Drool Baby (A Dog Park Mystery) (Lia Anderson Dog Park Mysteries) (29 page)

"Relax. Jim's been mowing the lawn. I went through your bills and made sure the utilities were paid. I also cleaned out the fridge and bought you some
groceries. I'm sorry to say we weren't able to save the potted plants on the back porch, they were toast by the time Jim and Peter went to your place to
get your meds."

"Lia! You can't afford to pay my bills. I won't be able to pay you back for ages. I don't know if I have any customers left after I abandoned them in the
middle of summer."

"It's going to be okay. My current project pays very well. And I think Renee's going to need some landscaping to go with it."

"She may not want me after everything I did."

Lia pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards Westwood. "Renee loves good gossip. If you promise to give her a few juicy deets to scandalize her
country club friends with, she'll love you forever. I suspect, after all the publicity, more than a few of your old clients will take you back just to get
the inside story."

"Great. I should take out an ad, 'Gardener for hire. Lurid tales of life in the looney bin included.' Or maybe I should just wear a t-shirt, 'I went to the
nut house and all they gave me was this lousy shirt.'"

"Hey, after everything we've been through, we gotta find something to laugh about."

"You're allowed to say that because you had to face her. Anyone else says that to me and I'm decking them."

"Tell you what. I'll hold them so you can get a good shot."

Lia held the door to The Painted Fish open for Bailey. Bailey balked in the middle of the doorway and turned. "You really don't have to take me to a place
this nice. We could just get a salad at Melt."

Lia gave her a stern look. "That is not an option. Come on, this will be fun. Besides, sushi is half-price tonight."

Bailey gave a half-hearted shrug. "If you insist."

"I do. We're eating on the patio," Lia said as they walked between the linen covered tables.

"Will it be warm enough?"

"If it's not, it will be," Lia said cryptically. She nodded at Nick as they passed the sushi bar. She opened the door to the back, revealing a narrow path
between a long bar and a fence. The space beyond the bar opened to a graveled yard with glass tables surrounded by bamboo fencing. Tiki torches lit a
stage. A man and two women were setting up sound equipment. Immediately in front of the stage was a long table full of familiar faces. Nick and two
waitresses came out with a trio of large sushi boats and set them down on the table.

"You didn't."

"I did."

"I can't face them. Not yet." Bailey pulled back.

"You can't chicken out. They want to see you. You're our guest of honor."

"I don't believe you," Bailey said, as she allowed herself to be led to the front table.

"You can get even later."

The group spotted them and began to cheer and wave. Bailey covered her face with her free hand and shook her head. Lia led her over to two empty chairs in
the middle of the table. Peter rose on one side. Terry rose on the other.

"Ah, my lady, welcome!" Terry said. "You have graced us with your glorious presence. We live to serve. What is your potation of choice?"

"What did he say?" Bailey whispered to Lia.

"What do you want to drink?" Lia whispered back.

"Umm, tea is fine, thanks." She turned back to Lia, whispering, "You know I can't drink on these meds."

"Terry can't drink either. It's okay."

Marie called out from the other side of the table, "When you didn't come to the park, we knew we'd have to ambush you."

"Gee, thanks," Bailey said.

"Don't you worry about a thing," Nadine said. "We're taking care of it."

"Including the entertainment," Jose winked.

"What's he talking about?" Bailey asked.

"Don't you know? It's Karaoke night," Charlie said.

"Karaoke? Seriously?" Bailey asked, horrified.

"Just remember," Jim said, "when it gets painful, this was all Marie's idea."

Jim led off the singing with his old fraternity song, "My Buddy." He sang without music since the song was written in the twenties and was not in the
Karaoke machine. "My Buddy," he crooned, "I think about you every day. . ."

"Sounds a little gay," Bailey whispered.

"The composer wrote it about his dead brother," Lia whispered back.

Charlie got up on stage and announced, "I'd like to dedicate this next song to my favorite flag burner. It's called 'Dang Me.'" A country tune started up.
Charlie sang about how they ought to hang him from the highest tree.

Lia shook her head. When Charlie came back to the table, Nadine berated him for his poor taste.

He interrupted her scold. "Screw 'em if they can't take a joke, right, Lia?"

It was Terry's turn. He stood up and said, "Nadine, I'm doing "Whisky Lullaby", but they said it was a duet. I told them you'd do it with me."

"I don't know that song," Nadine protested.

"Doesn't matter," Terry said. "It's a country song. Just follow my lead."

Nadine surrendered and went with him. Terry started the song, with exuberance exceeded only by his atonality. He joyfully belted out the chorus. Nadine had
nothing sensible to follow, but gamely struggled through to the end. Everyone stood up and cheered when they were done.

"Why are we clapping," Bailey asked. "Because they were gutsy enough to do that or because it's over?"

"Just go with it," Lia said.

Jose bounced around on stage and wailed "Honky Tonk Women." The crowd roared.

"This is terrible," Bailey said.

"That's really the point," Lia said.

"And now, Peter," the DJ announced.

"That's my cue."

Lia goggled as Peter headed for the stage. "He said he wouldn't sing," she hissed at Bailey.

"Maybe he won't sing," Bailey whispered back. "So far, nobody else has."

Then Peter took the microphone. He cleared his throat. Big band music started, an old tune, "And the Angels Sing." A few bars in, Peter began singing. He crooned in a beautiful, clear tenor
about angels singing when they met. Lia sat, frozen, a deer in headlights. He beckoned to her. She shook her head. He continued singing as he gave her a long, level look and beckoned again. The rest of the table made shooing motions with their hands.

She rose, and went around the table and up on stage to meet him. He took
her hand and sang into her eyes about adoring her face. He swayed and she swayed with him, her heart melting into a soft, gooey, mesmerized puddle at his
feet. He finished, then he dipped her and gave her a lingering, mind-blowing kiss.

Lia became aware of whoops and cheers as Peter raised her back up. She looked out over the audience as her face turned strawberry red. She stumbled as he
led her off stage. He caught her and helped her down off the platform.

"I told you I didn't like this sort of thing."

"I can see that by the way you ran out the door."

The crowd was still whooping.

"Aw, give 'im a break, Lia," Jose yelled.

She caught Peter winking to Jose and huffed, "I thought you couldn't sing."

"I never said I couldn't sing. I said Marie wouldn't get me up there. And she didn't. Nadine did." He pulled out her chair. She sat down with a thump.

"You sang Barry Manilow to me. I can't believe you sang Barry Manilow to me. I hate Barry Manilow."

"That wasn't Barry Manilow. That was Benny Goodman. It's not my fault they don't have the original version."

"It's still got Manilow cooties." He'd done something amazing and sweet, and here she was carping about it. She wanted to cry, and didn't know why.

She sat, stunned, as two girls sang "What about Love," only cracking a little on the high notes. The words worked their way through her daze. She asked
herself, What about it? Don't I want to be loved? Bailey smirked and gave her "there, there" pats on her shoulder.

She felt caught in a moment of clarity that expanded as the girls sang on. This was the moment when she needed to make a choice. She'd told Peter she loved
him, but she still held part of herself in reserve. For what? All he'd ever tried to do was love her. She understood that if she couldn't let Peter all the
way in now, she might never be able to let anyone in.

"Move your chair back."

"Hmm?"

"Move your chair back. I want to sit in your lap."

She sat sideways between his arms. "Angels?" she asked his left ear.

"A couple imps, too. But they mostly blow razzberries. Sometimes they yell, 'Just look at that sorry fool.'"

"Want me to beat them up for you?"

"I'm touched. No woman has ever volunteered to beat up a baby demon for me before. It's very romantic."

"I will, you know."

"That's okay. I like being a fool."

"Me, too."

"Does that mean you're a fool, too?"

"I'm a fool for you, Peter Dourson. So we can blow razzberries right back at those baby demons together."

"We'll do that." He wrapped his arms around Lia as she sighed.

"And now, for the last song of the night," the DJ announced.

Marie touched Lia's arm. "That's us." She pulled Lia up out of her chair towards the stage.

"Oh, right. You're going to have to take the lead."

"No problem."

The DJ handed them mikes. Marie said, "We're singing the Monty Python song, 'Always look on the Bright Side of Life.' This song is meant to be sung by a
crowd, so please join us."

The music started. Marie sang about things in life being bad and making her mad. Lia added her voice. Marie started waving to the audience. By the time
they got to the chorus, half the crowd had joined in. Marie started beckoning people to come up on stage. A big guy with a corporate hair cut and an
amazing array of tattoos on his left leg chimed in with a very convincing British accent. His very tall girlfriend followed. One by one, Terry, Jose,
Charlie, Nadine, they all went up on stage. More people from the crowd joined in from their seats.

Peter smiled at Bailey and nodded his head towards the stage, questioning. She gave a self-deprecating shrug and stood up. They climbed onto the platform
and were immediately enfolded into the group. Lia put her arm around Bailey and held up the microphone. Bailey read along with the monitor and sang in a
tremulous voice about forgetting her sin. She smiled as tears streamed down her face.

"You sure about this?" Lia asked as Bailey stowed her luggage in the back of her cab top.

Bailey smiled. "As sure as I've ever been about anything. I've always wanted to meet Trees in person. I've been talking to him every day since I got out.
The season's over, so I don't have to worry about work. And, thanks to Renee, I'll be okay for a while financially.

"He risked a lot to help me out. You've got your detective. Maybe there's somebody for me, too. We can be a pair of hackers. I can hack weeds while he
hacks data-bases."

"Will you be coming back?"

"If I decide to stay, I'll have to sell the house. You'll see me again." She moved around to the passenger side of her truck and opened the door. "In,
Kita." The large hound loped up and in. Bailey turned and hugged Lia. "Stay out of trouble," she said, giving Lia one last squeeze. Then she climbed into
the driver's side of the truck and turned on the ignition.

They waved to each other as Bailey pulled out of the drive. Lia watched as the truck drove away, getting smaller and smaller until it turned a corner and
disappeared. She wiped a tear and sniffed. "Not hardly likely," she said.

This series is based in Cincinnati, and one of the fun parts of writing this book is using places I know. All the businesses mentioned in the book exist.

Skyline Chili is a Cincinnati institution. Cincinnati chili is unlike chili anywhere else in the country. It is served over spaghetti and is rumored to have cocoa in the recipe. In Cincinnati, a Three Way is chili served on spaghetti with shredded cheese on top.

Nick Anderson and the Painted Fish served my all-time favorite sushi until he closed his doors this past summer. I'm heartbroken and hoping he'll have another restaurant going before long.

Red River Gorge is my favorite spot for hiking and camping. I've spent many hours on Swift Creek Camp Trail. Alas, there is no convenient overlook as described in the book, and no fork in the trail that takes you back to the parking lot. These features were invented to serve the story.

Marie, Jose, Charlie, Jim, Bailey and Terry are all based on my dog park friends. Roger is based on a dog park friend and numerous alcoholics I knew when working in the field of addictions recovery. John Morgan is a real person. He has, in fact, performed Mac miracles for me. He is not a hacker. Any illegal activities performed by John in this book are strictly the product of my imagination. Viola, Chewy, Kita, Fleece, Napa, Jackson, Oggie, Sophie, Luke, Henry, Maddie, Lacy and Nita are real.