Chapter 18 #2
Charlotte bites her lip, thinking for a few seconds before she snaps her fingers. “The picture of him in his apple sweater in front of the lit-up apple trees.”
“Where did you take that picture?”
“The clearing in the middle of the pick-your-own orchard.”
It’s the same place I was walking last night.
“Let’s go,” I say to Charlotte. “Mom, you stay here in case someone brings Pumpkin back, or he wanders in on his own.” I know it’s a long shot, but Pumpkin is a quirky little soul.
Mom still looks super worried, but she nods.
Charlotte and I take off out the front door, across the porch, and down the stairs. I begin jogging toward the road. The pick-your-own orchard is on the other side.
Aiden sees us from the parking lot and dashes over to join us.
“We’re going to the clearing,” I tell him. “It’s where Pumpkin’s most popular photo was taken.”
Aiden nods silently and follows us.
It doesn’t take long to make it to the clearing. As we approach, I hear a voice. It’s high-pitched and female. “That is sooo cute! Get another one with me in it.”
Charlotte, Aiden, and I pile into the clearing to find a young woman and a young man standing near one of the lit-up apple trees with Pumpkin at their feet. Pumpkin looks entirely unbothered. He barely blinks at us.
“What are you doing?” Charlotte shouts, planting her fists on her hips. “That’s our dog.” Whoa. I’ve never seen Charlotte pissed before. It’s like watching an angry teddy bear.
The young woman’s face falls. “Oh yeah. I’m sorry. No one was at the desk to tell. We just wanted to get our picture with him out here.”
I take a deep breath and count to five. I want to yell at these two like Charlotte did, but I can already tell that they are more clueless than nefarious. Still, they scared us and caused us all a lot of unnecessary worry.
Meanwhile, Aiden looks like he’s about to punch the young man in the face. “I’ll handle this,” I whisper to him. His nostrils flare, but he steps back.
“Hi, I’m Ellie Lawson,” I inform the couple. “My parents own the inn. And Pumpkin is their dog.”
“I’m Tiffany, and this is Landon,” the young lady says, pointing first to herself and then to her boyfriend. “And Pumpkin is just sooo cute! We only wanted a few pictures to post on social.”
“I get it. He’s gotten quite popular,” I say evenly, “but my mom was really worried when she couldn’t find him.”
“Yeah, I wondered where she went. I wanted to ask her if we could borrow his apple sweater.” Tiffany says this as if she’s the put-upon one in the situation.
Landon isn’t saying much. He just looks guilty and is kinda kicking at the grass and leaves near the apple tree.
“It would have been nice if you’d at least left a note,” Charlotte points out. “How do we know you weren’t trying to steal him!”
“Steal him!” Tiffany’s bright-blue eyes are bugging.
“Oh, no, no, no.” Landon finally speaks. He’s waving his hands in the air. “We definitely weren’t stealing anything.”
“Did you get the pictures you wanted?” I ask calmly.
Of course, I want to slap them both, but that’s assault, and I’m not going to jail over these two fools.
Besides, I’m used to this. Event-planning emergencies often call for a cool demeanor.
It’s not as if I work in an emergency room, but emotions still get high.
“I wanted one more,” Tiffany informs us. Her lower lip pops out in a pout.
Wow. Entitled, huh? I shake my head. “Okay, let’s get the picture, and we’ll take Pumpkin back.” I manage to smile at her. It’s fake as hell, but I get the feeling Tiffany is used to fake smiles.
Tiff loves my idea, because she immediately drops to her knee next to Pumpkin, flips her long hair over her shoulder, and produces a mega smile. She’s all teeth and way too much mascara. “Let her take it, Landon,” she orders. “Get in with me.”
Landon hurries over and hands me the phone, and I wait for him to get into the shot with Pumpkin and Miss Photo Op before I click a few pictures for them.
“Thanks,” Tiffany finally says as she hops back up to her feet. “My friends are going to be sooo jealous.”
I hand the phone back to Landon, and Aiden quickly scoops up Pumpkin. He cradles him under his arm protectively. Pumpkin remains completely unbothered.
“Okay, we’re off for home. Ta-ta,” Tiffany announces as she scrolls through no doubt dozens of Pumpkin pictures on her phone. She doesn’t even look up as she and Landon walk away.
Charlotte, Aiden, and I are left staring at each other shaking our heads.
“I already texted your mom and dad that we found him,” Charlotte says.
“Thanks,” I reply, glad to know that Mom has already heard the good news.
“Those frickin’ idiots,” Aiden says. I can tell he would still like to punch someone or something, but he’s got Pumpkin now. We got what we came for. That’s what matters.
We all start walking back toward the inn.
“I guess we need to keep an eye on P-dog now,” I say.
Charlotte lets out a loud sigh. “I didn’t even think about it. But it stands to reason that lots of followers equals lots of people wanting pictures with him.”
We walk silently for a few minutes.
Wait a minute. That’s right! I point a finger in the air. “Charlotte, that’s brilliant!” I say.
“What?” She frowns.
“We’re going to set up a booth at the festival and charge for pictures with Pumpkin!”
Aiden gives me a highly skeptical glance. “Charge for it?”
“Yeah, you heard Tiffany. Her friends will be sooo jealous .” I bat my eyelashes at him in an exaggerated fashion.
“You can try it, I guess,” Aiden says. I can tell he doesn’t think it’s gonna work.
But I’m already picturing the cute little background Maria and I can set up for his photos. “I bet Pumpkin is going to kill it,” I predict. Plus, the dog is the least bothered animal in the world. He will not mind having tons of strangers snap pictures with him.
When we make it back to the lobby, Mom grabs Pumpkin and has a whole discussion with him about where he was and what he was doing, as if Pumpkin will ever be able to give her the details.
It also adorable when Dad shuffles over and puts his hand on the top of the dog’s head and simply says, “Good to have you back, buddy.”
I fold my arms over my chest and take in the scene.
It was nice to handle this for Mom and Dad.
I mean, if I hadn’t been here, no doubt Tiffany and Landon would have brought Pumpkin back eventually, but I’m proud of myself for figuring it out.
And I’m relieved that I did it without any interference from a boss who frankly just got in my way. I don’t need Steve. I never needed him.
crisis averted , I text Maria. pumpkin has been located.
Thank god , she texts back.
My thumbs fly over the keyboard on my phone. And we need to set up a photo booth ASAP b/c that dog is gonna make us some $$ this weekend!