Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Maddy pushed through the door of Paws & Reflect with a leash in each hand as Jake held the door open above her head.
Thirty minutes ago, Maddy had been upstairs with one shoe on when she heard Jake’s voice downstairs, being warmly greeted by her mother.
“Thought I’d keep you company,” Jake had said with a smile as he lifted CoCo and Chanel’s leashes off the hook when Maddy came down the stairs.
She didn’t know why he would volunteer to run errands and supervise two dogs being bathed when he was freshly on summer break and had a free Friday, but it added to the growing list of things this past week that made zero sense. And Jake was the least of her concerns.
Aspen had started swinging through Bunny’s kitchen multiple times during her morning PT sessions—to refill her water bottle (twice), to wash her hands, to grab a towel to clean her treatment table, to pop in and chat for a few minutes before she left.
All things Aspen had not done prior to their run-in at The Huxley a week ago.
Aspen’s intake reports had kept arriving, along with two texts this week that had not been about the Cup at all.
On Monday, she had sent a photo of a dog wearing a tiny hat and sunglasses on the yoga deck that Maddy could only assume belonged to Offshore Wellness. The text had no message or context with the photo. Maddy didn’t know how to respond, so she didn’t.
On Wednesday night, Aspen had texted and asked how her day was, and when Maddy had answered ‘Fine…’, and waited for Aspen to follow up with the reason for asking, Aspen had simply said ‘I set myself up for that one’ with a laughing emoji.
That was it. Maddy had read it five times feeling like she had missed a crucial piece of information somewhere. She still could not figure it out.
So she simply did not have the bandwidth to analyze anyone else’s questionable choices or strange behavior right now.
Not to mention, she did actually enjoy Jake’s company and welcomed the buffer. Being in the presence of any St. Claire had the tendency to make her feel slightly on edge.
The salon was busy. Three groomers were visible in the back grooming area—one running clippers over a spaniel-of-some-sort’s legs, one blow drying a massive Saint Bernard, and one rinsing a chunky bulldog in a large metal sink as the dog kept shaking water everywhere and trying to escape.
Several more dogs were in kennels lining the back, making their feelings known.
Chloe stood behind the front counter in a salon apron, dark hair shoved up in a clip, as she finished closing out the previous customer who had a small white dog—a Shih Tzu, Maddy believed—with a fresh cut and pink bow on its head cradled in one arm.
Chloe waved goodbye to the customer as the woman brushed past Maddy and Jake out the front door. Maddy let CoCo and Chanel pull her forward towards the treat display, Jake trailing behind her.
“Ah, right on time.” Chloe came around the counter and crouched to greet CoCo and Chanel. “Are you babies ready for your spa day?” She cooed.
“Hey Chloe,” Jake said with a smile, his voice a higher octave than usual.
Maddy did a double-take at the goofy grin on his face. He was being weird again.
Chloe’s eyes lifted. “Oh, hey Jake. Got roped into another drop-off, huh?” She straightened back up to meet his eye.
“Yeah.” Jake giggled. Actually giggled.
Maddy’s eyes shifted between Jake and Chloe. What the hell was happening?
Jake slid one hand into his pocket, the other came up to the back of his neck. “We’re on summer break now. So you’ll probably be seeing a lot more of me.”
He was blushing—his dark skin tone mostly concealed it, but Maddy could see the slight change in color climbing up from his collar and into his cheeks.
She recognized this look. His body language, his blushing, his tone, his awkwardness—it was the same behavior she had seen aimed towards her the summer before junior year when he approached her at a mutual friend’s pool party and by the end of the night had worked up the courage to ask her out.
Jake glanced at her briefly, his smile faltering the tiniest bit when she raised her brows at him, then he quickly returned his attention to Chloe and fixed the smile back in place.
Huh. Chloe St. Claire. Complicated. Has a kid. Unattached. It all clicked into place.
Didn’t see that coming.
“Maddy, you’re here!” A child’s voice came from her left. Maisie approached from the grooming area, brown hair in a French braid going fuzzy at the temples, holding a clipboard.
“I am.” The corner of Maddy's mouth lifted.
“Mom told me you were coming today and that I could give you a tour!” Maisie exclaimed excitedly, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “I have an itinerary.” She looked down at the clipboard in her hand.
Maddy’s eyebrows shot up. She glanced at the clipboard, which indeed appeared to have a messily handwritten list. Respect.
“I told you that you could offer to give her a tour, Maisie. Don’t be so bossy.” Chloe placed an affectionate hand on Maisie’s head and tamed her flyaways. “Maddy probably has things she needs to go do.”
She was offering Maddy an out.
Maddy didn’t really have anything better to do. And she could use the distraction. Plus, she was quite entertained by watching Jake fumble and blush in Chloe’s presence.
Maddy glanced at Chloe, then at Jake, then back to Maisie. “I’ve got time. I’d love a tour.”
Maisie jumped in place. “Yay!”
“Uh, hello?” Jake gestured at himself, eyebrows raised at Maisie.
Maisie rolled her eyes. “You’ve already gotten the tour, Jake!”
“Well, it’s a really good tour. Maybe I wanna take it again.” He bent slightly at the waist, giving his head a smug little side-to-side wag.
Maddy stepped in before Maisie could reconsider his tour eligibility. “Jake, weren’t you saying on the car ride over that you’ve always wanted to try one of those high-velocity dryers they use here on the dogs? Chloe, maybe you could show him how to use one while I get the tour?”
Jake’s eyes went wide, and Maddy pressed her lips together.
“Oh. Uh—sure.” Chloe looked at Jake with a slightly confused, but amused smile. “CoCo hates the dryer and will bark at it the whole time, but Chanel actually loves it. You wanna help me wash them first then I’ll let you take it for a spin?”
Jake schooled his features and returned Chloe’s smile. “Yeah, that would be awesome.”
Chloe reached out and took CoCo and Chanel’s leashes from Maddy, and motioned for Jake to follow her to the back. She glanced back over her shoulder at Maddy and Maisie. “Enjoy the tour.”
Maddy turned her attention to the giddy child bouncing on the balls of her feet in front of her. “Alright tour guide, lead the way.”
And off they went.
Maddy actually enjoyed Maisie’s tour more than she thought she would.
The kid had sound logic for justifying the outrageous price of the designer collars. “The dog wears it every day, so if you divide the cost by the number of days the dog wears it, it’s basically free.”
Couldn’t argue with that.
Then Maisie introduced her to the dogs in the kennels, and explained that the one who was technically named Sir Reginald but preferred to go by Reggie was a con artist who faked a limp to get attention and treats.
She told Maddy a lot of stories—most of which involved Aspen—as Maddy smiled and nodded along, asking zero follow-up questions.
Then Maisie ended the tour abruptly at the thirty-minute mark and said, “Okay, we’re done.
I wanted to show you the photo wall too, but mom said if you agreed to the tour, I’m not allowed to hold you”—she made quotation marks with her fingers—“‘hostage’ for longer than thirty minutes.” Then she grabbed Maddy’s hand and dragged her to the grooming bay, where Jake and Chloe were laughing as they dried Chanel with the high-velocity dryer.
It was the most at-ease she’d felt with a St. Claire in…maybe ever.
When they left the salon, Maddy looked over at Jake, who hadn’t wiped the grin off his face since they’d arrived over an hour ago.
“So…Chloe St. Claire, huh?” Maddy asked and watched as Jake’s cheeks flushed again.
Then he told her everything. About how he had been crushing on her since last year’s Cup when Bunny had assigned them to the same team.
And how, since then, he had been finding reasons to run into her.
Mostly by volunteering to drop off neighbors’ dogs at the salon on his way to work, after practice, or on Saturdays.
Unfortunately, he turned into a bumbling idiot—his words, not Maddy’s—whenever he was around her and had not gotten any closer to actually asking her out.
Maddy listened attentively, and when he was done unloading about every look, touch, and embarrassing thing he’d done over the past year, she came to the conclusion that this was fixable.
Maddy was good at this. Maddy knew how to read people—unless that person was a cocky brunette with annoyingly flawless skin and perfect teeth—and Chloe enjoyed Jake.
She saw it in the salon. The way she leaned slightly into him as she laughed with him at the grooming bay.
She may not have had the same smitten look written all over her face as he had, but Jake was an appealing guy.
If Chloe was attracted to men in any capacity, she surely found Jake attractive, even if only on a very superficial level.
She just needed a little nudge to take a deeper look and consider him in a new light.
She could help Jake get the girl, absolve herself of her own wrongdoings towards Jake in the past, and most importantly, keep her focus on something other than trying to solve the puzzle that was Aspen St. Claire.
* * *
Later that night, Maddy was lying on Bunny’s sofa with a new text thread open and Noa’s name at the top of it.
She began to type.
Maddy: Hey Noa!—No. Too casual. Delete.
She typed again.
Maddy: Hi Noa, this is Maddy Sterling—Too formal. She sounded like a receptionist calling to confirm a dentist appointment. Delete.
She tried again.