Page 1 of Kent's Watch
CHAPTER 1
Rita Chambers shookher head and frowned when she thought she heard someone knock on her door. When she heard it again, she looked up to see her assistant, Julie Summers, standing there.
“Yes?” She didn’t mean to sound irritated, but she was in the middle of doing the monthly paperwork and didn’t want any interruptions. Once she saw Julie’s expression, she shook her head, tossed her pen on her desk, and leaned back in her chair with a gigantic sigh.
“What?”
Julie took that as an invitation to come into the office and park herself on the chair facing her boss. “I know you told me not to disturb you for three hours, but it’s been five.”
“No way,” Rita said in shock. She quickly looked at the watch on her wrist, then the clock on the wall behind her. She had learnt that having it behind her kept her from looking at it all the time. Shaking her head, she looked at Julie with a wrinkled nose. “What did I miss?”
“Nothing much. While you’ve been in here, I’ve been going over the applications for the new class.”
Rita nodded her understanding, then frowned. “Do we have enough for the pups involved?”
“More, actually. We have sixteen pups and twenty applications.” Julie looked at her boss and best friend with a grin. “I know we had a cutoff date, but I accepted a new application just this morning.”
“I don’t know. That means there will be four people without a dog to work with.”
“I understand that, but look at it this way, once Princess has her pups, the four that don’t get one out of this batch will be ready to roll once the pups are of age. You won’t have to train the humans, just have them come in and train with a new pup when it’s time..” She shrugged, then looked at Rita with a grin. “Or you’ll only have to give them a refresher course when the pups are ready.”
“I would agree to maybe giving them a refresher course,” Rita mumbled and didn’t see Julie’s grin as she scrubbed her face. “Tell me why you accepted the new application after the cut-off?”
“The guy just moved here to Fool’s Gold last week.”
“Oh, well, he doesn’t let the grass grow beneath his feet, does he.”
“No, and I couldn’t put my finger on it, but he seemed well put together. It’s hard to explain.”
Rita shrugged as she picked up her pen and rolled her chair back into her desk. “I have a few hours of the monthly paperwork to do, then I’ll be done for another month. Is there anyone in those applications that screams no to you?”
“Not at this time. I only have two more to go over their references, then they’ll be done.” Julie rifled through the pages and looked at Rita with a scowl. “Huh.”
“What?”
“I didn’t see this on his application when he handed it in.”
“What? What didn’t you see?” Rita asked in alarm, thinking she would have to be the bad guy, call the man up, and tell him he wasn’t allowed to enroll in her class.
“One of his references.”
“Who is it?”
“Jake Cogburn.”
“From BHP? RJ’s husband? Gunny’s son-in-law?”
“Yes, that Jake.”
“Give me his application and I’ll call him. I want to check on Striker, anyway.” She held her hand out for the application, and set it on the corner of her desk, next to her phone. She looked at Julie with a smirk. “After I get this paperwork done.”
Julie laughed as she stood and made her way out of the door, at the last minute, she turned with a grin. “Do I need to order something from Mattie’s to pick up for you tonight?”
Rita sighed heavily as she looked at her desk, then back at her friend and assistant. “Please, make it a BLT with chips. I don’t like the fries when they arrive soggy.”
“I hear you. I’ll place the order after we close, then go get it. I’ll bring it back before I go home.”
“Thanks, Julie.”
