he mixed up Baxter and Bubbles, because, if you haven’t noticed, they look exactly alike.”
“What?” Max asked, trying to follow. Who the hell was Bubbles? “But where is Hazel?”
“Hazel?” Carly scrunched her pert nose and clearly fought a smile. “No offense, but I think Bubbles better reflects your dog’s awesome personality.”
Bubbles sounded like someone who danced on poles for a living, but he kept that to himself.
“Anyway, she’s at a photo shoot with a friend of mine. So I’ll just take Baxter and bring her home when she’s done—”
“No way,” Max said instantly. “And what is this business about a photo shoot? On the surface, it sounds a little exploitative.”
“Oh, sure, making your dog a star is exploitative. You should thank me.”
He imagined Hazel dressed in something like what Carly was wearing and suppressed a shudder. “I’m not going to thank you for something that makes no sense and before I see that she is okay. Why didn’t you just bring her with you?”
“Are you crazy? What if you were a dognapper or some other kind of perv? You can’t be too careful these days.”
He looked aghast at her.
“Hey, I just lost one dog. I wasn’t about to lose another one. Which is the real joke here, because Baxter’s not even my dog. I mean he is my dog, but technically he’s . . .” She stopped and shook her head. “Never mind. It’s a long and complicated story that no one has time for, especially me. Do you have a leash I could borrow?”
“Nope. Not taking him. Maybe you’re the perv.”
She snorted. “As if.”
“Look, even trade. I’ll give you Baxter when you deliver Hazel.”
Carly frowned. She clearly did not approve of this idea, because every emotion seemed to end up on that pretty face of hers. But she studied him a long moment and finally gave him a curt nod. “Fine. I’ll be back by seven. You better be here when I get back. No running off with my dog.”
“Again, not a dognapper or a perv.”
“Yeah, well, that’s exactly what a dognapper or a perv would say.” She walked past him to the couch to where Baxter was now snoozing. She rubbed his head, and her dark hair spilled over her shoulder in one long cascade when she leaned over the dog. “You poor thing,” she cooed.
“He’s fine,” Max said, trying not to be offended. “He’s better than fine. He’s great.”
“Sure, if you think losing all sense of discipline is great,” she said as she headed to the door. “Okay, don’t move, Tobias. I’ll be back.”
“It’s Max,” he said adamantly and followed her to the door and watched her jog very slowly and awkwardly down the brick steps to her car on very high heels. When she’d backed her car down the drive, Max closed the door. He turned around to see Baxter sitting behind him, looking bewildered. “Don’t worry, she’s coming back,” he said. “I think.” He crouched down in front of the dog. “Looks like you’re going home, buddy. And Hazel is coming home, too.”
Baxter wagged his tail.
Max was relieved to have found his dog. Carly was right—Hazel had an awesome personality and he’d missed having her around. At least he could relax now that he knew she was safe. But he still had the issue of the next few days.
He was looking at Baxter when a thought occurred to him.
It was a silly thought. It made no sense. It was in the realm of fantasy, really. But . . . what if Hazel came home, and they were reunited, but then she spent three days with Baxter?
Baxter nudged his arm with his nose, reminding Max to pet him. Max absently scratched his head. “It’s a certifiably insane idea. Well, not insane certifiably, as that would necessitate some sort of dysfunction in the neural pathways and a release of chemicals into my brain, not to mention a psychiatrist to properly diagnose it. But more in the category of crazy pants.”
The idea wasn’t more crazy pants than asking Alanna. He didn’t even know this woman, and his impression was that she was nutty and maybe bossy and pretty intense and she dressed so weird one could reasonably guess she belonged to a cult. He did not get the vibe she was the type to jump on the opportunity to do him a favor, either.
Yep, this idea could be filed under Worst Idea Ever.
But in science, you learned to test various hypotheses. What if he did ask Carly with