Fame

by Susan X Meagher

  “You’re paying boarding rates after six, so the later the better for us.” She made a swooshing gesture with her hands. “In fact, go have a nice dinner somewhere and come back in three hours. I’ll keep the meter running.”

  “Starving,” she said, with a smile starting to grow. “I’m gonna grab my dog and order a pizza on the way home.” She stopped and cocked her head. “How can I do that? I don’t know my sister’s address.”

  “Come on in. Your little guy’s had a long day.”

  “Is he all right?” she asked, clearly concerned.

  “Sure. He’s just young.”

  Haley chose the smaller play area located next to the office. Like most of the rooms, it had large windows, letting her keep her eye on everyone—human and canine. Sadly, it was the humans who usually needed more supervision. Haley much preferred this room to the big play area, and placed the overnight guests in it whenever she was alone. It was a cozier space, with some bean bag chairs and a Saltillo tile floor making it almost look like it was meant for humans, except for the large number of dog toys strewn about.

  Delta and three other dogs were all piled up by the glass door and they reluctantly backed up when Haley pushed it open. “Look who’s here,” she said. “Your mommy’s come for you, Delta.”

  The puppy nearly did cartwheels, jumping on Piper’s legs so furiously he fell onto his side. She started to pick him up, but Haley warned her off. “That’s a surefire way to have your leg scratched again. Why not get down on his level? Then he won’t look like a toy the other dogs want to rip out of your hands.”

  “Nice image,” she said, smirking. She got down into a squat and let all of the dogs sniff and rub against her, while she gave extra affection to Delta. “This works,” she said, dropping onto the floor to allow Delta to clamber onto her lap. “Matter of fact, now that I’m here I might just stay. How much are human boarding rates?”

  “Less than an apartment in Venice. How do you feel about being in a cage?”

  With a twinkle in her eye, Piper looked like she was going to say something racy, but she pressed her lips together and shook her head. “Your cages aren’t quite big enough. I like to stretch out.” She scratched under Delta’s chin, asking, “Are you usually here this long? Even though we didn’t speak this morning, I saw you working away.”

  “Thirteen and a half hours, but who’s counting? Derrick, my normal evening guy, called in sick, so I’m hanging out until I get a return call from one of his backups.” She shrugged. “No one’s answering, which means they’re purposefully avoiding me. Someone will call back when they’re finished with whatever they’re doing. Then I can go home.”

  “Damn, I never have to stay and cut hair all night. You must be exhausted.”

  “Not too bad. It’s not like I’m assembling aircraft.” She smiled at the thought. “That’s what my dad does. He’d happily sit and read while dogs played around him.”

  “Does he work around here?”

  “Not even close. He builds helicopters in Kansas.” She plopped down onto a bean bag. “Should I have offered to help you up before I sat down? You look like you might be stuck there.”

  “I’m not stuck. Just lazy.” She cleared her throat and busied herself by playing with Delta’s cute little ears. “Um, have you had dinner?”

  “Nope. I was just deciding what to order.”

  Piper looked up and met her gaze. Her expression was definitely confident, but she didn’t seem cocky at all, thankfully. “Want to share a pizza?”

  Haley never had pizza on a weekday. She only indulged in high fat, high calorie foods on Sunday, her “fuck-it” day. But she found herself nodding, managing to ignore the fact that Piper was a client. Lolita would be proud. “Love to. I’ll eat whatever you put on it.”

  “Pepperoni and sausage?”

  She almost asked why not add some bacon, just to make their arteries clog up in the shortest amount of time. But she nodded again. “Sounds great.”

  “Extra cheese, too?”

  “Even better.” She would have to run home—to Kansas—to burn this off, but it might be worth it if Piper turned out to be in her dating category, which at this point was single lesbians with fewer than three felony convictions. Okay, four, but that was her absolute limit.

  Piper not only took over and ordered, she whipped out her credit card and stated clearly, “I’m buying dinner.”

  “You don’t need to—”

  “I was late, Haley. Even though you’re open, I like to follow through on my promises.”

  “All right,” she said, impressed by her fortitude.

  With an impish smile, Piper added, “I’m actually going to put this on my sister’s bill, which is getting bigger by the minute.”

  “I always used to wish I had a sister. Was that a mistake?”

  “No. Not a bit,” she said, smiling happily. “My sister’s my favorite person on the planet now, even though I wasn’t crazy about her at first.”

  “Sibling rivalry?”

  “I don’t think so, since I wasn’t getting a load of attention to start with. It’s just that I was twelve and didn’t want to babysit.”

  “Twelve? Big gap.”

  “Gap in fathers, too. Neither of our dads was around for long, but I recall hers as being a lot of work. Frank was a bigger baby than my sister was, even though she was only two when he took off.”

  “Yikes,” Haley said. “Remind me to thank my lucky stars for having nice, adult parents.”

  “No siblings?”

  “Just me.” The biggest dog in the pack came over and nuzzled against her with his nose. “Well, we had a mess of animals, but no other humans.”

  “A mess? Really? We grew up in apartments, so we never had room for pets.”

  “We had some land, and it was filled with critters.” She laughed. “I sound like the daughter on The Beverly Hillbillies, but it’s the truth. Dogs, cats, a pot-bellied pig, a couple of parrots, geckos, mice—”

  “Whoa! Are you serious?”

  “Yeah. Totally. We would have had goats or chickens but my parents always planted a huge garden and they didn’t want their own animals to eat the vegetables.” She laughed. “My mom grew up on a farm, and she’s never really adjusted to city life.”

  “What city?”

  “Wichita. Ever been?”

  “Um, is Wichita on the way to San Francisco or San Diego?”

  “No. Definitely not,” she said, chuckling.

  “Then I haven’t been. But if I ever expand my travel parameters, I’ll put it on my list.”

  All of the dogs but Delta lifted their heads, then the big guys ran to the door, clearly on alert. “Pizza’s here,” Haley said.

  “I didn’t hear anything.”

  Then the bell rang, with everyone starting to bark.

  “The dogs hear better than humans. They’re great early warning signals.”

  ***

  An hour later, Piper hit the speaker button on her phone. “Hi there,” she said.

  “Are you home?” Charlie asked.

  “In the car. We’re on our way to your house.”

  “Ooh,” she purred, clearly pleased. “It’s so nice to think of my favorite people going back to my new house.”

  “Only one of us is a people, but I’m glad you’re happy.”

  “How did my little man do on his second day of preschool?”

  “It’s not preschool,” Piper said, laughing a little. “It’s day care, and he did fine.”

  “Why so late?”

  “Um…” She debated on how honest to be, then decided to tell the truth. “I bought—or rather, you bought a pizza for me and the owner. We ate together while the dogs played. Well, she ate while I tried to get the dogs to leave me alone is more like it. For some reason, they were sure I was going to share, and equally sure she wasn’t.”

  “I bought a pizza? Am I trying to get into this woman’s pants?”

  “You are. Well, I am, but I’m
using your dog and your money to try to angle for a date.”

  “A date,” she said, giggling. “So cute. Are you going to ask her dad if you can court her?”

  “Don’t be such a smartass. You don’t have to be over seventy to date.”

  “It helps,” Charlie insisted. “Just hang out, Pip. If something happens, go with it. Everything doesn’t have to be so formal.”

  The twelve years that separated them sometimes felt like thirty. “I like dates. And if I can get up the nerve to ask, I’m going to have one.”

  “Why don’t you have the nerve? You’re not usually shy.”

  “No, I’m not, but I’m not sure she’s gay.”

  “Give her a try,” Charlie urged. “If she turns you down, she’s straight.”

  “That simple, huh?”

  “Yeah. Why not? Every time I flirt with a guy who doesn’t respond, I tell myself he’s gay. Why shouldn’t you do the same thing, only reversed?”

  “Not a bad idea. Remind me to ask you for dating advice more often.”

  “If we had a grandmother, she’d be more your style,” Charlie said, laughing like her witty repartee was the funniest thing she’d ever heard.

  ***

  Haley was gone by the time Piper got to the shop on Thursday, and the place was a madhouse on Friday morning, with dogs and anxious owners jamming the area around the front desk. But Haley tore herself away from the scrum of people checking their dogs in to dash over to Piper and say, “Hi, there. Are you still planning on leaving Delta overnight?”

  “Yeah,” she said, even though she was having a hard time justifying it. He was such a little guy, and so dependent on her. “I’m tied up until at least nine tonight, and I start at eight in the morning. By the time I got home—”

  “It’s all right,” she said, grasping Piper’s biceps and giving it a squeeze. It was just a casual gesture from someone she could barely call an acquaintance, but it felt like more. Either Piper was losing it, or Haley was kind of digging her. “If he doesn’t like being here overnight, we’ll figure out how to make him happy. Go to work and don’t give him another thought.”

  “Thanks,” she said, very grateful for the vote of confidence. “Call me if anything comes up.”

  “Will do.” As she backed away, she gave Piper a full, bright smile, showing those very slight dimples. The ones that made her look like a kid, even though she had to be at least Piper’s age. Ahh. Thinking of dating a woman and planning how to make the pitch was so much more fun than just hanging out and seeing if there was any spark. Charlie didn’t know what she was missing.

  ***

  On Saturday night, Piper rang the bell at eight to find a shaggy-haired guy peering at her through the tiny window. Maybe being at the kennel made this image flit through her mind, but he honestly looked like an Afghan hound. “Yeah?” he said, cracking the door open.

  “I’m here for Delta.”

  “Oh, the little troublemaker,” he said, opening it wide. “Haley said you’d be by eventually.” The dogs all started barking and jumping around, with the big guys using the half wall to boost themselves up for a look. While walking up to the counter, Piper took out her charge card. “How’s Delta a troublemaker?”

  “Didn’t Haley talk to you?” he asked over the cacophony.

  “About…?” she said, starting to lose patience.

  “The little guy didn’t like being here overnight. I had to let him out of his cage two seconds after I put him in. But that pissed the other dogs off, since they thought he was getting special attention.” He looked up through the sandy strands that had fallen into his eyes. “’Cause he was.”

  “Oh, damn,” she grumbled. “I’m sorry about that.”

  “It’s okay. But…it’s not okay. You know?”

  She didn’t, but thought she’d better talk to Haley. “If you want to charge me double or something, I’m cool with that.”

  “Nah. No big. Just…” He looked up at her again. “It can’t work this way.”

  Her phone rang, and she glanced at the display, seeing the name of the shop. “Hello?” she said.

  “Hi. It’s Haley from Frisky’s Den.”

  “I figured. I’m at the shop now, getting the bad news.”

  “Yeah, it wasn’t wonderful, but we handled it.”

  “I think we should talk,” Piper said, getting up her nerve. “Have you had dinner yet?” The guy behind the counter looked up again, clearly surprised, but he didn’t comment.

  “Not yet. I just got home.”

  “Let me buy you dinner so we can talk about this. Delta and I can swing by and pick you up if you want.”

  “No, I can meet you there. I just live a few minutes away. Give me ten,” she said, hanging up.

  Piper smiled at the guy as she paid her bill. He looked at her like she’d earned a tiny bit of his respect, which felt kind of good. Maybe the boss didn’t usually let clients buy her dinner. Piper hoped that meant she’d cleared a bar in some way. Either that, or she and Delta were going to be expelled from day care, and Haley was too kind hearted to cut them off over the phone.

  Haley was good to her word, and showed up just a short time later. Her shorts were navy blue, and surprisingly dog hair free, meaning she must have changed when she got home. Maybe she was trying to impress Piper, which would have been kind of awesome.

  “Do you like fish?” Haley asked, not bothering with a more formal greeting.

  “I love fish,” Piper said, even though she rarely ordered it. “Want me to drive?”

  “No need. We can walk.” She waved at the guy who’d given Piper the bad news, now in the big room, playing with the dogs. “Call me if you need me, Heath,” she called out, then followed Piper out of the building, gently touching the small of her back as she closed the door behind them.

  Score! Piper thought, putting an awful lot of meaning into what was probably an utterly innocent gesture.

  ***

  Haley let Piper walk in front of her as they passed in front of a nail salon and a frozen yogurt shop to get to the sidewalk. That was partly because of manners, partly to check out her butt.

  It was a nice one.

  Haley was ninety percent sure Piper was gay, but she wasn’t crazy about asking outright. With luck, she’d be able to pick up on some hints, because if Piper was gay—and completely available—Haley was definitely interested. Piper might be hiding a mean streak or a coke habit, but on the face of it she was just the kind of woman Haley tended to fall for. An inch or two taller, with a vaguely athletic build, lovely brown, bouncy hair, and pale eyes. Haley wasn’t sure if they were green or blue, but they were definitely light. She’d answer that question, and try to determine her sexual orientation, at dinner.

  When they reached the street, she took a right, heading toward Abbot Kinney. “The restaurant’s about five blocks away.” Taking a lingering look at Piper’s shapely legs, she added, “You look like you can handle it.”

  “I can,” she said, not seeming even slightly put off by Haley’s obvious flirting. “And since Delta gets to ride for free, he’s not allowed to complain.”

  Haley gave the carrier a glance. “He might reach fifteen pounds. Sure you want to keep carrying him?”

  “Fifteen?” Piper stared at the dog, placidly riding along. “I looked up Maltese on the internet and it said he’d top out at five.”

  Haley let out a groan. Yet another owner who’d put more effort into picking toothpaste than a long-term companion. Oh. Right. Delta was her sister’s dog. “I think he’s a Cotie.” When Piper just stared at her, she added, “A Coton de Tuléar.”

  “What in the heck is a…what?” She looked adorably confused, her gaze settling on the carrier, like his breed would reveal itself with study.

  “I’m not positive,” Haley said, “but that’s my guess. Coties are trendy right now. Much more so than Maltese.”

  “Trendy,” Piper grumbled. “I’m going to wring my sister’s neck. She didn’t put two
seconds of thought into buying Delta. So stupid,” she muttered under her breath. “Encouraging people to breed dogs solely for profit.” She patted the side of the designer carrier. “No offense, Delta, but my sister should have gone to a shelter if she wanted a dog so badly.” She let out a sigh, one that sounded like she had more than her share of issues with this absent sister. “But then she wouldn’t have the trendy dog.”

  All right! Piper’s stock was already rising and the opening bell had just rung. “You can help make him a good dog if you spend time with him. Teach him to walk on a lead. Do some basic obedience training.”

  “I don’t have a clue how to train a dog,” Piper admitted. “I’ve put dog ownership on a ‘someday’ list.”

  “Looks like someday has turned into today. I’m not saying it’s easy, but you can give him a good foundation in a couple of weeks—if you have a fantastic trainer.” She revealed her best smile. “I know where you can get one.”

  “Your shop does training?”

  Haley shook her head. “No. I mean yes, we have group classes, but I do private training. And it’s not my shop. I’m only a manager.”

  “Really?”

  “Uh-huh. I’m just an employee.”

  Piper’s chin tilted as she gave Haley a longer, more careful look. “I’m surprised. You give off owner vibes.”

  “Vibes only. I’ll never have enough money to own a business that size.” They were close to Abbot Kinney now, and Haley had to raise her voice to be heard over the increasing traffic. “I boost my income by training dogs on the side. What do you say?”

  It only took Piper a second to jump in. “You’re hired. I’m off on Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday.”

  Haley took her phone out and paged through her calendar as they walked. “I’m free tomorrow morning. Would that work?”

  “Perfectly. Name the spot and we’ll be there.”

  “Let’s meet at Palisades Park in Santa Monica. You can usually find a parking spot on California if you’re there by ten. Is that good?”

  “Sure. I’m always up by nine. Well, not always, but usually. I’m sure Delta will get me up nice and early.”