bed. It took about an hour, but I cleaned up the house.
After disposing of the garbage in the bins, I’d just finished checking the pristine garage to see the new blue Buick. The inside was clean, and I couldn’t see anything that would give me a reason to open a door. Yeah, I’d definitely need a warrant to access the GPS data.
I whistled for Snuffles, who came bounding inside happily. After petting him, I locked the door and kept the key before striding down to Bud. “Are you watching me all night?” I asked, trying not to yawn.
“Nope. We already have a car at your place. I’ll follow you there and then leave.” He smiled.
The man sounded way too happy to be dropping me off.
Then he frowned. “I’ll be there first thing in the morning to follow you to the office.” He sighed.
That made me smile for some reason. “Fine, but we have to come by here and feed Snuffles in the morning.” With that last thought, I all but skipped to my car, more than ready for a good night’s sleep.
Monday morning arrived with a soft breeze and a lovely blue sky. Sure enough, Bud was waiting for me as I pulled out of my driveway and drove to the retirement community again, this time singing along with Taylor Swift on the radio.
I pulled into Charles’ driveway and waited until Bud had parked behind me before striding up the walkway and unlocking the door.
This time, I knew to jump out of the way to let Snuffles bound out for his hydrangea bush.
I peeked inside. “Darn it, Snuffles.” He’d torn up the living room carpet. Now I had to clean that? “I’ll be a few minutes, Bud,” I called out, happy I’d worn slacks and a light sweater today.
It only took a half hour of cleaning until I was happy. Sighing, I turned back to the now clean kitchen and opened the sliding door to let in some fresh air. The small backyard was full of weeds, showing the association only worked on the front of the homes. About ten hummingbird feeders, all red, hung from the gutters along the back of the house.
I carefully shut and locked the sliding glass door and walked through the now clean house and out the front door to see Bud petting the dog. He straightened immediately, flushing as if being caught eating off somebody else’s plate. “It’s okay. He is cute,” I teased. Bud’s darkening cheekbones cheered me considerably. I patted my knees. “Come here, Snuffles. Time to go back inside.”
Snuffles sat near Bud and wagged his tail. “I have food and fresh water,” I said, trying to reason with a canine.
“Anna? What are you doing here?” Thelma came out of her garage dressed in a brightly flowered sundress complete with a wide and floppy pink hat. Her knobby knees were bare over flip flops covered with colorful fish drawings.
“Anna?” Georgiana came next, her hair in a bun held together with chopsticks as she hustled across the road to us. She held a cute white kitten with big blue eyes against her denim shirt. “Look what we—”
Before she could get the words out, I saw the disaster to come. Snuffles barked. The cat hissed and escaped from Georgiana’s hands before she could stop it, twisting high in the air and landing on the police car to skid across the hood toward Bud.
He made a grab for it, but the little animal found purchase with the windshield wiper and scrambled up the window to the top of the car.
Snuffles barked enthusiastically and knocked into Bud, throwing the cop against the car. Then the dog leaped up onto the hood, its nails skidding and its legs sliding out from under it.
“Betty White,” Thelma called, her voice panicked. “You come back here right now.”
The kitten howled in protest as the dog tried to lever up the front windshield. Its front paws hit the roof, and the cat wailed, jumping over Bud’s head and straight for me. I yelped and made a grab for the cat, but it zipped by me, followed by the dog.
I jumped for Snuffles, hitting the canine mid-center and locking my arms around his body. We tumbled to the ground and rolled right into the hydrangea bush, fur shoving up my nose. The dog kicked against me, fighting hard, his sloppy tongue against my neck. I held tight, my body heaving. “Knock it off,” I snapped.