by Clare Hutton
“Hi, Natalia,” she said. “You guys, this is Natalia. She’s taking care of Ruby and Bandit for us. Natalia, this is my family and my friends Bridget and Alicia.” Natalia said hello and everybody said hi back, although Natalia heard Rachel’s mother say something disparaging about “those dogs!”
“I have something important to ask you.” Rachel still looked happy, but her gaze was serious. “Two things, actually.”
“Okay,” Natalia said.
“Number one, I had Ruby and Bandit professionally groomed first thing this morning, so please, please make sure they stay clean and pretty until the wedding? When you take them out, keep them on their leashes and don’t let them go down on the beach and get all sandy, okay?”
“Sure,” Natalia said. That was easy enough.
“Number two.” Rachel paused and grimaced. “This is actually a big thing to ask, and it’s okay to say no. But I hope you’ll say yes. The dogs didn’t do great as ring bearers at the wedding rehearsal last night.”
“Oh, that’s too bad,” Natalia said. She wasn’t surprised, though. She couldn’t picture Ruby just walking calmly down the aisle and holding still to have a ring taken off her collar.
“We thought Mike’s niece, Alice, who’s our flower girl, could lead them in, but she’s only four and they’re too big for her,” Rachel explained. “You’re so great with Ruby and Bandit, we hoped you could help out by leading them.”
“Me?” Natalia said, stunned.
“It’s a really casual wedding,” Rachel assured her. “Small. You could just put on any dress, like something you might wear to school, and lead them down the aisle behind Alice. And then take them back out after we get the rings off their collars.” Looking at Natalia’s surprised face, she hesitated. “It’s okay if you don’t want to, but you’d really be helping us out. I know this is very last-minute.”
“No, I want to,” Natalia said firmly. She could borrow a dress from Emma so she wouldn’t have to go home. She could picture herself, dressed in one of Emma’s nicest dresses (Emma, unlike Natalia, took wonderful care of her clothes), leading Ruby and Bandit down the aisle, everyone’s eyes on her. Rachel sighed with relief, and Natalia smiled at her. “It sounds like fun.”
Ruby and Bandit were waiting for her on the screened back porch. They were both beautifully clean, with freshly done poodle cuts, their curly fur fluffy. There was a big golden bow tied around each of their necks. Bandit had climbed up onto the porch swing and fallen asleep, but Ruby was pacing across the porch. When she saw Natalia, she barked excitedly, her tail whipping back and forth, and jumped up against the screen door.
“Hey there, cutie,” Natalia said, laughing as she tried to push the door open. “You’ve got to back up enough to let me in.”
She finally wriggled her way in as Ruby shoved against her legs, licking at her hands. “Good girl,” Natalia said. “Don’t you look pretty?”
Ruby was wriggling with so much excitement that Natalia could hardly clip on her leash. As she scratched on the screen door, Natalia coaxed Bandit to his feet and put his leash on as well. Outside, Ruby strained toward the beach, but Natalia held her back. “Sorry, baby,” she said. “We’ve got to stay on the sidewalk today.” She led the dogs up the side lawn and to the front of Seaview House.
They walked a long circuit around the neighborhood, but Ruby kept pulling at the leash. She wanted to run, to play catch, to roll in the dirt. “I know you want to play, sweetie,” Natalia said, petting her. “This is just for today, I promise. When we get back to the house, I’ve got some toys for you.”
It took a long time to get back to Seaview House, though, with Ruby tugging Natalia toward the beach and Bandit sauntering at his usual slow pace. “I’d better run up and take Jasper and Daisy out,” Natalia told the dogs once they reached the screened porch again. She opened the door and prodded them in. “I’ll be right back.”
Ruby, seeming outraged at the idea of going back onto the porch without being able to get off her leash, tried to wiggle through the doorway. Natalia gently pushed her back and closed the door, but Ruby pressed her face against it and whined.
“I’ll be right back,” Natalia promised, feeling guilty.
Almost the whole time that she was walking Jasper and Daisy, Natalia could hear Ruby barking: sad, lonely barks that sounded like they were saying, What about me? Don’t forget about me! It was hard to enjoy Jasper and Daisy’s playfulness when Ruby was so clearly miserable. At last, though, Ruby stopped barking. Maybe she’s napping with Bandit, Natalia thought hopefully.
She gave Jasper and Daisy a good long walk, though—that was her responsibility, and responsibility was going to be Natalia’s new defining quality, she’d decided, no matter what Zoe thought of her—before taking them back to Seaview House. Once she had them safely in their rooms, she walked back toward the screened porch, planning ways to entertain the dogs. They could play catch with a tennis ball on the porch, she thought. There wasn’t much that was breakable. And Ruby would probably enjoy a good tug-of-war with the rope dog toy Natalia had in her bag.
As soon as she rounded the corner of the house, Natalia’s breath caught in her throat. For a moment, she didn’t understand what she was seeing. There was a hole in the screened side of the porch. A big hole, as if something had burst through it. As if something had escaped. As if a dog had escaped.
Her heart pounding with terror, Natalia ran across the lawn. “Ruby! Bandit!” she called.
There was no answering bark. She yanked the screen door open and looked around. Bandit was back up on the porch swing, curled into a big pile of fluff. He seemed to be asleep again.
Ruby was nowhere to be seen.
“Ruby!” Natalia shouted again, slamming back out through the screen door. She looked left and right. Ruby wasn’t playing on the lawn or rolling in the rich brown soil of the garden. Ruby was gone.
Natalia started toward the beach, then hesitated and looked back at Bandit. If he woke up, he could easily get out the hole that Ruby had made in the screen. It seemed unlikely, since so far Bandit didn’t seem inclined to go anywhere without a lot of encouragement, but what if he did? She couldn’t lose both dogs.
Could she tie him to something? Natalia went back onto the porch and looked around. There was nothing on the walls that a leash could be secured to, and all the furniture seemed like it would be too light and easily moved. She couldn’t leave him alone, but she had to find Ruby. She looked wildly around. What if Ruby was hurt? The longer she was missing, the more likely something awful could happen to her. Natalia sniffed back tears, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. What if Ruby ran out into the street?
Natalia was going to have to ask for help. She wrestled with herself for a minute. Zoe had been so perfect lately—perfect grades, perfect role in the play—and Natalia hadn’t. Zoe thought she was irresponsible. She thought Natalia should keep the promises she had made herself. Natalia didn’t want to have to confess to her twin that she had messed up again.
But despite everything, it was easy to know who would help her.
Pulling out her cell phone, she called Zoe. “I lost Ruby,” she said when her sister picked up. Her voice cracked miserably.
There was a tiny pause, and then Zoe said, reassuringly, “I’m on my way. Did you call Emma yet?”
“I’m about to.”
“Great. Just hang on. We’ll find her.”
Emma was still at her study group, but she promised she would leave right away. When she showed up a few minutes later, she had Caitlin with her. “We were studying together when you called,” she explained, “and Caitlin wanted to help.”
“What’s the dog’s name?” Caitlin asked.
“Ruby,” Natalia and Emma answered as Zoe arrived, breathless.
“Ruby!” Caitlin called. “Ruby!”
“I’ve been calling her,” Natalia said miserably. “Either she can’t hear or she doesn’t want to come.” She felt dizzy and sick with panic.
/> Caitlin patted her on the back. “Deep breaths, Natalia. Obviously, we need a plan.” Natalia breathed deeply, in through her nose and out through her mouth, and felt her stomach settle a little.
Zoe looked thoughtful. “Okay, where would Ruby be likely to go? Natalia, you know her best. What do you think?”
“She likes the beach,” Natalia said, still taking deep, slow breaths.
“She liked that little park a couple blocks away, too,” Emma contributed.
“And we walked her and Bandit over to our house the other day, and Mateo gave her one of Riley’s dog biscuits,” Zoe remembered. “Any dog might want to go back where there’s food.”
“How about if Natalia checks the beach, I go to the park, and Zoe goes by your house?” Emma suggested. “Caitlin, maybe you can stay here in case she comes back, and also make sure Bandit doesn’t get out?”
“Sure,” Caitlin said. She was still giving Natalia a worried look, but Natalia was feeling better now that they were all in action together.
“Okay. We’ll keep in touch. As soon as anyone finds anything—or finds out for sure Ruby isn’t there—that person texts everyone else,” Zoe said.
On the way to the beach, Natalia’s heart lightened. She was sure she was going to find Ruby there. The beach was Ruby’s favorite place, after all. She loved going there on walks: catching balls, trying to bite the waves, rolling in the sand. Natalia knew Ruby would go to the beach.
So it was a shock to come over the hill above the beach, a leash dangling from her hand, and to not see Ruby waiting for her.
Natalia ran down toward the water and looked frantically in both directions. There was a cool breeze coming off the bay, and there were only a few people on the beach. An older couple was walking along the shore, picking up shells, while some younger kids chased each other across the sand.
Her phone buzzed with a text. Ruby’s not at our house, Zoe wrote. I asked Dad and Abuelita and the boys and none of them have seen her.
Natalia’s stomach dropped a little with disappointment, but she had thought it was a long shot that Ruby might go to their house.
She peered down the beach in both directions. Far down the shore, there was something white. It could be a dog, down by the water. Could it be Ruby? She headed in that direction, walking fast.
Her phone buzzed again. Emma. Ruby isn’t anywhere in the park.
Natalia sighed and looked down the beach again. The white thing was definitely a dog, she could see that now. Please let it be Ruby, she thought. She broke into a jog.
It was Ruby! The big poodle was digging energetically, her white paws churning up sand. Lots and lots of dark-brown, wet sand. She was probably chasing a sand crab as it burrowed deeper and deeper into the beach.
“Ruby!” Natalia called. Ruby stopped digging and came over cheerfully, licking Natalia’s hands and then standing on her hind legs with her front paws against Natalia to try to lick her face. “Yuck, no!” Natalia said, catching Ruby’s sand-caked paws. She lowered them back down to the beach, then pulled out her phone. I found her. And she’s FILTHY.
When she and Ruby got back to Seaview House, Caitlin was holding the hose. “It’s too bad we can’t use a bathtub,” she said, “but I don’t think you want to take her through the bed-and-breakfast like that.”
“Especially not when everyone’s getting ready for a wedding,” Natalia agreed. She remembered that Rachel had asked her specifically not to let Ruby get dirty, and not to let her play in the sand, and winced guiltily. “She just went to the groomer.”
Emma and Zoe were already back, too. “I can get shampoo and a hair dryer from my room,” Emma suggested. She and her parents had renovated part of the attic into an apartment so that they could live a little bit away from the guests.
“Get hand soap, too,” Zoe said, looking at the drooping formerly gold ribbon around Ruby’s neck. “Or delicates detergent if you have it. And check the laundry room for spray starch. I might be able to salvage this ribbon.”
Ruby loved her shower. Caitlin was manning the hose, and Ruby kept sticking her face right into the water, lapping it up. She even stood still while Natalia and Emma worked the shampoo deep into her fur, scrubbing to get out every bit of sand. Meanwhile, Zoe was painstakingly soaping the ribbon, tiny section by tiny section.
“Girls?” Natalia and Zoe’s mom opened the door between the porch and the rest of the house and was staring at them, confused. “What are you doing to that dog?” Her eyes widened and she started to look a little panicky. “Didn’t Rachel just have her groomed for the wedding?”
“Yes. Um.” Natalia looked at Zoe and Zoe shrugged. Better tell the truth. “Ruby got out while I was walking Daisy and Jasper, and she got all dirty.”
“While you were walking Daisy and Jasper?” Her mom was still looking confused, one eyebrow raised. “Wasn’t anyone watching the other dogs? Where were Zoe and Emma?”
Zoe and Emma looked at each other. “We weren’t here,” Emma said softly. “Natalia was taking care of the dogs alone.”
Zoe looked guilty. “She’s been doing most of the dog stuff alone. We’ve both been really busy. I’m sorry.”
Caitlin raised her hand. “I didn’t have anything to do with any of that,” she said. “I just came over to help today when I heard Ruby was lost.”
But Natalia’s mom didn’t pay any attention to Caitlin. Instead, she was looking at Natalia. “But you told me the others were here today,” she said.
Natalia felt herself turning bright red. “I’m sorry,” she said, ashamed. “I didn’t want you to worry and I thought I could handle it all by myself.”
Natalia’s mom’s eyes were bright with anger. “I don’t like this lying, Natalia,” she said. “And I just got an email from your math teacher. She told me you’re really struggling in math and that she wants you to come to after-school tutoring. She says you haven’t been doing homework assignments.” She shook her head, letting out a long breath of frustration. “I don’t understand why you didn’t come to your father and me earlier if you were having trouble in school.”
“I … I just thought …” Natalia could hear her own voice getting softer and softer. “I wanted to handle it by myself …”
Natalia’s mom looked at her watch. “I need to start setting up the folding chairs for the ceremony. But we’re going to have a long talk about this later tonight, Natalia. I’m very disappointed in you for lying and for not doing your homework.”
She hurried back into the house, and Natalia winced. “That wasn’t good, you guys,” she told the others.
And now she had a “long talk” with her mom and probably her dad to look forward to.
Gulp.
Outside the living room where the wedding ceremony was about to take place, Natalia held on to Ruby and Bandit’s special golden leashes. After her bath with the hose, Ruby was looking just as clean and groomed as Bandit, and Zoe, using a special art-girl magic, had even made her bedraggled ribbon look fresh and crisp again.
Switching the leashes to hold them both in one hand, Natalia smoothed down her skirt with the other hand as she waited for the processional music to begin. Emma had lent her a sparkly blue dress that she had worn to some kind of sports award banquet last spring, and Zoe had fixed her hair. Natalia felt warmly conscious that she was looking unusually pretty and well dressed. Perfect for a wedding.
She hadn’t forgotten that she was in trouble with her parents, she thought, taking a leash in each hand again. And at school, and probably in the theater program, too. But it was going to be a beautiful wedding, and Natalia figured she might as well enjoy herself while she could.
Alice, the four-year-old flower girl, was standing directly in front of her, her blonde head crowned with flowers. Suddenly, she turned around and frowned forbiddingly at Natalia. “Is that bad dog going to jump up on me?” she said accusingly. “She jumped up on me yesterday.”
Natalia shook her head solemnly. “I’ve got a good hold on her,
” she said. Somehow, she knew which dog Alice was accusing.
“She put her big feet right on me,” Alice told her. “I almost fell down. She’s a very bad dog.” She glared at Ruby, who panted happily and wagged her tail.
“She just got excited,” Natalia explained. “She’s not a bad dog.” She rumpled Ruby’s ears and added, “Not very bad, anyway.”
Alice looked dubious. “You’ll make sure she doesn’t jump on me? I don’t want to fall down during the wedding.”
Natalia nodded. “I promise,” she said. “I will be responsible for her.”
Alice gave her a searching look and then nodded. “Okay. Thank you,” she said, and turned back around as the music changed.
Now that Alice wasn’t looking at her, Natalia let herself grin at how serious the little girl had been. Alice was so cute.
The doors to the living room opened. Natalia almost gasped. The room seemed transformed, bright with hanging gold fabric and fragrant with gorgeous white flowers. The audience turned, then rose to their feet, waiting.
Aunt Amy was just inside the doors. She waved Alice on, and the little girl walked in with slow, measured steps, taking one handful of rose petals at a time from the basket she carried and scattering them on the floor.
Ruby tried to charge after her, but Natalia held her back. Maintaining a tight hold on Ruby’s leash and gently tugging Bandit forward, she followed Alice down the aisle, keeping time with the little girl’s steps.
When they got to the front of the room, the minister was standing at the very end of the aisle. To his left were Mike and his groomsmen. Alice turned to the other side and Natalia grabbed the dogs’ leashes right by their collars to keep them close and followed the little girl.
The bridesmaids came next, lining up beside Natalia and Alice. Finally, when everyone else was in place, the music changed again, and Rachel, her arm twined through her father’s, came slowly down the aisle. She was wearing a lacy white dress, and, when her eyes met Mark’s, they both looked really, really happy. Natalia suddenly felt tears spring to her eyes. She felt sentimental and thrilled, and she hoped they would be so happy forever.
