A Novel Estate (Sapphic Book Club #2)

1. Jessica

Jessica

“Do you think he looks sad?”

Jessica held the dog’s black and white face in one hand and gently tilted his head side to side while she examined his eyes. They looked clear, at least. But she wasn’t worried so much about physical issues.

“I don’t know,” her friend said, looking down at the pair with her hands on her hips. “You might as well be asking me if a goldfish looks sad. He’s a dog. He looks like a dog to me.”

Jessica removed her hand from beneath his chin and brought it up to scratch the top of his head. “It’s like he knows I’m bringing him somewhere terrible every time.”

“Well, you aren’t bringing him anywhere just yet. And you’ll be late if you don’t get going where you need to right now. He’ll be fine with me for the next little while.”

“I know. But he thinks I’m taking him somewhere, and I can’t handle the look on his face.”

It was the reason she’d asked Naomi to sit with him in the first place.

Because, of course, he could stay in the house by himself.

He normally happily stayed in his crate when Jessica was at work or out for other reasons.

But lately he’d started whining and barking any time she left him alone, and she couldn’t take the added stress that day.

“Listen,” Naomi said. “You know I think that woman is the spawn of some top-tier demon, but I’ve never seen her mistreat him. I think if he’s sad, it’s because he knows you’re sad.”

“Maybe.”

Definitely. She’d been trying to play it cool for Chase’s sake, but lately she’d been failing miserably at pretending to be okay with this arrangement.

Still, she couldn’t help but think something wasn’t right.

He was always so excited to see her, then his mood would tank whenever it was time to leave.

You’d expect him to be just as excited to see Claire, since she’d lived with him too for the past three years.

“Hey, do you want to grab a drink later?” Naomi tightened the sleek ponytail holding her long, straight blonde hair. “Defrag with me and kick off a Friday evening early? Maybe some cheese fries and beers? Tim can fend for himself for dinner.”

“As good as that sounds, I’ve got a wedding tonight. We’re supposed to meet before for a quick rehearsal.”

The last thing she wanted to do that evening was herald in someone else’s happy union with her keyboard and a whole lot of fake smiles. But maybe it would do her mood some good. She would need the boost after this appointment.

“Right,” Naomi said. “Well, you can give me the brief rundown when you come back to pick this guy up, and I’ll take the rain check on the cheese fries on my next night off from the restaurant and whenever you don’t have a wedding.”

Jessica’s life was a steady stream of weddings and funerals, with piano lessons lined up in between.

She’d always wanted to play music for a living, and although this wasn’t what she had in mind when she was younger, she really liked how her life had turned out.

It might not be grand stages and concert halls, but she brought people joy or comforted them in their darkest moments.

It was incredibly rewarding most days. Plus, the smiles on her young students’ faces when they finally nailed a song were priceless.

Naomi, on the other hand, had her own brand of joy to bring to the world.

She was a server at the only high-end restaurant in town, and she rocked at her job.

Most of the people who ate there were out for their one expensive meal a year—birthdays and anniversaries mostly—and Naomi helped make their night extra special.

As a reward, she made a killing in tips.

“A rain check sounds good,” Jessica said, glancing at the clock on the wall. “You sure you’re okay dog-sitting until I get back?”

“Absolutely. I might not be the biggest animal fan, but I always make an exception for this guy.” Naomi bent down to scratch the border collie’s ears while he bounced around in half circles to get the most out of her affection. “Seriously, we’ll be fine for an hour or so.”

“Okay. If you’re sure.”

It wasn’t that Jessica didn’t trust Naomi. Well, maybe that wasn’t entirely true, because part of her didn’t want to trust anyone with Chase. But she trusted Naomi more than anyone else. Even Claire.

Maybe especially Claire.

“Positive,” Naomi said. “Now go before you’re late. I still think this appointment is wild and out of pocket, but I fully support your bananas idea anyway.”

“Thank you.” Jessica grabbed her keys from the counter and flung her bag over one shoulder. “I shouldn’t be long. It isn’t far.”

“Go, go, go,” Naomi said, shooing her with her hands.

Jessica smiled at her friend, then looked at Chase.

“Spot.”

Chase ran across the kitchen and launched himself onto his spot on the gray dog bed, where he promptly let out two excited barks.

“Hmm, maybe you’re right,” Naomi said. “The barking is very un-Chase-like.”

“See?”

Still, he’d stay there until Naomi released him later after Jessica left.

She blew him a little kiss and said, “I’ll be back before long, buddy.”

Then I’ll take you where you clearly don’t want to go anymore.

She got into her silver sedan and waited for the A/C to at least cool down her steering wheel.

Once it was cool enough to grip it, she headed toward the address she’d put into her map app.

Ten minutes of driving beneath branches on live oak-lined streets later, she turned into the driveway when the directions app voice directed her to.

This couldn’t be right.

The address had led her to a large Acadian-style house set back from the road on a sprawling stretch of property dotted with pecan trees. No sign or indication that this was a business of any kind.

But she wasn’t sure where else to go. Maybe the owner would know the place she was looking for and could direct her there.

She turned off the car and climbed the front porch steps, glad it wasn’t hot enough in late September to make her sweat on the brief journey from her car. That hadn’t been the case a month ago. Still, she was longing for the promise of cool breezes that were nowhere near the forecast yet.

Pausing in front of the large wooden door, she contemplated her next move. Was she really doing this? Maybe Naomi was right, and this actually was a bananas idea.

Then she thought of Chase, and she didn’t care how bananas it was. She had to know. For his sake.

Jessica tucked one side of her hair behind her ear, pulled her shoulders back, took a deep breath, and rang the doorbell.