A Winter’s Tale by Carrie Elks (9)

Kitty glanced in the rear-view mirror. The glass was taken up with the view of Everett Klein still talking down the mouthpiece of his phone, his voice loud and brash, as though he was shouting all the way to California. Biting down a grimace, she tapped her fingers on the wheel, wishing she could turn the stereo on and drown out the noise.

He’d been on edge for the entire journey, as though he was living on his nerves, spending the first twenty minutes of the drive in an argument with Mia. And now his assistant was taking the brunt of his ire. Kitty would have felt sorry for him, but she was just thankful Everett wasn’t shouting at her for once.

‘Drake, I’m not asking you to perform fucking miracles,’ Everett shouted. ‘Just wake up the goddamned judge, get it notarised, then bring it straight back to the office.’

There was a pause, where Kitty imagined Drake was protesting against his fate. Waking a judge up at an early hour? What was Everett thinking of?

‘Give him a freaking blow job for all I care, just get it done,’ Everett thundered. ‘I pay you the big bucks to make things happen. So get your sweet little behind out of bed and do what you’re fucking paid for.’

Delightful.

Kitty tried to remember if Drake Montgomery had a sweet little behind, but she couldn’t remember at all, even if her last memory of him was walking out of the interview.

‘I don’t give a flying rat’s ass if it’s only six o’clock in the morning, just wake the old bastard up. Hey, wait… fuck, you just missed the damned turning.’

It took a moment for Kitty to realise the last sentence was directed at her. Alarmed, she glanced at the satnav, only to see that she really had managed to ignore the right-hand turn. Shit, bugger, bollocks, that’s the last thing she needed – just when she was about to hit a highway that didn’t look like a scene out of Misery, she’d managed to botch the turn.

Her heart dropped as the I-66 disappeared into the distance in her wing mirror.

‘Can’t you read a map?’ Everett asked her, clearly agitated. ‘Jesus Christ, I should have driven myself. Or gotten somebody who knew how to drive a car.’

Kitty wondered where Jonas learned his manners, when his father clearly didn’t have any.

‘It’s recalculating,’ Kitty said quietly, nodding her head at the built-in satnav.

Everett let loose a series of sighs as the dark blue screen calmly told them it would take an extra twenty minutes to reach their destination.

‘Drake, call the airport, tell them I’m going to be late. They’re going to need to get another slot. And for my sake, arrange for a competent driver to pick me up. If I have to suffer another journey like this, I’ll end up killing somebody.’

The man was a drama queen. She had to bite her lip to stop herself from saying anything.

‘By the way,’ Everett said, hanging up the call to Drake without bothering to say goodbye, ‘Drake tells me you’re looking for an internship. Is that right?’

The abrupt change in conversation made Kitty breathless.

‘Yes it is.’

He nodded. ‘Remind me when I get back from LA. I might be able to help you with that.’

She tried not to show how excited that made her, but it was hard to keep her expression neutral. ‘That would be wonderful,’ she finally said. ‘Thank you.’

Everett said nothing for a moment, scrolling through the messages on his smartphone. Eventually he glanced up, meeting her eyes in the mirror. ‘Yeah, well, you’re doing a good job with Jonas. He seems happy. I’ll make a few calls and we’ll see what we can do.’

She tried to keep the smile on her face, even if it felt distasteful.

‘I’m always appreciative of staff who work hard and keep their mouths shut. You’ll find I’m a good person to have on your side. Remember that.’

The rest of the journey passed in relative peace. Kitty followed the satnav instructions, navigating them back to the I-66, while Everett made phone call after phone call from the back seat. They managed to reach Reagan Airport only twenty minutes after the original time. Pulling up to the charter terminal, she switched off the engine while Everett pulled his small case from the boot, still muttering down the phone, and stomped into the terminal without saying goodbye. He hadn’t even bothered to close the boot. Sighing loudly, Kitty climbed out of the driver’s seat and walked around to the back, pushing the boot closed with an angry bang. Good riddance to him. She might have needed his help, but she had a feeling that she’d be paying for it. And maybe the price was a little too high.

Her next stop was the freight terminal, where Mia had given her instructions to pick up Jonas’s Christmas gifts. They’d been purchased at great expense by Arlo, Mia’s personal shopper.

The man at the gate directed her to the parking lot, and she swung the Escalade around and into an empty spot. Then she walked into the small reception, dodging the mistletoe that was hanging from the doorway, and rang the bell at the desk for attention.

Ten minutes later, she was carrying a huge pile of boxes over to the Escalade. Two uniformed workers trailed behind her, each carrying their own towers of cardboard. Organising them into the boot was an act of precision, with the boxes filling practically all the available space.

She’d just closed the boot when a woman came running out of the depot. ‘Wait up, there’s another package you need to take.’ Her dark hair flew behind her, revealing her harassed expression. ‘We won’t be sad to see the back of this one, I can tell you.’

A man walked out of the depot carrying a black furry puppy. Despite its cute face, it was snapping and snarling at him, and he held it at arm’s length. His expression was full of distaste.

‘What’s that?’ Kitty asked, her voice faint.

The man put the dog down, still holding its leash. The dog ran straight for Kitty, barking and dancing around her, causing the man to shoot forward.

‘It’s a Portuguese Water Dog. They’re supposed to be friendly.’ He looked down at the animal, his eyes wide. ‘This one might be a little too friendly.’

‘Am I really supposed to take it?’ Kitty asked, though in her heart she already knew the answer. Most employers would have warned her in advance, perhaps suggested she got a cage or at least a bowl of water to keep him hydrated. Instead, all Kitty had was a full boot and a hyperactive puppy. The thought of driving all the way back to Cutler’s Gap with a puppy in the back was making her queasy.

‘I can’t take him in the car,’ she said. ‘He’ll jump all over me before I even get on the highway.’

‘He’s not so bad. He didn’t like being sent in the hold of an airplane, is all. They drugged him up; he’s just coming out of it now, and it’s sending him crazy. The chances are he’ll be asleep as soon as you turn the engine on, although you’ll do well to put something down on the floor. This one suffers from travel sickness.’

For God’s sake, this was all she needed. Kitty stared at the puppy who looked back at her, his gaze open and excited. Taking a deep breath, she leaned down, scooping the beast up into her arms, and to her surprise he stopped yapping and nuzzled into her.

Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all.

But then he bared his teeth and nipped her arm hard enough to almost break her skin. Kitty yelped, dropping him on the floor. He made a bid for freedom, dodging past the dog handler who started chasing him around the parking lot. Then the receptionist joined in, both of them lunging for the puppy who merrily outflanked them, heading back inside the cabin and into the warmth.

Five minutes later they were loading him into the Escalade once again. The handler had a look of supreme relief on his face. Kitty put him on the back seat, sighing when he jumped across the centre console and into the driver’s seat, putting his paws on the steering wheel as if he was going to drive.

One thing was for sure; it was going to be a long journey home.

 

Every time Kitty looked in the rear-view mirror, the dog was staring back at her. His dark brown eyes were watery and round, his head tipped to the side at a plaintive angle. The bouncing and yapping had changed into gentle whimpers as the effects of the car journey were taking their toll on his stomach. If a dog could cry, then this one would almost certainly be bawling right now.

Kitty felt like crying herself. Apart from her old neighbours’ crazy mutt, she was totally inexperienced when it came to dogs. She had no idea what to do with the puppy, apart from to stop every hour or so to let him try to do his business and wipe any dog sick from the Escalade’s leather back seats.

By the time she’d stopped for a third time – in a godforsaken truck stop somewhere east of the mountains – the puppy was literally digging his heels in the mud, growling every time she tried to scoop him into her arms.

‘You’re not going to win,’ she told him through gritted teeth. ‘Even if I have to go back to Cutler’s Gap with a mangled arm, you’re still getting in that bloody car.’

The puppy just sat stubbornly and stared, refusing to move. How could such a cute dog look so defiant?

‘Come on, it’s only another hour,’ she coaxed. ‘Just sixty minutes and you’ll be out of the car for good. You can curl up in Annie’s kitchen and yap at somebody else instead.’

Not that there would be anything for him to eat. Annie’s stodgy food probably wouldn’t do his delicate stomach any good, and knowing Mia’s distractedness there was no way she would have arranged for puppy food to be delivered. If she had any reception she’d call Annie and warn her, but once again the tall trees were blocking out her signal. Ah, she’d have to worry about that when she got back to Mountain’s Reach. That’s if she made it in one piece.

Half an hour later she made it to the snow-covered mountains, marvelling at the way they looked as though someone had sieved icing sugar across the land. The cloudless sky was a cerulean blue, reflecting off the Blue Ridge peaks and leaving no doubt in Kitty’s mind how they got their name. Unlike the rental she’d driven a few days earlier, the Escalade gripped the road with determination, its weight and powerful engine a good match for the icy roads as they made their ascent.

The roads were winding here, twisting and turning like a blacktop helter-skelter. With each swing of the car the dog growled loudly, before promptly emptying the contents of his belly over the footwell. The stench of dog vomit wafted across to the front seat, turning Kitty’s stomach until she thought that she, too, might end up sick as a dog.

If there was any doubt before, it was obvious Kitty wasn’t an animal person. Not a country girl, either. More than ever she longed for the reassuring pavements of the city, lined with shops instead of trees. They may not have the same natural beauty as the snow-topped mountains, but they were infinitely safer. Not to mention fairly dog free.

‘Look, dog, you’re not doing yourself any favours,’ she told him. ‘Last time I was on these roads I managed to kill a deer. Do you think I’ll have any problems committing canine murder?’

If dogs were like humans, Kitty swore that he’d be laughing right about now.

She was about to pull over to try to clean up the mess when the screen on the front console lit up, indicating an incoming call on her Bluetoothed mobile phone. Seeing Mia Klein’s name formed in green lettering, Kitty rolled her eyes, accepting the call with a flick of her finger.

‘Hello?’

‘Kitty? It’s Mia, can you hear me?’ She was shouting, her voice echoing around as if she was in a metal box. ‘I’m in an elevator. Did you manage to pick up everything we need?’

‘I’ve picked up the gifts,’ Kitty told her. ‘And the puppy. I’ve definitely got the puppy.’

‘How is he?’ Mia asked. ‘Do you think Jonas will like him? I wanted to surprise him on Christmas morning, he has no idea about it at all. The puppy’s related to Bo, the Obamas’ gorgeous doggie. I took one look at him online and just knew Jonas had to have him.’

Kitty glanced back at the dog. He was standing upright on all fours, still glaring at her as if she was the source of all his woes. ‘He’s, um, a character all right. I’m sure Jonas will love him.’ Even if nobody else did.

‘Oh, thank goodness. Children are always so hard to buy for. I can’t wait to see his face on Christmas morning; we must shoot lots of video. He’s always wanted a little brother or sister.’

Kitty looked over at the dog who was now yawning on the back seat. The puppy had two speeds – crazy or fast asleep.

‘… so you just need to hide him somewhere for a week,’ Mia continued, interrupting Kitty’s thoughts.

‘What?’

‘The puppy,’ Mia said patiently. ‘You need to keep him out of Jonas’s sight for a week. It’s a big house, it shouldn’t be that difficult. Hide him in the attic or something, nobody will find him there.’

It was the first time that Kitty began to feel sorry for the dog. He may have been irritable, and a disgusting vomit machine, but he was going to more than meet his match with the Kleins. If Mia thought it was appropriate to stash a living, breathing animal in an attic for a week, God only knew how she was going to treat the puppy once he was part of the family.

Maybe Kitty had more in common with him than she thought.

‘I don’t think we can hide him in the attic,’ she said, weakly. ‘I’ll ask Annie for her ideas. Maybe there’s an outhouse or something that we can put him in.’ That’s if she managed to finish this journey alive.

‘Oh, would you? That would be wonderful. I don’t think she likes me very much.’

The puppy barked loudly, making Kitty jump. It was the first time he’d done anything other than yap or whimper. Maybe he understood what she’d said and was making his distaste known. She couldn’t blame him, really, it was cold enough to freeze the lake out there, and who would want to spend the next week hiding in an outhouse?

Who would want to spend a lifetime being holed up with the Kleins, come to think of it? Once again it seemed the two of them had a lot in common. At least she was getting something out of it after Christmas. The poor dog had no such luck.

‘Well I’d better go. I’ve got an appointment and then some phone calls to make. Oh, they did tell you he’s a vegan, right? You’ll need to order him in some special dog food, there’s somewhere on the internet that stocks it.’

Vegan. Of course. What dog would want to eat meat when it could have a bowl full of tofu mixed with some yummy, filling pulses? Kitty rolled her eyes and ended the call, wondering how the hell she was going to get the vegan dog food company to deliver in Cutler’s Gap within the next twenty-four hours. And whether the puppy would ever forgive her for denying him meat-based protein.

From the expression on his face, she didn’t think he would.