better not.” Melody frowned. “I told Zach that if he did, I’d send everyone home.” She leaned back, making herself more comfortable. “What have you been doing with yourself this summer? I haven’t seen you around, and you haven’t returned my calls.”
“I know. I’m sorry about that. I’ve been a hermit this summer. It’s just been hard trying to keep up with Nana and the kennel and all the training. I have no idea how Nana kept it up for so long.”
“Nana’s doing okay these days?”
Nana was Beth’s grandmother. She’d raised Beth since the age of three, after Beth’s parents died in a car accident. She nodded. “She’s getting better, but the stroke took a lot out of her. Her left side is still really weak. She can manage some of the training, but running the kennel and training is beyond her. And you know how hard she pushes herself. I’m always worried she might be overdoing it.”
“I noticed she was back in the choir this week.”
Nana had been in the First Baptist Church choir for over thirty years, and Beth knew it was one of her passions. “Last week was her first week back, but I’m not sure how much singing she actually did. Afterward, she took a two-hour nap.”
Melody nodded. “What’s going to happen when school starts up?”
“I don’t know.”
“You are going to teach, aren’t you?”
“I hope so.”
“You hope? Don’t you have teacher meetings next week?”
Beth didn’t want to think about it, let alone discuss it, but she knew Melody meant well. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be there. I know it would leave the school in a bind, but it’s not as if I can leave Nana alone all day. Not yet, anyway. And who would help her run the kennel? There’s no way she could train the dogs all day.”
“Can’t you hire someone?” Melody suggested.
“I’ve been trying. Did I tell you what happened earlier in the summer? I hired a guy who showed up twice, then quit as soon as the weekend rolled around. Same thing with the next guy I hired. After that, no one’s even bothered to come by. The ‘Help Wanted’ sign has become a permanent fixture in the window.”
“David’s always complaining about the lack of good employees.”
“Tell him to offer minimum wage. Then he’d really complain. Even high school kids don’t want to clean the cages anymore. They say it’s gross.”
“It is gross.”
Beth laughed. “Yeah, it is,” she admitted. “But I’m out of time. I doubt if anything will change before next week, and if it doesn’t, there are worse things. I do enjoy training the dogs. Half the time they’re easier than students.”
“Like mine?”
“Yours was easy. Trust me.”
Melody motioned toward Ben. “He’s grown since the last time I saw him.”
“Almost an inch,” she said, thinking it was nice of Melody to notice. Ben had always been small for his age, the kid always positioned on the left side, front row, of the class picture, half a head shorter than the child seated next to him. Zach, Melody’s son, was just the opposite: right-hand side, in the back, always the tallest in class.
“I heard a rumor that Ben isn’t playing soccer this fall,” Melody commented.
“He wants to try something different.”
“Like what?”
“He wants to learn to play the violin. He’s going to take lessons with Mrs. Hastings.”
“She’s still teaching? She must be at least ninety.”
“But she’s got patience to teach a beginner. Or at least that’s what she told me. And Ben likes her a lot. That’s the main thing.”
“Good for him,” Melody said. “I’ll bet he’ll be great at it. But Zach’s going to be bummed.”
“They wouldn’t be on the same team. Zach is going to play for the select team, right?”
“If he makes it.”
“He will.”
And he would. Zach was one of those naturally confident, competitive kids who matured early and ran rings around other, less talented players on the field. Like Ben. Even now, running around the yard with his Super Soaker, Ben couldn’t keep up with him. Though good-hearted and sweet, Ben wasn’t much of an athlete, a fact that endlessly infuriated her ex-husband. Last year, her ex had stood on the sidelines of soccer games with a scowl on his face, which was another reason Ben didn’t want to play.
“Is David going to help coach again?”
David was Melody’s husband and one of two pediatricians in town. “He hasn’t decided yet. Since Hoskins left, he’s been on call a lot more. He hates it, but what can he do?