Pardon My Frenchie

7

Hey, Boss Lady, you need help?”

Ashanti looked up to find Deja standing just over her shoulder, chomping on an apple.

“What are the chances that you’ve been hovering to the side, waiting until I was almost done cleaning up this mess before you came to offer help?” Ashanti asked.

“Very high,” Deja said. “But at least I offered.” She nodded to the elevated orthopedic bed that was standard in each of Barkingham Palace’s four-by-six-foot pet suites. “Lil Lulu had a rough night, huh? The good news is Dr. Williams said it doesn’t appear to be anything more than anxiety. She won’t need to bring her into the clinic for bloodwork or further testing.”

“I suspected that,” Ashanti said. “Lulu does fine in daycare, but the moment she has to stay overnight we get, well, this.” She gestured to the stained bed. It would likely have to be replaced. Ashanti had been scrubbing for at least fifteen minutes, but Lulu’s little accident wasn’t coming out.

She sat back on her heels and rested her gloved hands on her thighs. “I remember those early days when I naively thought running a doggy daycare would mean I get to play with dogs all day.”

“Instead, you spend most of your day cleaning up poop,” Deja said with a shrug. “By the way, Dr. Williams is checking on Sparkle, too, just to make sure everything is okay with her.”

“Good. Tell Evie I’ll be there in a few. I just need to finish disinfecting this suite.”

Her former college roommate, Evie Williams, ran a veterinary practice with her longtime boyfriend, Cameron, who had also attended LSU School of Veterinary Medicine with them. She came in twice a week to examine the dogs and provide basic care where warranted. Having a board-certified veterinarian on staff, even part-time, was one of Barkingham Palace’s biggest selling points.

Ashanti pushed up from the floor, picked up the empty spray bottle, and made her way to the supply room. She was refilling it with pet-safe disinfectant from a gallon jug when Leslie poked her head into the open doorway.

“We’ve got a situation,” she said.

“What now?” Ashanti asked.

“Marcia Lewis is on the phone again about Buster. What should I tell her?”

Ashanti dropped her head back and sighed up at the ceiling. It was a Monday.

“Tell her that our policy has not changed. Buster cannot be boarded here unless he is current on all his vaccinations,” she said. “And remind her that she did not have an issue with getting her previous dogs vaccinated.”

“She also didn’t have a problem with her dogs being microchipped, but she had Buster’s removed,” Leslie said. “Some people should not be allowed on the Internet.”

Ashanti had to agree with her.

She returned to the suite Lulu shared with her sister and sprayed every surface with disinfectant. If history was anything to go on, now that she was over her initial jitters, the dog would do just fine for the rest of her five-night stay. Still, Ashanti was grateful Evie had agreed to come over on one of her unofficial workdays to give Lulu an exam.

Of course, Ashanti could have done the same exam, but her clients had been assured that any medical needs would be attended to by a board-certified veterinarian. She wasn’t a board-certified veterinarian, even though she had almost finished her degree.

Brandy’s “Almost Doesn’t Count” began to play in her head, because her brain was her biggest troll. Ashanti headed for the temperament assessment room, which also doubled as an exam room on the days Evie worked at Barkingham Palace. Just as she arrived, she got a text.

“Gah. Gah. Gah,” Ashanti said as she read over it.

“You know, you’re the only person I ever hear using the word ‘gah’ in real life,” Evie said from the other side of the exam table. “The rest of the world only uses it in texts or when posting live updates about the Real Housewives.”

“But it captures what I’m feeling so well,” Ashanti said, her fingers flying across the phone screen.

“What are you gahhing about?” Evie asked as she flashed a penlight in Sparkle’s ears.

Ashanti sent off the text and re-pocketed her phone. “I just had to turn down an order for Duchess Delights treats from this boutique on Magazine Street,” she said.

“Why’d you turn them down?”

“Because they wanted ten dozen by the weekend. I just don’t have the time to fill an order that big. I can barely fill the ones I have. And, in case you forgot, I have a daycare to run.”

“Your staff can run this daycare without you,” Evie said, scratching Sparkle’s tummy as she checked her parathyroid glands.

“My staff is top-notch, but I’m not ready to give up the reins of this place in exchange for baking doggy cookies,” Ashanti said. “Despite the occasional problematic owner or Pomeranian with explosive diarrhea, I actually enjoy my work.” She pushed herself up on the exam table and pulled Lulu onto her lap while Evie continued examining her sister.

“The thing is, as much as I love the daycare, I can’t ignore how quickly Duchess Delights has grown,” Ashanti continued. “I just wish there was a way to continue the growth without having it take over my entire kitchen. More than three hours’ sleep at night would be nice too.”

“It sounds as if you need a second staff for Duchess Delights,” Evie said.

“I do,” she said. “Especially once I move into the new building and open a full-scale doggy bakery.”

“You know what you need? An investor—a real one. You should try to get on that Shark Tank show.”

“Uh, yeah.” Ashanti rolled her eyes. “I can just imagine Mr. Wonderful’s response when I ask him to invest a million bucks in my doggy cookies. I get enough sarcasm from the twins, thank you very much.”

“What’s going on here?” Evie asked, narrowing her eyes. “You’re usually so annoyingly sweet and positive that I need a shot of insulin when I leave this place.”

Ashanti hunched her shoulders and nuzzled Lulu’s head. “I just have a lot I’m dealing with. Kendra’s in full moody teenager mode, and I’m exhausted trying to run two businesses.”

“Well, I stand by my statement. The pet industry makes tens of billions of dollars a year. Duchess Delights is a solid investment. You could be selling so many more of those treats if you had the money to scale up this business.” She used a penlight to check Sparkle’s eyes. “I wish things weren’t so tight at the practice. I would invest in Duchess Delights in a heartbeat.”

“What’s going on with the practice?” Ashanti asked, reaching over to rub Sparkle’s head with her free hand.

Ashanti was ashamed to admit it, but it had taken a while before she could talk to Evie about her veterinary practice without feeling both jealousy and longing. The longing lingered a bit, but it had lessened over the years. The jealousy was gone completely.

She and Evie had met on the first day of organic chem during their junior year at LSU. Evie had been on track to become a family general practitioner, but by the time they finished undergrad, she was applying to the university’s School of Veterinary Medicine along with Ashanti. The only difference between them was that Ashanti’s life had imploded during their final year of vet school where Evie’s had not.

“The practice is doing okay, but it would be doing even better if the Walmart of pet stores would stop taking huge chunks of our business,” she said. “Remember Cassandra Dutton? She was in Systemic Pathology with us.”

“Curly blond hair?” Ashanti asked.

“Yep. She runs the clinic at the new chain store that just opened.”

“Traitor,” Ashanti said.

“Yeah, well, if the landlord raises the rent on us one more time, Cameron and I may join the ranks of traitor,” Evie said.

“Don’t give in. That’s what they want.”

“I’ll try not to.” Evie examined Sparkle’s teeth and gums. “This little one looks good, but she can stand to gain a pound or two. She weighs less than her sister.”

“That’s because Lulu steals all the treats,” Ashanti said, nuzzling the dog again.

The door to the exam room swung open and Ridley King barged in wearing one of her signature Scanlan Theodore mid-calf skirts and mohair sweater combos, and looking like she owned the world.

“It’s about time you got off the pot,” Ridley announced. “Hey, Eve.” She gave Evie a kiss on the cheek before coming over to the side where Ashanti sat. Lulu barked. Ridley pointed at her. “Shut up, Toto,” she said, before planting a kiss on Ashanti’s cheek.

Ridley had become their suite mate during their third year of undergrad. Despite not sharing their love of animals, she had agreed to move into an apartment with Ashanti and Evie while she pursued her MBA. A decade later and they were all still the closest of friends.

“It looks as if you finally took my advice.” Ridley squeezed Ashanti’s shoulders in a one-armed hug. “Congratulations on making the big move.”

“What are you talking about?” Ashanti asked.

“That house in the Bywater. You bought it, right?”

Ashanti stiffened. It felt as if someone had shoved ice directly into her veins.

“Please, tell me you’re the one who bought the house,” Ridley said.

She shook her head, too stunned to speak.

“Oh no,” Evie whispered.

“Dammit, Shanti. Didn’t I tell you this would happen?” Ridley pointed a stiletto French-manicured finger at her. “This is what they mean by fuck around and find out. You fucked around, dragging your little size-seven feet, and now you’re finding out what happens when you don’t pull the trigger fast enough.”

“You just used like five different metaphors,” Evie said. “Besides, what’s the point of saying I told you so?”

“The point is I did tell her so! I’ve been telling her so for the past month. A building like that will not just linger on the market forever, especially in that neighborhood.”

“But Lena Clark told me I didn’t have anything to worry about,” Ashanti said. Ridley had to be mistaken. There’s no way someone had bought her house.

“Who is Lena Clark?” Ridley asked.

“Zuzu’s mom. He’s another Pomeranian that boards here. Lena is a real estate agent who specializes in commercial properties. She said the house was priced too high for the amount of work that had to be done in it. She told me to wait it out, that the seller would have to bring the price down.”

“Well, I guess Lena was wrong, because there’s a big, fat SOLD sign on it and a black pickup truck in the driveway,” Ridley said.

“Right now?” Ashanti asked.

“As of five minutes ago when I drove past there.”

Ashanti scooted off the exam table and sat Lulu next to her sister. “I’ll tell Deja to bring the dogs back to their suite.”

“You’re not going there, are you?” Evie asked.

“Don’t waste your time,” Ridley said. “It’s too late to do anything about the house now.”

“Maybe,” Ashanti said. “Or, maybe not. Only one way to find out.”