arlo? It’s getting late and he’s starting to look anxious.”

  “What time is it?”

  “Two.”

  Beth cast her gaze around the room. “Oh no! Has he done something revolting? I don’t smell anything.”

  “Not yet, dear. But you might want to hurry.”

  Beth jumped up from the chair, marked her place in the book, and set it aside. She speed-walked across the room to get a coat and the dog’s leash. “I’m sorry. I completely lost track of time.”

  Margaret gave her an I-told-you-so smile. “I knew you’d like those books.”

  Beth leashed up Arlo, who was obviously quite relieved to be going for his walk. They went outside and slowly began the trek down the street. “Sorry, buddy. I got wrapped up in Drew’s book.”

  Arlo was not interested in excuses and continued sniffing at a particularly fascinating patch of snow. Beth stared off down the street, waiting for him to finish. She was thinking about the intricate mystery story and wondering what would happen next. How on earth was Drew going to get the main character, Preston Truitt, out of the mess he was in? And the woman too. What about Liz Logan?

  The trip home was uneventful, and as the plane circled Tucson International Airport, Beth looked down at the familiar mountain ranges, trying to see if she could determine where her house was located from the air. The flight from LA was short, and she was so close to being done with Drew’s novel, she just wanted to get back home so she could finish it. What a page-turner.

  When Beth walked into her house, it was as if she hadn’t left. It felt like so many things had happened in Alpine Grove, yet time appeared to have stopped here at home in Tucson. She put down her suitcase and tried to remember what she had as far as food.

  Opening the refrigerator, she discovered that some things had changed. That was disgusting. When she left, she had assumed she’d only be gone for a few days. Extending her trip to Alpine Grove had not only been expensive, it had not done much for the items in the produce drawer. Gross.

  She set to work throwing away slimy lettuce and a package of strawberries that had developed a pelt of white fuzz along the top. The sad little berries looked like they were wearing tiny fur coats. Reading was going to have to wait until after she went to the store. She also should pick up a copy of the Tucson newspaper and look at the employment classifieds. That exercise would undoubtedly be futile and depressing, but she had to start somewhere. With a sigh, she grabbed a pad and pencil and started making up a grocery list.

  Chapter 5

  The Silver Bird

  The next morning, Beth rolled over in bed and looked at the clock. She never slept in like this. Maybe all the travel had worn her out more than she thought. It had felt funny not setting her alarm the night before, but it wasn’t like she had to get up and go to work.

  After she returned from the grocery store, she checked her e-mail. That certainly didn’t go well. The only e-mail she’d received from RTP during the time she was in Alpine Grove said that she needed to return her laptop. She had replied with the date she would be returning to Tucson and explained that she’d give back the laptop then. Now her work e-mail account was disabled. The messages on her answering machine related to the issue were equally unpleasant. A stern-sounding fellow in the IT department called to let her know she needed to return her “RTP company property” as soon as possible.

  It sounded like a threat, but what were they going to do, fire her?

  Beth needed to copy some files off the laptop before she returned it, so they were going to just have to get over themselves. She’d get the stupid thing back to them today, but first she was going to finish Drew’s book. She pulled the novel off her nightstand and returned to the story.

  She turned the last page and sat up in bed. “Are you kidding me?” Slapping the covers closed, she mumbled, “I don’t believe it, Drew. Really? That’s how you end it?”

  Today’s errands obviously were going to need to include a trip to her favorite Bookman’s bookstore for the next installment in the series. Her mother hadn’t been kidding about needing to read the second one. No wonder the publisher loved Drew. There was no way a reader wouldn’t want to know what happened next. He’d probably made that publishing company a mint.

  Making a conscious effort to disengage her mind from Drew’s intricate North Carolina-based story world, Beth settled into the tedious task of copying her personal files from the RTP laptop. She had a lot of information related to her dissertation that she might need if she wanted to get her PhD someday. Then she was going to wipe the hard-disk drive. Thanks to the data-mirroring tools she had helped develop, RTP had duplicates of all of her work-related files stored on the company intranet anyway.

  Beth smiled as she tapped the keys. One advantage of having done so mu
ch work on storage encryption algorithms for RTP meant that it was highly unlikely anyone would ever be able to get access to any intellectual property she didn’t want them to have. There was no way they were getting access to her research. When she erased files, they weren’t just gone, they were really gone, so they couldn’t be restored by even a geeky expert. Sure, she had moved into management, but she hadn’t forgotten all her sneaky tech tricks.

  After transferring the files onto her own personal computer and storing her backup copies in a drawer, Beth was ready to head out to return her “RTP company property” to its rightful owner. She was nervous about going back to the science and technology park after her ignoble exit on the day she was laid off. Seeing everyone was going to be awkward and she wasn’t looking forward to talking to her boss Joan again. They had been friends as well as coworkers, but now that she didn’t work at RTP, that was likely to change. After she’d been laid off, she’d thought about calling some of her colleagues, but most of them were really just acquaintances. They talked about work, but she never saw them socially. And now she was an outsider, so they’d have nothing in common at all.

  Giving back the laptop had to be done. She packed up the small computer in its bag for the last time and tried to pretend she was just driving off to work like any other day. She sat in her car and looked around the interior, remembering the day she had acquired it. Graham had gone with her and applauded her choice of a sensible sedan for her first brand-new car. The 1992 Ford Taurus had been a problem from the day she drove it off the lot.

  Beth hated the “ugly purple thing” as she thought of it. But because it was a lease, she had been able to afford the payments. They hadn’t had the color she actually wanted, so she’d ended up with a Taurus that was a sort of sickly reddish purple, which had faded to an even less attractive color in the desert sun.

  As Beth drove to the science and technology park, she considered the fact that the lease on the Taurus was coming up at the end of the month. The leasing company was encouraging her to buy the car, but she needed to look up the Blue Book value at the library, because it seemed like what they wanted to pay off the ugly purple thing was utterly absurd. Soon, in addition to having no job, she’d have no car either. Being able to get a new car with no job wasn’t promising. Perhaps she’d spend some more time scouring the classifieds. The employment ads had been predictably useless, but maybe she’d do better in the used-car section. And this time, she was not going to get talked into buying something ugly.

  Beth returned from her errands minus one laptop and plus four A.J. Emerson books. After the tense discussion with Joan, her now-former boss at RTP, Beth had needed some retail therapy, and books had always been her solace.

  Beth had spent way too much time perusing the shelves at Bookman’s. The place was huge and teeming with book-loving people, which was comforting in an odd way. After the bookstore, she’d gone to the library to research the value of the Taurus and peruse a few Consumer Reports and car magazines. She needed to learn more about the used-car market and get some ideas for alternate transportation.

  As Beth drove across town toward home, she went over her conversation with Joan in her mind. Clearly, Beth’s termination from RTP was going to have an effect on her friendship with Joan, just like she’d anticipated. Yet another friendship gone.

  Making friends was always so difficult and Beth’s universe suddenly felt a lot smaller without the camaraderie of her co-workers at RTP. Even if those people weren’t friends exactly, they were human beings. If she remained unemployed without contact with anyone, she’d probably turn into some kind of bizarre shut-in. She’d never expected to be in the position of completely starting over at this point in her life.

  After she got home, Beth spent some more time with the classifieds. The job listings were demoralizing, unless she wanted to start a new career in fast-food service. Ugh. At least the car ads were more interesting. She circled a few possibilities and took a deep breath. Time to start calling. Picking up the phone and talking to people she didn’t know always made her uneasy. The first person she talked to claimed the paper had misprinted the price. Making a special effort to enunciate slowly and clearly, Beth said politely that no, she was not in the position to pay twenty-five-thousand dollars, even if the vehicle was a “classic.” Moving on.

  She made a few more calls and found a car that looked promising. The woman who owned it had purchased the car new and had kept all the service records over the years. Her name was also Elizabeth, so maybe it was a sign. They had laughed about the fact that Elizabeth actually preferred to be called Elizabeth, not Betsey, Liz, Lizzie, Liza, Eliza, or Beth.

  The car was a 1988 Acura Integra with fairly low miles. Although the Acura was older than the Taurus, it was in the right price range, so Beth would be able to pay cash from her savings. It might just work. Beth got into the ugly purple thing and drove out toward the university. She passed by some of her old stomping grounds at the U of A and navigated to an older neighborhood. The car was sitting out front, and Beth tapped her hands on the steering wheel in excitement. It was adorable!

  Beth knocked on the door and introduced herself to the owner, who smiled and put out her hand. “Hi Beth, I’m Elizabeth. Do you want to look it over?”

  The two women walked around the car. Beth had no idea what she should be looking for or at, but the car seemed to be in okay shape. Although there were some dings in the silver paint, at least the car didn’t appear to have been in a wreck. It felt right. Elizabeth said, “Would you like to take it for a drive?”

  “Yes, please. That would be great. But, um, I haven’t driven a car with a manual transmission in a while.” That was an understatement. Drew had taught her on his horrible old Datsun, but that seemed like a lifetime ago.

  Elizabeth handed her the keys and walked around to the passenger side. “It will probably come back to you. And every car is different anyway. I stalled out this one when I was pulling out of the dealership. It was kind of embarrassing.”

  Beth giggled. “Thanks. That makes me feel a little better.”

  After adjusting the seat and mirrors, Beth put the car in neutral and pushed in the clutch. “Okay, here we go.”

  As Beth slowly drove through the residential neighborhood, she started to relax. Elizabeth was right, the nuances of driving a manual transmission were starting to return, particularly since she didn’t have to take the car out of second gear at the moment. Beth pulled over and parked so Elizabeth could explain all the various heating and audio controls on the dashboard. After trying everything out, Beth turned to Elizabeth. “I like the car. Why are you selling it?”

  Elizabeth patted the dashboard. “The Silver Bird and I have had some good times together, but I just got a new job that pays better, so I’m celebrating by buying a brand-new Acura. The dealer gave me such an insultingly low offer on the trade-in for the Silver Bird, I told them I’d sell it myself and get back to them. I’m sure all those pretty new Acuras will still be there on the new-car lot when I return.”

  Beth smiled. “I didn’t enjoy my experience with car dealers much either. I leased my car and I’m looking forward to giving it back. They’re not going to be happy.”

  “So are you interested? I’ve had a lot of calls on her.”

  “Yes. I’m sure my boyfriend would tell me I should drive it more, but I can tell it’s in good shape. I’ll take it. But first I’d like to get it checked out by a mechanic, if that’s okay. There’s a foreign-car place on Speedway I drive by all the time.”

  “That’s fine. They should certainly know Acuras.”

  Beth started the car and drove it back to Elizabeth’s house. They exchanged numbers so they could work out the appointment with the mechanic, and assuming all went well, transfer ownership. Since Beth was paying cash, the car would be all hers. No leasing company and no payments. She couldn’t wait.

  When she got home, Beth was eager to share her automotive news with Graham. The last few times she
’d talked to him, he had sounded distracted and couldn’t talk long. He was being vague, but she had the impression that something was happening at the university again. And whatever it was definitely displeased him. She really wanted to see Graham in person and find out what was going on.

  She called his office and talked to his assistant, who said he had left early. Hopefully he wasn’t sick. Dialing the number to his house, she tapped her foot. The new car was so cute. She couldn’t wait to drive it somewhere fun by herself so no one—except the Silver Bird—would discover that Beth might not have quite perfected her shifting technique yet. And at last she would have a car with a sunroof! If she was going to live in a place with 350 days of sunshine, she really should have a car with a sunroof.

  Graham answered the phone and Beth greeted him eagerly. “I have great news.”

  “Hello Beth. Did something exciting happen in the realm of the unemployed? I thought for sure you’d be working your way through your fifth or sixth novel by now.”

  “No. Just one. I’ve been busy.” He didn’t need to know about all the new A.J. Emerson novels sitting on her dining room table right now.

  He chuckled. “Oh yes, with all that work you have to do, right?”

  Beth sighed. It was obvious from his tone that Graham was in one of his difficult moods. “No, obviously I’m not currently toiling away at RTP. However, I have other items that must be addressed in order to find gainful employment again. Most notably an automobile.”

  “You have a car. The Taurus. I was with you when you got it.”

  “I know. The lease is up. I plan to give it back.”

  “But why? It’s an excellent car and it’s perfect for you.”

  “No. I bought a new car today. Well, almost. I haven’t signed anything yet.”

  “Beth, are you insane? You just lost your job. Why would you spend money on an extravagance like a new car now?”