The Other Side of Us - By Sarah Mayberry Page 0,82
his call she pounced on it when it rang, inadvertently taking a call from his brother.
The other man sounded deeply suspicious until Mackenzie explained the situation in detail. Clearly, he thought she’d lifted Oliver’s phone. She did what she could to reassure him, then resumed her pacing.
After Oliver had been gone an hour she started to create excuses to call him, even though he’d assured her he’d let her know as soon as he had any information about Strudel. She managed to sit on her hands for another twenty minutes, then—finally—Oliver’s phone rang and her number flashed on the screen.
“How is she?”
“She’s fine.”
“Really? Oh, that’s great.” She sat in the chair with a thump. “I’m so relieved.”
“She’s also pregnant.”
“What?”
“Tell me, is Mr. Smith still in possession of the crown jewels?”
“Um, yes. He is. I was going to breed him. Wire-haired dachshunds are really hard to come by....” Guilt washed over her. She hadn’t even thought to mention that he was packing heat. Most bitches were spayed these days. And Smitty was very rarely out unattended. With many male dogs, a warning wouldn’t have been necessary since the fact that they weren’t neutered would be readily discernible at first glance. But Mr. Smith was so furry and so low to the ground Oliver could be forgiven for not noticing his small but apparently very efficient man parts.
“I see.”
“I take it Strudel hasn’t been spayed?” she asked, even though she knew it was stating the bleeding obvious.
“No, she has not.” He sounded pissed.
“It might not have been Mr. Smith,” she said. Then she realized it sounded as though she was calling Strudel a strumpet. “I mean, has she been around any other dogs lately?”
“Mackenzie, I caught them in the act.”
“Oh, right. Now I remember.” She and Oliver had even had a fight about it, after he’d deposited Mr. Smith on her side of the fence.
“When is she due?”
“The vet isn’t sure. But if we use the first week we arrived as a guide, she’s due in five weeks or so.”
“Wow. That soon.”
“Yep. That soon.”
He was definitely pissed.
“Are you guys coming home now?”
“We’ll be there in half an hour or so.”
“Good. I’ll see you then.”
Mackenzie winced as she ended the call. Then she went in search of her dog.
“Mr. Smith, you are in so much trouble. Oliver is going to kill us, you know that, right?” she told him when she found him. “Why couldn’t you keep your furry little paws to yourself?”
Mr. Smith looked up at her with his bright button eyes, his mouth slightly open. The picture of innocence. Except she knew better.
“Prepare yourself for some major sucking up, my friend. You need to charm Oliver within an inch of his life.”
She was waiting on the porch of Oliver’s place when he turned into the driveway, her reprobate dog unhappily locked up next door. She wasn’t about to wave a red flag in front of Oliver while he was on the warpath.
“Hey,” he said as he exited the car.
“Hi,” she said, way too brightly. “How was the drive?”
“Uneventful.” Oliver shot her a curious look before letting Strudel out of the car.
“Hey, girl. How are you? You’re going to be a mummy, are you?” Mackenzie scratched Strudel’s chest and fondled her ears. She shook the bag she’d brought with her. “I brought you some rawhides and a couple of pig’s ears to chew on. And a nice warm blanket for you to sleep on.”
She saw Oliver frown out of the corner of her eyes.
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“Well, she’s a VIP now, isn’t she?” While her dog was a VNP—very naughty pet.
“It’s okay, Mackenzie, I’m not angry,” he said.
She glanced at him quickly. “Aren’t you?” She really hoped that was true, because she was painfully aware that they had only a handful of days left and she didn’t want anything to ruin their limited time together.
If it was limited. But now was definitely not the time to broach that subject.
“I was at first. But it takes two to tango, right?”
“I think it must have been more of a pole vault in this case, but yes. I guess it does.”
“I wasn’t planning to breed her, and they are going to be weird-ass puppies, but what the hell. We can’t do anything about it now.”
“No.”
“I’m going to set her up in front of the fire,” he said, moving past her and climbing onto the porch.
“Sure. Okay.”
“You want to come in?” Oliver’s eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled at her, waiting for