by Rosie Sams
Melody was pacing back and forth on the sidewalk. Why would Amelia buy the strawberries if she wasn’t going to eat them? Was it just for show?
The puppy jumped at her legs with a cute little yap, making her stop. She picked her up and hugged her.
“Little girl, what happened to your owner? She loves you, right?”
As if in answer, the dog yapped again. Melody’s anxiousness was growing. She had to do something. There was something wrong. The woman had looked happy, confident… not like she was about to abandon her dog… and then the strawberries. That didn’t make sense, right? What should she do? Should she look for Amelia? Could she do it herself? It was too much for her. She could not dedicate her whole night to discovering Amelia’s whereabouts—and what if she was too slow, too late?
There was only one thing to do, take this matter to the pros. Melody decided to go to the police station. She would see Alvin there, but she didn’t care. The situation was too important to think of her own petty worries.
Chapter Seven
When she walked in, Alvin stood by the counter reading a newspaper.
Slowly his head lifted, and his eyes widened as a blush tinged his cheeks. The smile was quick, and he pushed the paper away dedicating all his attention to Melody. Under different circumstance, his look would be cute, but he was not what she needed right now. Did he think she had just dropped by to say hi? Before she could catch her breath to speak, Alvin’s face lit up even more and he spoke.
“Oh, hey, Mel. I was just thinking about you.”
She ignored this greeting and breathed. “Hi, Al, I have an urgent matter to talk about. I think something happened and I need you to know it, or at least do something about it.” Melody knew she was mumbling like a crazy person as trying to put things into words suddenly seemed impossible. What exactly did she know? Nothing!
“That’s a coincidence, I need to talk to you, too,” he answered uncertainly.
Briefly sidetracked from her mission, Melody replied, “Really? You do?”
“Yes, uh… that is, I need to ask you a question,” he began fumblingly. “Uh, would you… I mean, um… I was wondering if you’d care to catch a bite with me tonight?” He finished the last part all in a rush, stuffing his hands suddenly in his pockets as if he didn’t know where they came from. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, alternately looking at her chin and then looking down at the counter as he nervously waited for her response.
Taken aback, Mel forged ahead with her own agenda. “Uh, thank you, Al, but I seem to have a bit of a problem that can’t wait, so it’s a really bad time, sorry.”
The sheriff looked embarrassed. “Oh, I see. Please, tell me what happened. Did someone steal from your shop?”
Melody shook her head but was pleased with the idea that he worried about her business. “Earlier this morning, I saw a woman named Amelia tie up her puppy outside my shop and then she dropped by and bought two boxes of De Vine. She asked me where she could buy some champagne, and I pointed her to Sam’s. The last time I saw her she was petting her dog before leaving and heading off in Sam’s direction. It took me a few hours to realize that the dog was still there. I have waited for her the whole day expecting her to return for her dog. She didn’t.”
“Don’t you think she just forgot about the dog?” Alvin suggested.
“That’s what I want to think also. I dropped by Sam’s when I closed my shop to ask if he saw Amelia. He said she had not been there. Then on my way back— something made me a little anxious. I saw the two boxes of De Vine in a garbage can.”
Alvin looked like he was deep in thought. It was Melody’s first time to see him like that—looking confident and in control, it suited him. This was far from the Alvin she knew. This was him in his real life.
“She could have just thrown the pastries, Mel,” Alvin said.
Melody’s jaw dropped and she felt a tinge of hurt inside. “But she liked them. I gave her a free sample, that was why she bought them,” she said feeling defensive.
Alvin must have noticed her disappointment. He raised his hands and waved them as if trying to erase his previous statement. “No, don’t think I’m saying your baked goods are not delicious. Everything you do tastes good. I’m just playing devil’s advocate. I have to look at what could have happened. We need facts,” he explained.
With that, Melody’s expression softened. “I was going to drive over to Amelia’s, but with everything that has happened so far, I really thought you should be involved.”
“You made the right decision. I’m hoping this is nothing, but you were right to be concerned and to come to me,” Alvin said.
Melody gave a small smile for the sake of courtesy.
“Anyway, I know Amelia Reed. I saw her with the puppy yesterday. I heard that she was a busy woman. She runs several businesses, attends to many charity events. She has international traveling obligations as well. It is possible that something came up—maybe an urgent phone call for a matter needing immediate attention.”
“I wondered that too,” Melody said. “But even if an emergency came up, I would think she would have remembered her puppy at some point today, and then called us at the shop to explain, don’t you?” She thought of putting herself in Amelia’s situation. No matter how busy she was in the bakery, she never forgot important things, even her friends’ birthday. But she thought, she was not Amelia. You couldn’t always judge people by what you would do.
Alvin nodded, his calm, confident manner had taken the pressure off somehow and Melody felt like she could breathe.
“Yes, you’re probably right. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. I will take care of it.” He looked down, suddenly flustered and scuffed his feet, color rising in his cheeks. He looked back up and made eye contact. “Sorry about my earlier question—very bad timing. But I’ll look into the Amelia situation. Don’t you worry. In the meantime, do you want me to call the animal shelter for you? You could drop the dog off there on your way home. I could do it for you, but it would have to be later, as I have a conference call here in a few minutes.”
Melody thought for a moment, looked down at the little animal, and felt a pang of guilt and something else.
For her part, the little girl in question wagged her tail, at first tentatively, and then more eagerly, her hind end joining in.
“I can’t.” Melody sighed. “She is just too sweet and has already had enough abandonment for a lifetime. She seems used to me now, so I’ll just keep her with me until Amelia is found.”
Alvin walked Melody and the dog out of the station. While walking back home, she asked the puppy what temporary name she wanted.
The dog looked up and yipped a happy bark. The blue-grey coat had a white patch over her bottom. It looked like a white smudge on the grey.
“I want to call you, Smudge,” Melody said. “Do you like it?”
The puppy wagged her tail and yipped with delight.
Melody smiled. “Smudge it is, then.”
Chapter Eight
Mel walked back to her shop and loaded the bulldog in the backseat of her well-used, midnight blue Chevy Tahoe. She stopped by a grocery store to grab a couple of dog dishes and a bag of premium dog chow, not wanting to feed the purebred more people food. She also picked up a frozen pizza and a bagged salad, feeling too frazzled to contemplate cooking a dinner from scratch.
Driving up in front of her garage, she pressed the automatic door opener, and then drove slowly in and shifted the car into park.
“We’re home, Smudge,” she announced as she opened the back door, unclicking the dog’s leash from her collar, and then setting her on the garage’s concrete floor. She felt pleased with herself for settling on a temporary name for the little puppy, however briefly it would be needed.
For her part, Smudge strutted to the door, acting as if she owned the place. Once it was open, she raced out into the lush backyard, barking and scattering birds from a bank of dense lilac bushes.
Melo
dy stopped to admire the sight of the little dog prancing about the green lawn. An emptiness, a pang of longing seemed to overwhelm her. What was it for? This particular dog? To own a dog? To not be alone? She mentally shook herself, determined to be grateful for what she already had. This small, well-built home, what she thought of as her cozy cottage. The beautiful garden that she spent her weekends in, adding new flowers and shrubs every year was her green thumb project. Then she had her own business, one she had built proudly, and all on her own. She next thought of Kerry; she couldn’t have imagined a better employee, and her customers, many of them were friends. Yes, she was blessed and content, and needed to remember that when it was time to relinquish this little dog back to her rightful owner. A little dog that had already burrowed into her heart.
Chapter Nine
After Mel and Smudge finished their respective evening meals, Mel fashioned a nest of small blankets for the little bulldog on the floor of the bedroom. With the puppy snuggled up and looking as cute as only babies can, she took a bath.
Clean and in her nightdress, she took Smudge for a last walk in the garden. “Well, Smudge, should we turn in?” she asked as Smudge walked past her to the bedroom, turned herself around a couple of times before contently plopping down on the makeshift bed. It brought a smile to her face and a warmth to her heart that she had been missing.
As Mel watched, the pup instantly dropped off, most likely exhausted from the long day of vigilance waiting for her owner to return. “Poor little thing, I feel like you’re an orphan,” Melody whispered, not wanting to wake the sleeper.
Mel turned in as well, knowing tomorrow would dawn bright and early as every bakery day did. But instead of dropping off as she hoped, concern for Amelia and speculation as to possible explanations for her disappearance made for a restless, and fitful night. When she finally dropped off in the wee hours of the morning, it felt like her alarm rang just minutes after.
Mel groaned, reluctantly dragging herself out of bed, but then had to smile when Smudge popped up like a jack-in-the-box, wagging her tail happily and licking Mel’s hands, legs, toes, before spinning circles. The little pup was full of energy.
“Well, at least one of us is well-rested,” Mel commented, yawning as she rose. She slipped on her robe and slippers, and then took Smudge outside for a potty break.
After showering, Mel replenished Smudge’s food and water dishes, blended herself a green smoothie, then she and the little dog loaded into the Tahoe to head over to the shop to get started on the day’s tasks.
When Mel and Smudge entered the kitchen, they found Kerry bustling about with her usual speed and determination, laying out various utensils and ingredients. Kerry stopped and gaped at the sight of Smudge. Mel shrugged and shut Smudge back in her office once again, this time tossing down an old sweatshirt she kept in the office for winter bookwork for the little dog to nap on.
“Hey! You forgot to text me last night, and why do you still have that dog? I totally figured you found Amelia at home, doing her nails or something equally vital, and I meant to text you, but then my mom called and then Dad had to talk, and I totally forgot until this morning! Where is that woman? Maybe she left her dog on purpose as she knows you’re a sucker for a sad case!”
As always Kerry was running her sentences into one another in her haste to speak. “I’m so sorry, Ker! I completely spaced about letting you know what happened.” Mel slapped her head in cartoon dismay. She proceeded to fill Kerry in on yesterday afternoon’s happening and her visit to the sheriff.
Kerry was appropriately attentive, even suggesting the woman left town and was too cheap to hire a dog sitter. Obviously, deciding some hapless bakery owner with a mushy heart, could be counted on to take over dog ownership, but then she couldn’t resist latching onto Mel’s account of visiting the sheriff.
“Oooh, I bet Al was all twitterpated when you walked in the door,” she teased.
Mel rolled her eyes. “C’mon Kerry, we’re just friends, and that’s all we’ll ever be, friends,” she emphasized.
“That may be your stance, but it certainly isn’t his!” Kerry chortled. “That guy can barely look you in the face without losing all ability to form a coherent thought, let alone speak.” At her own cleverness, Kerry burst out laughing.
It was impossible not to join in with Kerry’s infectious guffaws; her laughs turned into snorts, and once she started, she and Mel had a hard time reining in their mirth.
They both finally settled down and launched into their chores. Top on their list was gathering all the supplies for Jeannette’s wedding cake, boxing them up, and setting the boxes near the back entrance to be loaded in the Tahoe. Before long, the front bell dinged, and Mel went out to greet the first customer of the day.
As she saw the woman entering, her heart skipped a beat, it was Amelia… No, not Amelia, but someone who uncannily resembled her. Only, as she looked closer, she realized that this was a younger version. Her heart rate slowed down as her curiosity rose up.
Chapter Ten
“Good morning. How may I help you?” Melody asked Amelia’s young double.
“Hello, my name is Claire Reed, and my aunt Amelia may have been in yesterday? She mentioned to me on the phone the day before yesterday that she planned to stop by here. Said she wanted to buy something special for a ‘big night’, as she called it. I can’t seem to get ahold of her and was wondering if she by chance mentioned if she was going out of town or…” Claire’s words trailed off as she struggled to stifle a sob.
Melody couldn’t get over the likeness of this woman to her aunt. She dressed much as her aunt did, with a simple, elegant skirt, chic brimmed hat, sunglasses, and oversized bag. The likeness was uncanny, even down to her choice of jewelry and sun-streaked long, loose curls. She differed only in the trendy peasant blouse, gold gladiator sandals, and chunky bangles circling her forearms.
“Yes, she did!” Melody confirmed. “And she mentioned a celebration and wanting a special dessert for it. Actually, Kerry and I here—” she indicated Kerry who had just come in from the kitchen— “still have the puppy your aunt left tied up outside!”
Tears crept down Claire’s cheeks, and Kerry wordlessly reached for a napkin on the counter, handed it to her, and placed a consoling hand on her arm.
“I’m worried sick over her,” Claire choked out. “The worst part is that my aunt met a new man just a couple of weeks ago, and she instantly fell for him, which is not at all like her. She even asked him to move in with her, and then I find out she wrote him into her will! I have a really bad feeling about him, and I tried to talk to her. To tell her that he’s most likely only after her money, but she wouldn’t listen! I’m terrified he may have something to do with her disappearance!”
Claire began sobbing in earnest, and Kerry grabbed a whole handful of napkins this time, tucking them into the weeping woman’s hand. Claire finally caught her breath and choked out, “I really think something terrible happened to her!”
Melody rubbed the sobbing woman’s back. “When your aunt didn’t return by the time we closed yesterday, I went over to the police station to file a report. I just couldn’t imagine what could have come up to prevent her from coming back for her dog. I’m so sorry, but I started thinking something happened to her too.” She patted Claire’s shoulder. “But now that you’re here, maybe we could head over to the sheriff’s office together and you can tell him everything you told me.”
Claire nodded, mopping her face and wiping her nose.
Melody continued, “And then when we’re done talking to the sheriff, we can come back here, and you can take her puppy with you? I’m sure she knows you better than me and you probably are attached to her as well. I just planned to keep her with me until your aunt returned. It didn’t feel right just to dump her off at the shelter.” She led Claire back to her office as she spoke, Kerry trailed the miserable young woman.
As soon as Melody opened the office door, Smudge began dancing in excitement,
whining and wiggling, especially excited to see Melody, even though it had only been minutes since she had last laid eyes on her. Claire just stood there, regarding the pup somberly. As if knowing she was on display, Smudge sat obediently, looking mournfully up at Claire’s face.
“I’m pretty sure Grant, that’s the man my aunt is dating, Grant Woodard, gave that puppy to my aunt for her birthday. My aunt lost her older dog just a few months ago, and I’ll bet that foul man just used this puppy to further win my aunt over. I don’t think there’s any low he wouldn’t stoop to, to worm his way into her bank account,” Claire said with distaste.
“But as far as taking the dog, no, I’m sorry, I can’t. I’m not from town, so I have only met this little dog one other time. She’ll just remind me of my aunt, and what Grant may have done to her. I can’t even stand looking at her!” Fresh tears streaked down Claire’s face as she shook her head and turned away from Smudge. “And knowing my aunt, she swallowed his lies and let herself be deceived like this? I am truly sorry, and I don’t expect you to have to keep her either. I can take her to the shelter so you’re not inconvenienced any longer,”
Melody felt a sense of deep panic. “I totally understand how you feel about the dog. Don’t worry about it; I’ll hold onto her until we locate your aunt.”
Claire closed her eyes briefly, and nodded. “Thank you, that will be a huge help. May I use your restroom to wash my face before we go? I must look a mess.” Kerry murmured her assent and led Claire out of the office.
Melody sadly regarded the little bulldog, spontaneously kneeling down and hugging her.
“Oh, Smudge, I’m so sorry. But I’ll take care of you until we find your person, I promise.” She felt a wash of shame over her thrill at getting to continue to foster Smudge, and sternly admonished herself. “Melody Marshall, this is not your dog, and you have no business wanting her. Your focus needs to be hoping and praying for Amelia’s safety, not coveting that poor woman’s fur baby!”
