by Beth Byers
I looked up at Simon and saw that he was taking pictures of me under the pile of my barking, wriggling, panting dogs who struggled to kiss me or were barking at me for leaving them.
“The cat hissed at me and then walked off,” Simon said. “He’s fine. And my Duke clearly finds Az to be an acceptable replacement for me since he came over for a love and then decided this was a good time to take the prime spot on the dog bed.”
“You don’t kiss them enough,” I told him as I scratched Daisy’s belly. Duke was holding a grudge not taking good real estate. And I knew I was right a moment later when the dog Simon had adopted when I’d taken in Daisy got up from the bed and came over to Simon. Duke sat down next to Simon and was giving him a hard case of the side-eye, but Simon wasn’t succumbing. I could see him eyeing his dog and knew it wouldn’t be long before he did.
Our return was late enough that the diner and the adoption center were both closed. I looked up at Simon and said, “We’re going to take tonight to ourselves.”
He leaned down, having to nudge Goliath in order to kiss my forehead. “Yeah, we are.”
“I’m just going to sit here for a while.” I pushed my legs out and Daisy laid down, settling her face next to my stomach. Mama Dog crawled into my lap around where Daisy had already settled her head. Mama Dog was followed by her three pups who took up spots on my legs. Sweet Daisy, the first of my dogs, looked up at me through her huge brown eyes with freckles all over her nose and then nudged me until I scratched her ears.
* * * * *
I couldn’t sleep the next morning, so I kissed Simon’s cheek and decided to head out. I walked the dogs spending extra time loving on each of them before I took them back inside and scrambled them eggs and steak. Yes, I spoiled them, and I didn’t care that I’d be teased if anyone could see me making my dogs a special breakfast.
When I left, Simon was still sleeping, so I decided to stop by The 2nd Chance Adoption Center to check on things there first. That way I could linger at the diner without feeling like I should check in at the adoption center.
It was one of my favorite places with the pretty brick building, the big windows, and the happiness that happened in its walls. We were a no-kill shelter, so we saved dogs and then found them loving homes. When I’d opened the dog shelter, I’d ended up taking on a contract from the town of Silver Falls. Since then, I’d built the brick building specifically for the dogs. It had excellent dog runs, roomy stalls, and we’d even started taking in other pets. So far, we’d had a skunk, a cockatoo, and a chicken. I expected we’d end up with some kittens during kitten season. My special project was catching, spaying or neutering, and spaying or neutering any feral cats in town.
Through my own determined efforts, we offered free spaying and neutering of any animal in the area, feral or not—and I paid for that myself. We even worked to not only take care of our dogs but help with other over-loaded shelters. It helped a lot that the Pacific Northwest had so many dog lovers. Our fund-raising efforts tended to be successful with so many dog lovers around.
Before the honeymoon, I hadn’t felt nearly as comfortable leaving the center as I had been leaving the diner. My adoption center manager, Shane, was just too new and if people got bad food at the diner, it mattered far less than dogs going to bad homes or not getting the care they needed.
When I walked through the doors, I’d expected to see seating, paintings of dogs, and some posters about the importance of fixing your pet. The center of our foyer had once held a large cage with a cockatoo, but that crazy thing had found a home. Before I left, Shane and I had talked about putting the cage in storage. It was still in the center of the foyer and it wasn’t empty any longer.
The bell on the shelter door had rung with my entrance and Shane entered the foyer from the back.
“How did we get three African Greys?”
“This elderly woman died over by Neskowin. None of her kids would take her pets. We ended up with two dogs, an ancient cat, and the birds. There were some guinea pigs and a rabbit, but a neighborhood kid took those. Zee got someone to take the cat, but we still have the dogs and the birds.”
I clucked to the birds and glanced the cage over. There were seeds in the cage, but I didn’t see any sign of the fresh vegetation that they needed. I sighed and clucked to them again. Their brilliant red tales and intelligent eyes caught my attention. I’d always loved birds and was a huge fan of birdsong. I wasn’t sure where African Greys fell on the birdsong range, but I had loved having a parakeet as a kid.
“How are the dogs?”
I listened to Shane as she talked on and cooed to the dogs. She led the way through the dog rooms, showing me a few pictures of ones that had been adopted. The way the dogs reacted to her, with their wagging tails, and their noses pressing out of the gates of their stalls made me feel far better about the decision to hire her than anything else could have.
“They’re great. We had a couple of really great dogs that came through while you were gone, but they were snatched up. Someone lost their dog on the beach and we got her home. There was a black lab that came in with puppies. Those went really fast to great homes. The yippee little chihuahua doesn’t get anyone to look at him for longer than a minute or two.”
I sighed. We needed a place for the dogs that wouldn’t be adoptable. I needed to talk to Simon about someplace like that. Like a refuge? A reserve? What did they call those places? I wasn’t sure really what you did with dogs who’d been too abused to be adopted. Maybe we could find some experienced foster homes and give them “scholarships” to keep the dogs.
I noticed a second later that Shane sighed as soon as I wasn't looking at her. With the dark circles under her eyes, her hair pulled back in the kind of messy bun that screamed she hadn’t brushed her hair, and the lack of makeup I knew something was up. Shane was one of those girly, put-together women that didn’t leave the house looking a mess.
Her upset couldn’t be the chihuahua though the little thing was frustrating.
“Are you all right?”
She nodded, clearly a lie. I wanted to press, but I wasn’t good enough friends with her to pry without being a jerk.
“Whatever happened to the skunk?”
“My sister adopted it for her girls. They came in here so many times to play with the thing that she and her husband gave in. There probably isn’t a more spoiled skunk on the face of the planet.”
I grinned and asked, “Please say they named it Pepe Le Pew?”
“It’s a girl,” Shane said, “So they named it Penelope.” A grin crossed her face, and her expression lightened for a moment. Whatever was bothering her, appeared on her face a second later. Watching her happiness fade made it clear that something was up.
“Is that the abused kitty from the cartoon?” I examined her face as I asked my question. I hadn’t seen the deeper lines at first, but she hadn’t really had frown lines before and now they seemed liked crevices on her.
Shane nodded in reply and then said, “My nieces watch those shows all the time now. I bought them the whole collection.”
I frowned wondering what to do about Shane while I leaned down to talk to a little spaniel-looking dog. I’d be tempted to take that baby home with her big dog eyes that begged me to love her, but Simon might murder me. That didn’t mean, however, that I couldn’t find someone I loved to love this puppy for me.
Shane mentioning her nieces seemed to intensify the frown on her face. Was it family trouble? Perhaps one of the girls was sick? I wasn’t even sure how many nieces there were. Did that make me a jerk? I knew the details of all the diner folks lives.
I might be…I hadn’t given Shane much attention or friendship since I’d hired her. It was, partially, that I wanted to be at the adoption center more only I wasn’t needed with Shane here. I knew it was better to give Shane was much reign as possible since I was trying to get pregnant. If Simon and I were blessed with a baby, I’d be taking more time off to spend with our child. The adoption
center needed someone who would be steady.
“What’s really going on with you, Shane?” I had no self-control, and I clearly spent too much time with my best friend Zee who dug into everyone’s lives and didn’t know the meaning of privacy.
Shane shrugged.
I examined her face and then turned, so we were face-to-face. I crossed my arms and slowly asked, “Are you happy here?”
“I love working here.” Shane’s eyes filled with tears. “Are you going to fire me?”
“What? No.”
“It’s the birds, isn’t it? They upset you. I could tell. I don’t know anything about parrots, and I wasn’t sure if I should use the vet money for the dogs for them.”
“Well…I mean, yes the birds upset me. But, I’m not going to fire you over the birds. We just need to make sure they have the proper care. We have to be experts in whatever we care for or call in help.”
The tears overflowed Shane’s eyes and I found myself wrapping my arms around her. Why was she crying? That hadn’t been mean, had it?
“We’re just…we’re…I’m…having a lot of family problems right now. My sister and her kids, they’re all I have, and we’re just facing some really big stuff.”
“That’s not true,” I told her. “You have the 2nd Chance family now. Zee cares about you. I care about you. We all look after each other.”
I could tell that by looking at her that Shane didn’t believe me. She’d come around. Maybe we needed to have some of the diner staff over here helping out at times. It had taken me a while to get to even moderate staffing at the diner, but if we added a few people and cross-trained them, maybe Shane wouldn’t feel so alone?
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“I can’t. It’s not my story to tell.”
I hugged her again and said, “I’ll figure out what the birds need and we’ll take care of them today. Don’t let that bother you.”
“Ok,” she said, sniffling. “Ok. Ok. I’ll do better. I promise.”
“I’ll figure out the chihuahua too.”
She nodded as I left her, and when I got into my Forrester, I sat for a few minutes before I started the car. I wanted the spaniel to have a nice home. I wanted the chihuahua to have someone who would love it despite it’s snarly, biting ways. That dog didn’t like people, and it probably had good reason. I wanted the birds…I wasn’t sure. We needed to find someone who could care for them long term. I didn’t want to face Jane.
I didn’t want to sit across from Jane and Hank at the diner or in their home and realize that they were falling apart. Somehow, it felt like they would contaminate me and Simon. Even though I knew they wouldn’t.
Simon and I were significantly older than Jane and Hank when their trouble began. Simon and I were totally different people than Jane and Hank. I had to list more reasons before the worry really started to fade.
We weren’t going to be separated for months at a time. Simon was ridiculously patient with me and how I interfered with his work. I…was my playing games with Simon’s food making him crazy? Was I a crappy wife and had I been a crappy girlfriend? Oh my goodness, were Jane and Hank and their trouble making me delusional?
I pulled out my phone and messaged Simon.
Rose: I love you.
Simon: I love you. What’s wrong?
Rose: Are you psychic?
Simon: I’ve been thinking about Jane and Hank all morning. How are the dogs?
Rose: Did you mean the dogs and the birds? Because we have parrots now. And I made Shane cry.
Simon: You’re a beast.
Rose: Waffles? The diner?
Simon: Jane and Hank are meeting us there.
I sighed at that. I loved Jane and Hank. I wanted to be at the diner. I had been craving waffles almost since we’d gotten on the plane for the honeymoon. I wanted to see what Az had been coming up with, and we needed to run a pilot weekend of our taco truck, our Jamaican food truck, and our liege waffle truck. There was a lot of work to do before the summer truly hit us and I wouldn’t be able to focus on any of it until I was able to at least talk to Jane.
I started the Forrester and headed towards The 2nd Chance Diner. The skies were still gray and the thick gray clouds were starting to drizzle just lightly enough that the windshield wipers were going too fast on the lowest setting.
The ocean was a deep gray in the distance crested with white-topped waves, and I could see seagulls diving. The evergreen trees of the Pacific Northwest gave us color in all the grayness of spring. I cracked the window and let the wind play with my hair, breathing deeply of the scent of rain. Everything couldn’t be wrong in the world if it smelled so very clean.
Chapter 3
“Rosie, luv!” Az called as I headed into the diner. He left the kitchen to lift me up and squeeze me tight. He didn’t quite swing me in a circle, but the intent was there if we didn’t have customers standing nearby.
“Hey, buddy.” I squeezed him as tightly and then said, “I am craving waffles. So bad.”
Az grinned and said, “I have something for you to try, but I guess I can do waffles too.”
I glanced around my dream come true. The 2nd Chance Diner was nearly full. The line of funky cake plates that topped our glass display case were full with piles of cookies, cinnamon rolls, and muffins, and I could see a chocolate layer cake that was being frosted on the counter near the soda machine. The scent of syrup and fries melded in the most magical of ways.
I poured myself a big cup of coffee added cream and sugar and then made my way to my favorite booth. Zee and Roxy were both working the dining room with Lyle washing dishes in the kitchen. He waved at me and called a greeting while Roxy darted across the floor and hugged me tight.
Zee snorted at me with a nod and a wink before she finished taking her order. A couple minutes later she sat down across from me in the booth. “You heard?”
I nodded. I was sure my emotions were showing on my face. They certainly were on Zee’s. She was paler than normal and her usually bright, wicked eyes were full of the same conflicting emotions I felt. Jane had needed to tell Hank. The lies had been slowly destroying her. The consequences were to be expected but that didn’t mean I couldn’t regret them for her.
“She needed to do it,” I said gently for both of us.
Zee nodded. Her mouth was twisted as she shrugged.
“Are you ok?”
She nodded.
“Jane will be ok too. She’s a successful woman, a good mother, and she has lots of friends.”
Zee snorted and then said, “This is what I wanted. I didn’t want it to feel this bad though Watching her suffer is…not fun.”
“Maybe they’ll make it through,” I suggested.
Az crossed to me and handed me a big glass of green. “What the heck is this?”
“Honeydew and mint smoothie. Zee suggested we add a few smoothies to the food trucks for the hot days on the beach.”
I glanced outside at the drizzle and then winked at him before I took a sip. It exploded with freshness inside my mouth, so I closed my eyes and savored the flavor. “I feel like I’m somewhere tropical again.”
“Perfect for a hot summer day, huh?” His smile was wide and his excitement was catching. This wasn’t just my project. It was ours. With this project, my friend who I loved like a brother would go from a diner cook to a part-owner in our food trucks and manager of the pod of trucks. I had no doubt it would be successful even if I’d be slowly dying for the waffles he made me while he worked over at the food truck pod.
I nodded and said, “I’m really excited about the food trucks. Did Bridget from the real estate office come in? Did we get that property?”
“We did,” Az said. “The hookups are all there, so we can open the trucks when it starts getting busy in Silver Falls. A little food truck pod by the beach with a covered eating area and a play area. It should be awesome.”
“Right next to the parking at the public access beach? Are you kidding me? We
’re gonna be making money hand over fist.” We were opening three trucks to start, but we had room for four. We also had been looking into property in Lincoln City, Neskowin, and Newport to do the same.
The door of the diner rang and Az glanced over and then said, “I’ll be in the kitchen.”
Jane sat down next to me in the booth instead of next to her husband. It was, perhaps, the most telling thing about the state of their relationship that I had ever seen. Her hair was pulled back in its usual sensible bun, her makeup was minimal, and her white coat had been removed, but the blue scrubs underneath still proclaimed her a doctor. Her hands were trembling in her lap as she said a soft, “Good morning.”
Hank seemed to have aged since I’d last seen him. He always had lines around his face from so much time in the sun fishing. The lines, however, seemed far deeper than a few weeks ago. Before, they’d struck me as laugh lines—now, not so much.
Zee cleared her throat and asked, “What would y’all like? Don’t answer, Rose. I’m sure Az has already started your waffles.”
“Just coffee,” Hank said.
Jane shot him an irritated look and then said, “A fruit bowl, wheat toast, coffee.”
Simon rubbed his stomach and then ordered chicken fried steak. I had to wonder if any of us were going to enjoy breakfast with as thick as the tension was.
The fruit bowl made me think of the birds, and I sent Az a message to prep some food from the diner for the parrots and a message to Shane to come down and pick some up for the birds. I sent him a link of fresh food for African Greys. I knew he’d take care of it. The booth was utterly silent and finally, I couldn’t take it anymore.
