Page 30 of This Baby Business
I glanced at my phone. One message from Levi:
Why?
I blew out a breath. Fine, I was going to ignore that one because it wasn’t safe to text while driving. I would explain everything to him. Soon. But for now, I needed a few minutes to regroup. Sometimes, even with the best of intentions, I screwed things up. Hopefully not in this case.
I pulled into the small parking lot of Pimp Your Pet, which was adjacent to the Bushwacker Salon. Both were housed in a large, split Victorian that had been renovated a few years ago by the city of Fortune.
Zoey Caballero was one of my best friends and the owner of Pimp Your Pet. We’d practically grown up together after Zoey moved to Fortune to live with her aunt Rosario and uncle Pedro. Zoey and I had attended high school together, where we’d often challenged the teachers.
I did so with my inability to please any teacher, no matter how hard I’d tried, year after year. Zoey had challenged them with her fondness for stray animals. She’d once been in a heap of trouble with the biology teacher when she’d rescued a filthy pigeon with a lame wing.
We’d both met Jill later, while working at the Drip, but since then the three of us had been inseparable. And it had been some time since we’d hung out together, because Zoey spent long hours working at Pimp Your Pet and Jill had been scouting cheap land on her days off. I, of course, had spent most of my time indoors and behind a computer screen. But all of that hard work and self-imposed hibernation would pay off soon.
I opened the door to Pimp Your Pet, and the door meowed.
“Be right with you,” Zoey’s sweet voice rang out.
I scanned the pet shop that Zoey had worked in since I was a teenager. It used to smell like a litter box but since the renovation and Zoey taking over, the shop smelled like fresh wood, pine and somehow, lavender. The name was new, too, and Zoey’s idea.
In keeping with the pimp theme, there were colorful sweaters and collars for dogs and cats with plenty of sparkly bling. Other items that went further than I would have imagined one would go with a beloved pet. Birthday cards for your dog with a treat included inside. Dog diapers. A type of brush one could put in their mouth and act like a mama cat licking her kittens. Too far.
Zoey’s head appeared around the corner, her long, dark brown hair, as usual, pinned to the top where it would stay out of her way. Mostly.
“Hey, you! What’s up? I saw more of the fashionista baby tweets today. I retweeted from Pimp Your Pet and my personal account. Then I hit up Instagram and started up a Pinterest board for you.”
“That was you? Thanks! I’m taking a break and figured you could use one, too.”
She frowned. “Everything okay?”
“No.” I shook my head.
“Uh-oh. I thought going viral would be a good thing.”
“It is. Actually, we’ve gained more sponsors. But that’s not my problem.” I took a breath. “I kind of told someone a big lie and now I’m in trouble.”
“Here.” Zoey handed me a box of dog treats. “Help me put these in the dispensers.”
Zoey had an array of plastic dog treats in a large dispenser toward the front of the store. All manner of flavors, shapes and colors. Organic. Grain-free. I followed Zoey, placing a few of the different treats in every opening.
“I mean, as always I only wanted to help,” I said.
“Sure. I know.”
“It’s very exciting. We’ve got some interest, and I guess I just lost my head for a minute.” I twisted the ring on my finger. Might as well keep it on for now.
“That’s normal.” Zoey looked up, studying me with her chocolate brown eyes. “So did you over inflate the numbers? Exaggerate about how well you’re doing?”
Sort of the normal way business owners tended to do things. Not me. I went big. Stellar. “Not exactly.”
After I explained the entire situation, and how I’d inadvertently become engaged to Levi without his knowledge or consent, Zoey whistled low.
“Dude, that’s bad.”
“Yeah.” I eyed the dog treat in my hand. It was shaped like a dog bone, but the box said “yogurt covered” and it looked like a real cookie.
Oh, man I needed a cookie.This cookie.
“Don’t even think about it.” Zoey took it out of my hands. “You need a people cookie. Come with me.”
