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“Shopping is fun. My wife doesn’t like it nearly as much as I do.”

  Serena wondered if Piper knew she won the lottery. She had to give props to Gabrielle for not blabbing that juicy bit of information to her friends.

  “I just closed on my house, so I needed to get furniture.”

  “Congratulations. I love looking at houses. The views around here are gorgeous, especially in Vail.” Piper softly covered her mouth with her well-manicured fingers. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. I just hear a lot about real estate.”

  “It’s okay. I love talking about it. I just furnished it and now I’m looking for artwork and general décor. I need help.”

  Piper’s eyes lit up. “I can totally help you there. There’s a local artist, Lori Stewart, whose gallery isn’t far from here, and she has amazing work. She uses all types of media, but she’s probably known best for her landscapes. I’ll send you a link to her website.” She picked up her phone, found the link, and asked Serena for her phone number. It was done so fast and smoothly that she didn’t have time to process that she was giving out her new number to somebody else.

  “Now how did you meet your wife? Shaylie, right?” Serena asked.

  Piper leaned back in her chair and took a deep breath. “So, remember that plane wreck that happened just outside of Denver about five years ago?”

  “Yes, of course. It was all over the news.” Serena leaned forward and pressed her elbows down on the table, both frightened and intrigued by the story already.

  “Shaylie was on the flight. My fiancée and best friend were on the flight, too, but they didn’t make it.”

  Serena reached out and squeezed Piper’s hands. “I’m so sorry. That must have been horrible. For both of you.”

  “Shaylie had some bad injuries, but she made it. We met at a grief counseling meeting and became friends. Five years later we’re together and have a beautiful daughter and some questionable pets.”

  “An unfortunate beginning, but a beautiful ending,” Serena said.

  “Oh, don’t end us yet.” Piper winked to let Serena know she was joking. “We’re still going strong. And we’re trying for baby number two.”

  “I can’t handle this much perfectness. You have to stop.” Serena put her hand on her heart jokingly, but truthfully, Piper’s story got her a little emotional.

  “It’s been a journey, but we’re going strong and we have a large group of wonderful people in our lives, including you, so life is good,” Piper said.

  “I’m sad that I live in Vail because I probably know more people in Denver than I do back home.” Serena didn’t even think of moving before she bought the house. Vail was home to her, and with the Pet Posh Inn almost in production, she was there to stay.

  “Denver is close, though. Didn’t you say your sister is moving to Denver?”

  “Yes. She got a job at Frederick’s Restaurant but doesn’t start until September first. She’s a chef studying at the Vail Culinary Center.”

  “That’s a great restaurant. Shaylie and I love it. She must be so excited. And really good to land a job there.” Piper looked at her watch and stood. “Oh, my gosh. I’m almost late to my class. I hate to leave because we’re having such a good talk, but hopefully we can do this soon when I have more time.”

  Serena stood, too. “Definitely. Go. Thank you for having tea with me. I’m going to hit a few more stores before I start my trek back.” She really liked Piper and thought her and Shaylie’s love story was amazing. Her phone dinged in her pocket, signaling her she had a text message. It was from Faith.

  Mom needs a place to stay and my place isn’t big enough.

  Serena’s anger spiked immediately. Mommy Dearest has plenty of money. She can afford a hotel.

  She’s paying for her own airfare. Can you just do this for me?

  Fuck, Serena hated it when Faith did that. To be fair, Faith didn’t know what Serena had given to Diane unless Diane told her. And Faith wasn’t going to receive her money until she graduated. It was all a surprise. The only thing Serena had told her was that she needed to look for a place to live in Denver.

  Baby sis, Mom has money. Let’s leave it at that. I love you, but she gets nothing else from me. Trust me when I say she can afford it. There was a solid minute before Serena saw any texting activity on her phone.

  Okay. See you tomorrow night.

  Faith was coming to her little open house, too. Small crowd. Chloe, Jackie, Faith, and L.B. They were her family. Serena smiled when she thought about Piper, Shaylie, Rosie, and Gabrielle. Her circle now was tiny, but she had a good feeling that it was about to triple in size, and it had nothing to do with her money.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Miles, I’ll be out the rest of the afternoon.”

  “Where are you going?”

  Gabrielle stopped, turned, and waited three seconds before answering. “I’m working, and I will be available by phone if anybody needs me.” She lifted her eyebrow, challenging Miles to say anything else. Miles broke eye contact first.

  “That’s fine.”

  Gabrielle called Rosie on her way out to the parking lot. “It’s time.”

  “Whatever you mean, I’m in.”

  Rosie always knew how to make Gabrielle feel like she had her back no matter what. “I need to hang out with Muppet. I need to start getting comfortable and facing my fears head-on.”

  “You’re fist-pumping the air again, aren’t you?”

  Gabrielle never understood how Rosie always knew when she did that. She slipped into the car and waited until the phone connected to Bluetooth. “Nope. Maybe. It doesn’t matter. Should I bring treats? Or a toy?”

  “Honey, Muppet just loves people and attention. You show up and pat his head and he’ll love you for life. Now take a deep breath, go home, change into comfortable clothes, and get over here. We’re having pasta primavera.”

  “Want me to bring anything?”

  “Just your courage.”

  Gabrielle said goodbye and disconnected the call. If she was going to spend time with Serena that didn’t involve design work, she was going to have to familiarize herself with dogs. Muppet was as easygoing as L.B., so he was the perfect test case. Plus, several of her friends were thinking about adopting a dog. She was going to be thrust into a world of canine companionship whether she was ready or not.

  She also needed to find something to wear. Serena only knew her professional wardrobe and the one simple outfit she wore to the barbecue. She didn’t have anything new to wear on a date, casual or not. That would have to be remedied this afternoon. She felt a little guilty shopping during working hours, but since she worked almost twice as many hours as most of her coworkers, the guilt was quickly forgotten. She pulled into the Cherry Creek shopping areas and boutiques and did something she hadn’t done in forever. Splurged. Two hours later and a back seat full of shopping bags, she headed home to unload, change, and head over to Rosie’s.

  “Are you ready?” Rosie answered the door holding Kittypurrs.

  Cats didn’t scare her as much as dogs. She was just wary of them because of all of the horror stories she heard. They were unpredictable. And Kittypurrs had used her claws on the children a time or two.

  “I guess so.” Gabrielle followed Rosie into the living room, where she was instructed to sit on the couch. Rosie dumped Kittypurrs next to her. The cat looked at Gabrielle, then promptly jumped off and ignored her.

  “Nothing’s going to happen. I’ll keep him across the room from you, and if you ignore him long enough, he’ll lose interest in you.” Rosie didn’t sound convincing, but disappeared to retrieve him.

  Gabrielle gripped the armrests of the recliner as she waited for Muppet’s arrival. True to her word, Rosie commanded Muppet to stay next to her. He slowly army-crawled his way over to Gabrielle, wagging his tail the entire time. He really was cute, Gabrielle thought, even though she tensed up when he got close enough to sniff her shoes.

  “Be nice, Muppet. Be sweet,” Rosie sai
d. He rolled over and offered his tummy for Gabrielle to rub. “Okay, sweet is one thing, this is something else.”

  Gabrielle laughed nervously.

  “Now, you can reach down and pet him if you want, or I can make him sit and you can let him smell you.”

  “Maybe if he sat up I wouldn’t worry about any sudden moves,” Gabrielle said.

  Rosie commanded Muppet to sit on the other side of her so that he was close enough for Gabrielle to pet if she wanted to and Rosie was directly between them if something happened that frightened her.

  “He’ll smell you, and might lick you, but he’s very gentle. And if you get scared, you just have to say ‘d-o-w-n’ and he will listen. I promise, he’s chill.”

  Gabrielle reached across Rosie’s lap to let Muppet smell her. She pulled away when she felt his cold, wet nose but didn’t let that deter her. She reached out again and kept her hand out while he sniffed her fingers. When he licked her palm, she shuddered and pulled back again. “Ew.” She wiped her palm on her jeans but couldn’t help but smile. It wasn’t a big step to anyone else in the world, but it was a major one for her.

  “Good job,” Rosie said. She squeezed Gabrielle’s knee encouragingly and nodded her approval at this monumental step. “Now maybe you want to rub his head? But don’t tap it. Just kind of brush your fingertips front to back over and over.”

  Gabrielle pulled back when Muppet raised his snout up to her hand to kiss it. “Okay, Muppet. Let me pet you. Then maybe you can kiss me again.” She reached out again, and much to her surprise, Muppet lowered his head and allowed Gabrielle to stroke the top. “He’s so soft,” she said.

  “He just got a bath. We wanted this to be the best experience for you. He probably won’t smell this good or be this clean again in a long time, so get all of your petting in now.” Muppet lay down in front of their feet with his head almost resting on Gabrielle’s foot. Rosie petted his side slowly from his shoulders to his ribs. He thumped his tail slowly when he felt Gabrielle’s fingers on his fur. “Look at how good you’re doing. He’s so used to the kids climbing on him, pulling his ears or accidentally stepping on his paws. Most dogs are pretty amazing if they’re around the right people. I’m sure L.B. is just as gentle as Muppet is. And if anything is going to happen with Serena, then you’re going to have to get used to being around him.”

  Gabrielle leaned back and held up her hands. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. Nobody said anything about something happening with Serena. We’re just friends.”

  “That’s something, right? I mean, you don’t have dinner with your pharmacist at CVS, do you? Or what about that nice lady who works at the cupcake shop? Have you had lunch or dinner with her? Hmm. Let me think.” Rosie put her forefinger on her chin and tilted her head up as if she was trying hard to recall a memory.

  Gabrielle nudged her with her shoulder. “Okay, so it’s something.”

  “And it’s not against company policy, right? Do you even have a company policy?”

  Gabrielle thought for a minute. “Not that I’m aware of. I don’t even think we have a policy against fraternizing. Then again, most of the employees are male. And the assistants are old enough to be their mothers. Except for Miles, and he’s engaged to a chick named Taffy.”

  “And let’s be real. You’ve never had a client as attractive as Serena,” Rosie said.

  “You’re absolutely right. She’s rather attractive.”

  “And she’s a single lesbian. Correction. She’s a wealthy single lesbian.” Rosie kept talking and talking, about subject after subject. They somehow went from Serena, to Rosie’s opinion on snowboarding versus skiing for the children, to whether hot chocolate was better from a mix or a syrup, to whether or not Runts had changed their flavors.

  “Are you drinking something and I’m not aware of it?” Gabrielle asked.

  “What do you mean?” Rosie asked.

  “You’re all over the place with this conversation.” Rosie’s eyes didn’t look unfocused. They were sharp and staring at Gabrielle intently.

  “I just wanted to keep your mind whirling so you wouldn’t be aware that you’ve been petting Muppet for the last few minutes without even realizing it.”

  Gabrielle looked down at Muppet, whose eyes were closed. His ears were back as she moved her hand from his brow to his neck over and over again. “Wow. I’m petting a dog.” She pulled her hand back when Muppet flopped and gave her his belly to scratch. “I don’t know if I’m at that stage yet.” She pointed to his splayed-out body at her feet.

  Rosie leaned down, scratched his belly, and told him to go see Anne. He scrambled up, scaring Gabrielle in the process, and tore off into the other room. She reached down and squeezed Gabrielle’s hand. “I’m so proud of you. Look at what you did today.”

  Gabrielle squeezed Rosie’s fingers back. “Big moment. Thank you. It wasn’t as bad as I thought.”

  “I don’t expect you to wrestle on the floor with him yet, but let’s keep things going. I want him to be around you more, so I’d like for him to stay in during dinner if you’re okay with that.”

  “I’m okay for now.”

  “And Kittypurrs won’t come over until Muppet is gone. Then she’ll want you all to herself.”

  “Cats don’t seem as space invasive as dogs.”

  “Thankfully, Kittypurrs is also nice. You know the kids and how awkward they are. Care Bear has learned how to be gentle with her, and if she can do it, you can, too.”

  Gabrielle watched Kittypurrs strut into the living room and rub against all of the furniture. She smiled when she jumped on the kitty condo and climbed the platform to look out the window. That gave her an idea for Serena’s project. She whipped out her phone and took a picture of Kittypurrs chilling in her space.

  “You can pet her if you want. That’s her safe place. The kids can’t reach her there. They know when she’s there, they’re to leave her alone.”

  “Let’s keep it that way for now. Baby steps.” The spike of adrenaline in Gabrielle’s body at making the first step with Muppet made her stand. “It wasn’t bad. Muppet didn’t charge at me or jump on me.”

  “If you’re sitting, he’s pretty good, but sometimes he gets overwhelmed and might jump on you. He means you no harm.”

  “Aunt Elle.”

  Gabrielle squatted and held out her hands to Carolyn. “Hello, Care Bear. Look at you. You got so big since last week.”

  Carolyn smiled at Gabrielle and hugged her tightly. “We’re having pizza.”

  “Again? I thought you said we were doing pasta primavera.”

  “Hey, it’s Thursday night. We had dance and piano. Pizza ended up being the easy choice.”

  “I could have brought something. I took the afternoon off.”

  “It’s a big day. I’d have taken the day off, too. Let’s grab some pizza before it’s all gone. The girls are growing like weeds, which means they’re eating anything and everything.”

  Gabrielle slid Carolyn into her booster seat and sat at the table where three giant steaming-hot pizzas were placed in the middle. They held hands and said grace and dug in. True to Rosie’s word, Muppet stayed in the kitchen, head on his paws, lifting his head up whenever Gabrielle made eye contact.

  “So, tell us about this date tomorrow. Where are you going?” Anne asked.

  Gabrielle swallowed her mouthful of pizza, covering her mouth until she was done. “I don’t know. The exchange happened so quickly that I don’t think either of us was ready. I’m assuming it’s in Denver, but maybe there’s a place she wants to go to in Vail.” She shrugged. “I’ll text her later and find out. It’s not a big deal. I think we’re exploring friendship more than anything.” Even though her voice was calm, her stomach was quivering. She was finding it more and more difficult to see Serena as just a client. She was attractive, quiet, smart, and it was nice seeing her confidence grow in just the short time she’d known her.

  “And yet you bought all of the clothes for one friendship date? Hmm. I
think there might be something there, and I’m happy as shit,” Rosie said. Anne elbowed her when the kids giggled. “Oops. Sorry, kids. Mommy shouldn’t have said that word.”

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Maybe she’s looking for friends who aren’t out for her money. I get the feeling she didn’t have very many before, and now it’s even harder to find them because of her instant wealth. She’s not tight with her mom. There were issues there. But I really like Faith.” Both Anne and Rosie nodded in agreement. “And apparently Phillip’s been helping Faith look for a place. Denver’s pretty expensive, but not nearly as much as Vail. I know Serena’s going to help her financially.”

  “That money’s going to go faster than she realizes,” Rosie said.

  “The Pet Posh Inn is going to cost her quite a bit. The land alone was outrageously expensive, but most of the area we are designing is open space. The lodge is sizable, and the fence will be expensive, but I don’t think it will be more than the land.”

  “She has a lawyer, right?” Anne asked.

  “A team of them. That’s what got us into this date. I invited her to lunch, but she was having a meeting with them, so it turned into an impromptu dinner that surprised both of us.”

  “I like her and I’m going to like having her around,” Rosie said.

  “Piper texted me that she had tea with her this afternoon. Guess she has time for her,” Anne teased.

  “Well, can you blame her? Piper’s a knockout,” Rosie said.

  “Thankfully, happily married,” Gabrielle said.

  “Truer words have never been spoken,” Anne chimed in, and they all sat and thought about Piper and Shaylie. “I mean, we’re pretty awesome, too, but they win for best romance.”

  Rosie leaned over and kissed Anne. “We really are awesome.”

  “Stop. Both of you. Not in front of the children.” As much as Gabrielle teased them, she loved that they were very affectionate.

  “What are you going to wear?” Rosie asked.

  “Since I bought one of everything, I think I’ll find something nice and casual.”

  “She was looking at you a lot during the barbecue,” Anne said.