In Dog We Trust

by Beth Kendrick

  And with that, he launched into a five-minute monologue about paint viscosity, wax quality, and the importance of the chemical composition of chromework. Jocelyn tried to follow him for the first minute, pretended to be following him for the next two minutes, but gave up entirely by the last two minutes, when Carmen started mouthing her fingers in an unsubtle attempt to spur her to action.

  “. . . And check out the hood vents!” Otter continued with a docent-level exposition of what appeared to be rectangular slits in the metal.

  Jocelyn shifted her weight from foot to foot, looking enviously at the other beachgoers who were getting into their cars and leaving. Carmen paced and whined.

  “Yeah, it’s something, all right.” Jocelyn took a step back toward Otter’s truck. “But I guess we should get going.”

  “Do you mind if we stay a few more minutes?” He looked up at her with earnest blue eyes. “I’d love to talk to the owner. Ask a few questions about the detail work.”

  “Sure.”

  “Just a few minutes,” he repeated. “If they don’t show up, we’ll go.”

  “No worries; we can wait.” Jocelyn busied herself with playing with Carmen.

  Ten more minutes dragged by, then fifteen, and Otter spoke not another word. He fawned, ogled, and admired while Jocelyn and Carmen engaged in round after round of tug-of-war with an old beach towel.

  Finally, as Jocelyn was about to announce that she had to feed the dogs and would see herself home, Otter straightened up. “There he is!”

  Jocelyn followed his gaze down the aisle of cars to see Liam in sunglasses and short sleeves, talking to a man she’d never seen. “Him? No, I know that guy, and this isn’t his car. He has an SUV.”

  “The other guy.” Otter jerked his chin to indicate the companion. “His keychain has the Aston Martin logo.”

  “It does?” Jocelyn squinted but couldn’t make out anything beyond the glint of silver. “Damn, good eyes.”

  “When it comes to cars, I’m like a hawk.” Otter stretched out his right hand and strode toward the guys. “Hey, is that your car?”

  Jocelyn was too far away to hear the reply, but pleasantries and handshakes were exchanged. Then the three men started toward the car. Otter and the stranger were focused entirely on the car. Liam was focused on her.

  “Well!” she said as Carmen launched herself into Liam’s arms. “This isn’t awkward at all.”

  chapter 19

  “Good to see you.” Liam gave Carmen a little shoulder rub, which resulted in yelps of joy. “I was going to call you tonight.”

  Jocelyn glanced over at Otter, who was popping the hood of the car with Liam’s companion. Both men disappeared behind the glossy blue metal, exclaiming about horsepower and torque.

  “You were?” she asked Liam.

  “I’ve been thinking about you.” He took off his sunglasses. The corners of his eyes crinkled when he smiled. “And wondering how the puppies are.”

  “They’re great. The vet’s been by every morning to check on them. I was trying to figure out what to name them.”

  “My father the control freak didn’t leave a directive for that in his will?”

  “Nope, so my mom did the honors: Pat Benatar, LeBron James, J. K. Rowling, and George Clooney.”

  Liam laughed. “How’s Hester doing?”

  Jocelyn was impressed he’d remembered Hester’s name but didn’t let on. “She’s exhausted, but very patient.” She tilted her head toward the automotive enthusiasts. “Who’s your friend with the car?”

  “That’s my buddy Paul. He’s the one that has the sailboat.”

  She waited for more details, but none appeared to be forthcoming. “Well, your buddy Paul and that seductive car of his have co-opted my date.”

  Liam regarded Otter with new interest. “Date, huh? How’s it going?”

  “It was going great until you and your shiny automotive siren came along.” She took a step back and folded her arms. “I feel like I’ve been jilted mid-slow-dance at junior prom. He’s not going to call me.”

  “He’ll call you,” Liam stated with total authority.

  “You don’t know that.”

  “Yeah, I do.” He gave her a look she couldn’t quite decipher.

  Jocelyn, Carmen, and Liam waited for Paul and Otter to slam the hood and rejoin the rest of the world.

  They waited. And waited. And waited.

  Jocelyn clapped her hand to her forehead as the guys stopped talking about the engine and moved on to the muffler. “This is never going to end, is it?”

  “Do you know how many parts there are to talk about under a car hood?” Liam asked.

  Carmen started panting in the heat.

  Jocelyn decided that since no one else was showing any social grace, she wasn’t obligated to do so, either. She strolled over to the Aston Martin and rapped her knuckles against the hood. “Excuse me? Hi.”

  Otter’s face, flushed with excitement, appeared. “Hi! Isn’t this amazing?”

  “Life-changing,” she said. “But I’ve got to get back to feed the dogs and check on the puppies.”

  “Okay, okay, I’ll drive you home.” His gaze darted back to the automotive innards. “In one second.”

  “No worries, I’ll walk.” She tugged Carmen’s leash. “Come on, girl.”

  “No, no, you’re not walking, I’ll drive you,” Otter insisted. But he made no move to disengage from the car.

  “It’s totally fine, I promise. It’s a beautiful day and Carmen wants to see if her new bestie is still by the boardwalk.”

  “I’ll drive her.” The way Liam said it was more of a declaration than a suggestion.

  “For the last time.” Jocelyn set her jaw. “I am walking.”

  “I can’t let another man drive my date home,” Otter protested.

  Paul jingled his car keys. “Want to take her for a spin?”

  Otter looked ready to break into a jig of joy. “Are you serious?”

  “Come on.” Paul opened the driver’s-side door. “We’ll only be a few minutes. Or, hey, do you guys want to take a turn, too?”

  “No,” Liam and Jocelyn said in unison.

  “Suit yourselves. You don’t know what you’re missing.” And with that, Paul and Otter piled into the little coupe and pulled out of the parking space with a dramatic squeal of tires.

  Jocelyn had to laugh as she watched the car vroom toward Main Street. “I think that’s the first time I’ve ever been dumped for an inanimate object.”

  Liam rested his hand on her back. “He’ll call you.”

  She resisted the urge to lean into his touch. “We’re never going to hear from either one of them again. They’re driving off into the sunset and they’re going to live happily ever after.”

  “Then we might as well get you home.” Liam pointed out his black SUV, which was parked a few cars down.

  “No way I’m getting into a car with you.” She shook her head. “That’s how people end up mysteriously disappeared until a bunch of hikers find the body eight years later in some marshy pine bluff.”

  He frowned at her. “A marshy pine bluff?”

  “That’s right. I read true crime. I know how this works.”

  “Yeah, but it’s so detailed.”

  “You can’t even imagine how vivid it is in my mind,” she informed him. “I know the color of the hiker’s backpack and everything.”

  “Blue?” he guessed.

  “Red. With silver reflector strips.”

  He stared her down for a minute. “Let’s start over. Jocelyn, Carmen, I’d be honored to see you home safely. Emphasis on safely.”

  “I really—”

  “I know you can walk. If that’s what you want to do, I’ll walk with you.”

  “And you promise not to murder me in cold blood a
long the way?”

  “Scout’s honor.”

  “Fine, we can drive.” She hurried toward the SUV. “I’m roasting.”

  He opened the driver’s-side door and cranked the A/C on full blast, then turned to Carmen. “Does she like to ride in the back or the middle seat?”

  “The middle seat, if you let her. Which I usually don’t.”

  Liam opened the door for Carmen. “Make yourself at home.”

  Carmen turned her soulful eyes up at him. Jocelyn recognized this as the dog’s patented “I’m so good, give me all the treats” expression.

  “I’ll give you dinner as soon as we get home,” she told Carmen. “He doesn’t have any treats.”

  As she buckled her seat belt, her phone rang.

  “Well, well, well. It’s my date.” She gave Liam a nod of concession. “As you predicted.”

  “Told you so.”

  “You did, indeed.” Jocelyn answered the phone with the cheeriest “hello” she could muster.

  “Jocelyn?” Otter sounded both muffled and breathless, as though he were racing down an open highway at eighty miles an hour with the windows rolled down. Which he probably was.

  “Hi,” she said.

  “Can you hear me?”

  “I can hear you.”

  “Good, okay, I can hardly hear you. I wanted to make sure you got home okay.”

  “I’m en route,” she assured him. “I’m not going to be a gruesome discovery for a hiker in a marshy pine field eight years from now.”

  “What?” Otter hollered.

  “Nothing.” She held the phone a few inches away from her ear. “Thanks for the picnic today. I had a really great time.”

  “Great! Me, too! Great!” Otter seemed to be in no hurry to hang up.

  This was the part of the conversation where someone needed to buck up and ask for a second date, but she’d be damned if she’d do it. Not after she’d been blown off for a British pile of chrome.

  “Okay, well . . .” She cleared her throat. “See you around.”

  “Definitely! We’ll get together again soon!” he yelled.

  “No, you won’t,” Liam said into the phone receiver.

  “What?” Otter yelled again.

  “Never mind,” Jocelyn said.

  “I’ve gotta go, but I had to say thank you. I’ve been talking to Paul, and guess what? He’s interested in classic car restoration and storage. We might go into business one of these days!”

  “I . . . ,” was all Jocelyn could manage to choke out.

  “Today was the best! My whole life is about to change!” And with that, Otter clicked off the line and drove straight toward his boyhood dream come true.

  “This is an outrage,” Jocelyn fumed.

  Next to her, Liam was laughing. “I can’t believe Paul. He’s been talking about finding a business partner for years, but I didn’t think he’d ever do it.”

  “Paul.” Jocelyn narrowed her eyes. “Who is that guy, anyway? What is he doing in a town like this driving a car like that?”

  “He’s a commercial real estate developer who thinks that just because he has enough money to buy classic cars, he’s qualified to fix them.”

  “Ah.” She rolled her eyes. “How delightful for him.”

  “What are you mad about? I just saved you from a lifetime of listening to a guy named Otter yammer about horsepower.”

  “His name is Orton,” she informed him with icy dignity. “And I’m mad because this date was supposed to change my life. Not his. Mine!”

  “Says who?” Liam demanded.

  “I have it on excellent authority that—wait, stop the car!” Jocelyn clutched her shoulder belt with both hands as she caught sight of a familiar blond figure down the block.

  Liam hit the brakes, but not before reaching his hand into the backseat to steady Carmen. “What’s up?”

  “I’m not sure.” Jocelyn lowered her sunglasses to get a better look at Krysten, who was strolling down the street with a man. Except strolling wasn’t really the right term for what was happening. Skulking was more like it.

  Liam glanced into his rearview mirror to check the traffic situation behind him. “Should I pull over and park?”

  “Maybe.” Jocelyn studied the body language of the two people skulking. “Do me a favor, okay? Look at that woman.”

  “Okay.”

  “See that guy she’s with?”

  “The one right next to her? Yes, I do see him.”

  Jocelyn ignored the heavy overtones of sarcasm. “Does she look like she’s with him? You know, with him with him?”

  “Uh . . .”

  “Don’t overthink it,” she urged. “Just go with your gut. Take your best guess.”

  The only sound in the car was Carmen’s panting as Liam and Jocelyn focused with laser intensity on the twosome in question.

  “I have no idea,” Liam finally said.

  “Unhelpful.”

  “Who are these people?”

  “I don’t know who the guy is. That woman, though—she’s a person of interest.”

  “To whom?” he asked drily.

  “To Bree. She thinks she’s cheating on her fiancé.”

  Liam put the SUV in gear and edged forward. “She’s engaged?”

  “I went to her bridal shower myself.”

  “They do look a little . . .” Liam trailed off.

  “Flirty?” Jocelyn supplied. “Cozy? Illicit?”

  “Maybe he’s her cousin,” Liam suggested.

  They exchanged dismayed glances as Krysten went up on tiptoe and kissed the man’s cheek. Twice. And then his lips.

  “I sincerely hope that’s not her cousin,” Jocelyn said. “Maybe Bree was right.”

  “They’re going in.” Liam sounded relieved as Krysten and her mystery companion ducked into a little gray cottage tucked at the end of the street. “We may never know the truth.”

  “Yes, we will.” Jocelyn speed-dialed her best friend. “Pick up, pick up . . . oh good, you’re there! Hey, I need you to come meet me right now.”

  Carmen whined in the backseat.

  “Actually, could you please stop and grab some kibble and then meet us? We’re by the corner of Third and Station. What’s that? Who’s ‘we’? Um, you’ll find out in a minute.”

  chapter 20

  “ This is a surprise,” Bree said to Liam as she climbed into the backseat with a bag full of kibble in one hand and a giant cherry slushy in the other. “Last I saw, you two were sniping and giving each other the side eye.”

  “I won her over.” Liam smiled at Jocelyn.

  “Jury’s still out,” she shot back.

  “What happened?” Bree demanded as she doled out handfuls of kibble to Carmen, who wolfed them down as though she’d been on the brink of starvation. “I thought you were on a date.”

  “Yeah, that didn’t work out. Not for me, anyway.”

  Bree leaned into the front seat to confront Liam. “Did you crash her date?”

  “Innocent bystander,” he swore.

  “My date ran off with his friend,” Jocelyn explained. “Although I suspect he’s just using him for his car.”

  “I’m so confused.” Bree took a noisy slurp of slushy. “You want to run this whole thing by me again and speak English this time?”

  “Maybe later. I called you down here for a very specific purpose.” Jocelyn pointed out the tiny cottage where they’d last seen Krysten. “Watch that space.”

  “What am I watching for?”

  Jocelyn summarized the situation. “. . . but we’re not sure who the guy is or what’s really going on.”

  “So I was right.” Bree all but patted herself on the back. “You can apologize for doubting me any time now.”

  “Wait for the evide
nce,” Jocelyn cautioned. “We can’t jump to conclusions. No reason to get irrational.”

  “We’re staking out a random stranger because of a palm-reading prediction,” Liam said. “I’d say we passed irrational long ago.”

  “You’re new here, so we won’t hold that against you,” Bree said. “But here’s the real question: If this is a stakeout, shouldn’t we have coffee and doughnuts?”

  “It was very spontaneous.” Jocelyn’s stomach growled. “But I wouldn’t say no to a doughnut.”

  “Focus, people.” Liam made a chop-chop gesture on the steering wheel.

  “I am focusing.” Jocelyn stared at the cottage. They all did. “There’s nothing to see.”

  “I’m afraid to ask,” Liam said. “But if it does turn out that this woman is cheating on her boyfriend, what are you going to do about it?”

  “We don’t need to worry about that right now,” Bree stated. “All we need to worry about is the fact that I was right and Miss Cynic Von Skepticism was wrong.”

  “We haven’t established that yet,” Jocelyn cautioned. “Hence, the stakeout.”

  Carmen woofed from the backseat.

  “This is the least stealthy stakeout ever,” Liam said.

  “At least you’re not from around here,” Jocelyn said. “Your car isn’t recognizable like mine or Bree’s.”

  “Speaking of which, how much longer do you think you’ll be in town?” Bree asked, ever so casually.

  “I’m not sure,” Liam said. “I’ve got a few things to take care of.”

  “Oh yeah? Like what kind of things?” Bree pressed.

  “Would you stop?” Jocelyn admonished her friend.

  “I’m just making small talk on the stakeout,” Bree said.

  “It’s okay.” Liam settled back against the tan leather seat. “She can ask.”

  “Damn right I can.”

  “I’ll be asking the questions here,” Jocelyn declared.

  “Ask away,” Liam said.

  “Okay, so first of all, I want to know—”

  “Shut up!” Bree cried. “Someone’s coming out!”