Home Is Where the Bark Is (39 page)

Then Serena remembered Jenna. She swiveled back to see Jenna also watching Tony being led away. Her friend’s face was twisted in anguish and then she started to sob, great tearing sobs that wrenched at Serena’s heart.

“I have to go to her,” Serena said.

Nick held her arm. “No,” he said. “She lived with him. She must have known what he was up to.”

Serena shook her head. “She never realizes what jerks her boyfriends are until it’s over. Or if she does know, she refuses to acknowledge it.”

She pulled away from Nick, but his grip on her arm was iron hard. “Serena, she must have known Cross was involved in this,” he said. “You told me he’d bought her clothes and presents.”

“Because he had a new job. That’s what she believed.”

His voice hardened. “I’m warning you, Serena, let her be.”

She wrenched her arm away, and finally he let her go. She rubbed her wrist. He’d gripped so hard it hurt, and the pain felt worse somehow because he had caused it. Controlling her. Telling her what to do. Just like those other take-command guys in her past who had made her life so unhappy.

Her eyes narrowed and she almost spat out the words. “You’re warning me? Warning me like you warned me about Kylie? Look what happened when I listened to you. I lost my friend. Lost my best dog person. I’m not going to lose Jenna because of your warnings.”

She was tired. She was distraught. She didn’t know if she was being completely fair to Nick. But she had to be fair to her friend, too. Her friend who had lost everything tonight. How would Jenna recover from this?

“You’re making a big mistake,” said Nick, grim-faced.

She looked at Jenna in her Dorothy costume, disheveled now, her face ravaged by tears, her eyes empty. “I have to go to my friend,” she said.

Then walked away from Nick.

The
next morning Serena sat at her desk at Paws-A-While. Heather, who did not celebrate Halloween, had gone home, leaving Serena alone with Snowball, Mack, Bessie, and Maddy’s three dogs. The dogs had the run of the playroom. There were no Saturday spa appointments until after midday.

Now that Tony had been arrested the identity fraud could be put behind her.

To Serena’s joy, Kylie had called first thing this morning to make things right. Adam had filled Kylie in on everything that had gone on at Paws-A-While these past weeks and all was forgiven. Things should get back to normal on Monday.

In the meantime, this was a great opportunity to catch up on administration. She could plan for the future again, confident that her credit would be restored. The reordering of stock alone would take her a good two hours. So why was she sitting there staring at a blank screen?

She picked up the Maltese snow globe and shook it. The snowflakes swirled and whirled around the tiny white dog with his stripy scarf and then settled slowly again around his feet and the miniature shrubs in his toy garden.

She wished she could accept change as readily as that little plastic dog. Why had she blown off Nick last night in favor of Jenna? Jenna, who never seemed to learn a thing from her disastrous relationships but just went barging into the next one to make the same mistakes all over again.

Loyalty
. That was what had made her do it. Loyalty to an old friend. A friend who had introduced a criminal to Paws-A-While.

Misplaced loyalty, more like it. Jenna had known all along about Tony’s criminal record but had never warned Serena about it. He’d come in and out of Paws-A-While with the same access as her friend. How many times had he been in the reception area helping Jenna unpack her products? Right next to the computer. Was that when he’d skimmed her details? Or had he gone into her office and riffled through her purse?

She must have known what he was up to.
Nick’s words echoed through Serena’s head. Had Jenna been so desperate to keep Tony in her life that she’d overlooked the fact he was robbing her friend?

Last night, for the first time, Serena had felt disgust permeating her pity as she’d comforted the sobbing, distraught Jenna. Serena had taken her home all the way to Oakland, seen her into bed, and left with assurances she’d be in touch. So far she had not lifted the phone.

When she did so, it would be to call Nick.

She missed him. She’d never spent a more miserable night, tossing and turning, drifting into sleep and then awakening to the shock of an empty pillow beside her. And the sound of Mack’s moaning misery.

Nick might not have been long in her life, but it was enough to let her know she wanted him around for a whole lot longer. Maybe . . . maybe even for the rest of her life.

She thought back to how she’d felt that day on the porch of his aunt’s house in Sausalito when Nick had stood behind her and enfolded her in his arms. How good it had felt. She remembered her dreams about those mini-Nick kids.

Up until now, she’d wondered if that happily-ever-after stuff might not be for her. But why shouldn’t it? Nick said she’d had no luck with relationships because she’d met the wrong guys.
I’m the guy for you, Serena.You were just waiting for me.

He’d had to lie about his job to her, but since he’d come clean about that, had he been anything but honest about his intentions?

The sex was amazing with Nick. But it wasn’t just about sex. Security, stability, a family of her own, all that could come with committing herself to Nick. And love. Oh yes. No formal words of love had been exchanged, but there was love.

She realized how wrong she’d been about Nick. He wasn’t a Yorki-poo type of guy. But he wasn’t a Rottweiler, either. She couldn’t—shouldn’t—put a label on him. Not that there was anything wrong with Rottweilers. She was sure there were some very sweet ones. They just weren’t her type of dog. But if she wanted to compare Nick to a dog, surely he was a Mack type of guy. Unique. Different. Special.
A soul mate.

She leapt up from her chair, then sat down again. She had to call him. Tell him how sorry she was about last night. Tell him how much she missed him. How much she . . . how much she loved him. She looked at her watch. She didn’t need an excuse to call him, but surely he’d want to come pick Mack up before too long?

As she put her hand on the telephone, the “Who Let the Dogs Out?” chime rang out. Nick! It had to be him. Maddy wasn’t due for another thirty minutes to pick her dogs up.

Serena pulled her hair out of its tie and fluffed it around her face. Thank God she wasn’t in her shapeless, sexless uniform. Rather she was wearing skinny jeans and a soft cashmere cardigan in a lovely buttery shade. It was buttoned up to the neck but she undid the top button and then the next two.

She was flushed and buoyant and planning what to say to him when she answered the door. To find Jenna on her doorstep.

Serena struggled to mask her disappointment. Her friend’s face was almost hidden by the most enormous bunch of white lilies. But through the flowers she could see Jenna’s woebegone expression, her eyes red and puffy and tearstained. “I’m so sorry, Serena.”

Serena’s mood deflated. She’d had more than enough of Jenna last night. But she couldn’t do anything other than open the door wide. Jenna thrust the flowers at her. “Can you ever forgive me?”

Years of history between her and this woman kicked in. Serena suppressed a sigh. “Of course you’re forgiven. Come on in. I was just about to make some green tea.” She wasn’t, but it would give her something to do while she endured Jenna’s predictable dirge about how meaningless her life would be without Tony.

She let Jenna follow her to the little kitchen out back near the treatment room. She laid the flowers in the sink and filled it with water. There was no vase here big enough to contain them; she would take them up to the apartment later. The scent from the flowers with their fat, powdery stamens was so sweet it was almost overwhelming. But it was a nice thought.

Jenna followed her around as she’d expected. Unexpectedly, she was quieter and more subdued than she had ever been after one of her breakups.

“I was so stunned by last night, I didn’t take in exactly what happened,” said Jenna. “One minute we’re all having fun; the next minute Tony . . . Tony’s being dragged off by the police.”

You mean she didn’t know about the fraud?

Or, more likely, couldn’t face up to the fact that Tony was involved in something so serious.

Serena decided to be very cautious about what she said. “As you know,Tony . . . he assaulted me, and he assaulted Nick.”

“I’m so sorry, Serena,” Jenna said again.

Serena made a shushing motion with her hand. “That’s okay, Jenna. Apology accepted; no need to say sorry again. Come on, let’s take our tea into the playroom and sit with the dogs. I’m the only one here.”

“Do we have to? Go in with the dogs, I mean?”

Serena paused. She could take Jenna into the TV room or even her office. But she’d suffered enough inconvenience already because of Jenna. “Yes, we do. Mack has made an amazing recovery, but I still want to keep an eye on him.”

“Mack’s here?”

“Yes, and so are the other family dogs.” She’d never used that term before but it fit. Maddy wasn’t bonded-by-blood family, but she was family of the heart. And Nick? She yearned for him to be family. And that included their dogs.

“Okay,” said Jenna, still sounding reluctant. Serena had sometimes wondered why Jenna didn’t have a dog of her own.

Serena held the gate open for Jenna, then followed her into the playroom. It was her favorite room, the heart and soul of Paws-A-While. She thought, as she had so many times before, what a perfect job this was for her. To lavish love on dogs and be paid for it was a dream come true.

Heather had done a great job cleaning up after the party. All that was left was a row of carved pumpkin jack-o’-lanterns set up well out of the reach of hungry dogs, and a couple of tables and chairs the guests had used. She headed for the nearest table and put down her tea.

The dogs immediately rushed toward her; even Mack hobbled along at quite some speed. She greeted them all with pats and strokes and loving words but was surprised when not one dog came near Jenna.

“Mack isn’t hassling you today,” she said to her friend.

“That’s because I haven’t got any samples on me,” said Jenna with a nervous laugh. “No doughnut specials.”

“So it’s purely a case of cupboard love as far as you and Mack are concerned?” said Serena with a smile.

At the mention of his name, Mack barked. Jenna cringed. Serena understood her friend’s fear of the huge black dog so she told him to come sit on the other side of her.

“Now, Jenna, what next? Have you been to see Tony at the police station?”

Jenna shook her head. “Not until I know what really happened last night.” She scrunched up her brow. “What did Tony say to you?”

“To me?”

“You two were looking pretty friendly.”

“Friendly? Jenna, you’re kidding me. Was that before or after he assaulted me? I told you he . . . he was groping me.”

Jenna’s mouth was tight. “That’s not how it looked to me. You looked . . . close.”

“Close? I was trying to get away from him. I was frightened.”

“So that’s why his hands were on your butt.”

Serena stared at her. “Let’s get this clear, Jenna. Tony grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go. I had nothing to do with it.”

“Sure you didn’t. You were flaunting yourself in that whorish costume. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of you.”

Serena could hardly believe what she was hearing. “I was with my . . . my boyfriend. And Tony was with you. I told him to get his hands off of me and go back to you.”

“Wh-what did he say?”

“Nothing. He just kept on trying to maul me—” She stopped, arrested by the pain in Jenna’s eyes. Tony might repulse her, but Jenna loved him. And Serena was recently familiar with the pain of jealousy. “Jenna, there is no need to be jealous. I don’t go after other women’s boyfriends.”

Jenna got up from her chair and started to pace up and down, up and down the width of the table. “That’s bull. What about Tim McHugh?” she said.

“Tim McHugh?” Serena shook her head, puzzled.

“Think back, Serena. Think back to our senior year.”

Serena tried to lighten the conversation. “You mean the year I grew boobs.”

But Jenna was deadly serious. “The year you grew boobs and stole my boyfriend.”

Serena looked up her in alarm. “Jenna, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I never stole your boyfriend.”

Jenna ceased her pacing. “It makes it worse that you don’t even remember him.” Her mouth twisted. “Tim was the first boy I had sex with. I loved him, but he asked you, not me, to his prom.”

“Did I go?”

“Don’t mock me, Serena. Of course you went. Then told me all about how boring he was.”

Serena frowned. “When I knew you were sleeping with him? That doesn’t sound right. If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have gone out with him in the first place.”

“You didn’t know,” Jenna muttered. “Nobody did. My father would have killed me if he’d found out.”

“Then how can you blame me?” The thought of Jenna festering this resentment for ten years was horrifying. “Don’t do this, Jenna. We’re friends. And don’t link it to Tony. Believe me, I never encouraged him.”

“So he came on to you.”

“Maybe he was drunk.” Though she hadn’t smelled alcohol on him.

“He probably didn’t know what he was doing.”

That was Jenna all over. Making excuses for the deadbeat boyfriend’s behavior. The deadbeat boyfriend who had had his ass hauled off to jail last night.Why wasn’t Jenna more concerned about that?

“Look, Jenna, you’re tired, you’ve had a shock, and you’re not yourself. Why don’t you sit down and finish your tea and then go on home.”

Jenna slumped back down into her chair. “I’m sorry—”