Zoe pulled out of the Monday-morning traffic and into a free space in front of a brick office building on Folsom Street. The four-story, early 1900s structure was once a hotel that had been converted into an office building long ago. The quaint details of its previous life had been restored like the ad painted on the brick, advertising rooms for rent.
She killed the engine and the radio shut off. Freddy whined from the passenger seat, wondering what they were waiting for. Or maybe it was because he had to pee. Or because he was hungry. Or because he was simply being Freddy. Since he was proving to be a highly unusual dog, she thought it might take some time to get better at communicating with him. She supposed that’s why all people who adopted dogs from the center were given a two-week trial run. Because not all adoptions went to plan.
He whined again, but Zoe was in no rush to get to work. After that weekend’s fiasco at the expo, there wasn’t a lot to look forward to. Just a lot of damage control.
With his two-second attention span, Freddy got fed up with waiting for her and hopped down from the passenger seat, sniffing his way into the back. A few seconds later, a thump made Zoe jump in her seat. She spun around to find Freddy buried beneath a pile of clean, pressed cloth napkins she’d just bought—or at least they were clean.
The pile shifted and twitched until a tan beard nudged out. Freddy spun in a circle. He dug at the pile a couple of times, burrowing like a true doxie before worming his way into the hole he’d built.
Zoe tutted. “Freddy.”
The doxie laid his head on his paws as his tail slapped against his makeshift bed, in a totally-not-guilty way. I didn’t do it.
Zoe rolled her eyes. She couldn’t argue with that.
This wasn’t the calm, well-behaved dog she’d planned on adopting. What if he never settled down? If he continued to act like a lunatic throughout their two-week trial period, she wasn’t sure it was going to work out between them. Maybe they were just too different.
She had to admit, he had his moments. He’d been good the entire drive to her office, but now he couldn’t seem to sit still. Maybe he just liked car rides. Or maybe, she thought, Levi’s theory was right, and the dog liked to jam.
Turning the key until the radio tuned in, she peered into the back loaded with the new supplies she’d bought to replace her damaged stuff. It only took a few moments for Freddy to stop his relentless, and destructive, burrowing. Laying his head down, he kicked back like he was just chilling to some soothing Jack Johnson.
Pulling out her tablet, she made a note to pick up some speakers for her office. The time at the top of the screen told her she was running way behind her usual schedule.
She’d popped by her mother’s house that morning to stock the fridge with groceries before she was released from hospital later that day. And of course, her hour-long session with her toys that morning didn’t help either. And like usual, it resulted in nothing but failure, dead batteries, and frustration.
Every time she’d gotten even remotely close, an image of Levi pushing her away would pop into her head. And every time, she would grow angrier and more furious with him, like he’d intended to steal her orgasms from day one. Like his penis was a giant pink eraser that had left her with a completely blank sexual page.
She had nothing left, it seemed, unless she was near him. Then her urges shot into overdrive.
And for some reason, compared to everything—her mom’s illness, the expo, her van getting trashed, Piper’s dress, her brake lines—that seemed like the worst thing at that moment. Because the one thing that could get her though all that stress had been stolen. By Levi Dolson.
Zoe wanted to scream and throw a tantrum, drive her rental van over him and then throw it into reverse and do it all over again. She didn’t understand how she could want someone so badly and yet want to kill him at the same time.
The very thought of him made her both horny and angry. She groaned, banging her head against her steering wheel. The beautiful hate-sex they could have. If only he’d have sex with her at all.
The only other thing that was effective in putting her thoughts back into harmony was making lists. So Zoe leaned back in the morning sun shining through the windshield to mentally go over her to-do list for the day. Of course, Piper’s wedding consumed her itinerary, since it was less than two weeks away. And at the top of the priority list was scheduling an appointment at a bridal store for a replacement dress. It was going to take a miracle to find one and have it altered in time.
Sighing, Zoe resigned herself to start the day and pulled the key out of the ignition. It was like a signal for Freddy to start snooping for something to chew on. As she reached to open her door, a figure popped up next to the van and rapped sharply on the window.
Freddy barked in surprise, running back up to the front, knocking over a box of blank thank-you cards. Then Zoe saw the bright pantsuit and over-processed blonde hair and nearly screamed.
Rolling down the window, Zoe shushed Freddy’s persistent barking. Picking him up off the floor, she soothed him until his barks subdued into mumbled threats.
Bleached teeth flashing, Holly Hart leaned through the window. “Darling! It’s so good to see you.”
Zoe heaved a sigh. Holly was the last person she wanted to see right then. “What are you doing here, Holly?”
The reporter slipped her oversized sunglasses on top of her head. “I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d pop in for a little girl chat.” She gave Zoe a not-so-subtle wink. “What do you say we go grab a coffee and catch up?”
“We don’t have anything to catch up on.” Zoe opened her door, shoving Holly out of the way with it.
Holly pouted. “Now don’t be like that. We were like old pals at the expo, remember? Now where were we?” Her friendly smile melted and she fixed a don’t-mess-with-me look on her plastic face. “Oh right. I was doing you a favor by not running a story that would have been super embarrassing for you, and you were telling me all about your friend’s upcoming wedding. Now go ahead. Gush. It’s just us girls.”
Zoe ignored her and went to grab her supplies from the back, but when she rounded the van, Hey, You shoved his camera in her face.
She scowled at him and gave Holly a look. “Just us girls?”
“Oh, right. And him. But don’t be shy. It’s for note-taking purposes only.” She waved him away like he was simply air. “Just ignore him. I do.”
Zoe could have sworn she heard him huff in annoyance, but he never stopped recording for a second. She ignored both of them and wrenched open the back doors.
Holly took a seat in the back, crossing her legs super casually. Now Zoe couldn’t get rid of her without physically tossing her aside or slamming the door closed on her—which were tempting options.
“Listen up,” Zoe said. “I have nothing more to give you on the Summers-Caldwell wedding.”
She picked up her bag, slinging it over the arm that wasn’t burdened by a wriggling doxie. She began to close the van doors, hoping the reporter would take the hint.
Holly held out a hand to stop the door from shutting on her. She wasn’t going to move an inch. “Don’t hold out now, Plum. Remember? It’s tit for tat.”
Zoe’s teeth clenched. “Yeah. I remember.” She took a deep breath.
While Zoe didn’t want to give her any sort of tit, she needed Holly’s tat. Not only did she fail to gain new clients at the expo, but her run-in with Chelsea probably cost her some reputation points for the next season. However, she also wasn’t about to go against her best friends’ wishes to keep her wedding on the down low. She’d given enough info away at the expo.
“Look,” she began, “I appreciate you not running that story on me—”
“Then show your appreciation and give me some facts.” Holly made a gimme-gimme motion with her manicured hand. “It’s not a big deal, you know. If I search hard enough, I can easily dig up the same info. It would just take a few annoying phone calls,” she said as though making a phone call was, like, the hardest thing to do in the world.
Zoe scoffed. “To who?”
“To florists, seamstresses, caterers.” Her eyes rolled back into her head just standing there listing them off. “Eventually I’d find the right ones. But that sounds incredibly boring, so why don’t you save me some time? No one has to know it was you.”
Zoe cocked an eyebrow at the camera. “I bet.”
Holly hopped out of the van and waved the cameraman away. Zoe saw the red light on the front dim before he lowered it and began packing up his equipment.
“Just give me some meaningless tidbits to keep my fans satisfied,” she said. “The venue, perhaps?”
Zoe laughed, slamming the van doors and locking them. “There’s no way you’re getting the venue.” Or anything for that matter, she thought.
She spun toward the office building where she could lock her door and be free from Holly’s harassment. But Holly’s heels clicked sharply on the sidewalk as she kept on her.
“Oh, come on. You can tell little old me. Where’s it taking place?”
Zoe spun to face her, trying to use her extra height to look down on the sleazy news reporter. “I can’t, I won’t tell you. And certainly not the public. If I did, the place would be crawling with curious looky-loos. Or worse.” She narrowed her eyes. “You.”
Holly pouted. “Fine. Then what about the florist?”
Zoe hesitated. She chewed on her lip as she thought about that one. She couldn’t see any harm in it, not if it would get Holly off her back. Besides, her florist was like an artist. And Zoe believed strongly in cross promoting her contacts in the wedding industry. It was all about building a reputation. And what goes around comes around. Tit for tat, she supposed.
Finally, she relented. “It’s Pushing Daisies on 16th.” With that, she turned and grabbed the door handle, but Holly blocked her from opening it.
“And the person performing the ceremony?”
“I think you’ve got enough intel already. I don’t need you harassing the justice of the peace.”
Holly’s eyes lit up. “Oh, so they’re not going the religious route then?”
Zoe cringed. That wasn’t something she’d wanted to reveal. It would be an entire post for Holly’s blog all on its own. “Now if you’re done harassing me, I need to get to my office.”
“What do you mean harass?” Her mouth dropped open in offense. “I don’t harass. I investigate.”
Zoe ignored her and wrenched the door open, hitting Holly so she stumbled out of the way. Slipping inside, she let the door close behind her. She could still hear Holly yelling through the glass.
“Great talk! We’ll have to do it again soon.”
Freddy barked over Zoe’s shoulder. Good-bye! His tail whipped back and forth against Zoe’s blouse, like, Wasn’t she nice?
Zoe waited until they were on the fourth floor before she set him down in the hall so he could sniff and explore his new surroundings. If she ended up adopting him, he’d be spending a lot of time there with her, so he might as well get comfortable.
In the past, the landlord had allowed her to keep Buddy there during her office hours, so she knew it would be all right to bring Freddy to work. Then again, Freddy wasn’t quite the well-behaved dog her last one was.
She whistled, calling him as she headed toward the office with the deep plum-colored sign that read Plum Crazy Events. He trailed behind, sniffing dubiously beneath random doors. Thankfully, no one came out to see what all the snorting at their door was about.
She had no appointments booked with clients, so when she turned the corner to her office and a man stood there waiting, she gasped in surprise.
Then she saw who it was and felt even more surprised. “Owen. Hi … How are you?”
At her reaction, his lips curled into a smile, but the rest of his face didn’t seem to want to join in. “Good. You know, all things considered.”
“Still haven’t patched things up with Juliet?”
He shook his head. “She won’t even return my calls. I’ve sent her texts, e-mails, flowers, but she doesn’t want to see me.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Sometimes these things happen,” she said, apologetically. Because she was sorry. For him, mostly. Not for Juliet. “The weeks and days leading up to a wedding can be so stressful. Tension builds, adding to anxiety and fears. It can put a lot of strain on a relationship. Maybe her running off was a blessing in disguise,” she suggested hesitantly. “I mean, if it’s not meant to be, then it’s better to know now rather than once you’re married, right?”
Owen nodded with a frown. Clearly, it didn’t surprise him to hear her say that. Maybe because it wasn’t the first time he’d been told.
But what he said was, “It doesn’t feel that way.”
“I’m sorry it had to happen to you.” She didn’t say that she wished it hadn’t, because it wouldn’t be true. He seemed like a great guy. If the wedding had been a success, well, then he’d be married to Juliet. Enough said.
Zoe took a moment to give him the once over. They hadn’t even gotten married and Juliet had already destroyed him. His eyes were bloodshot, his hair greasy beneath his ball cap. He looked as terrible as Juliet had when she verbally attacked Zoe at the expo.
Distracted by his thoughts, Owen was watching Freddy sniff around the hallway.
“So, what can I do for you?” Zoe asked.
“Actually, I’m here about Juliet. Or maybe on behalf of.” He cringed with a bit of hesitation.
“Oh?” Zoe said. “I thought she wasn’t talking to you.”
“She’s not, but I’ve been in contact with her mother. She tells me Juliet’s been in trouble with the police. Interviews and such. I guess there was some vandalism.”
Zoe nodded, beginning to see why he was really here. Now she was hesitant too. “There was. To my van,” she said cautiously.
“She didn’t do it. She couldn’t have,” he said simply, or maybe naively, she thought.
“I suppose it was a coincidence that she threatened me earlier that day, and then I suddenly find my vehicle vandalized?” She didn’t say it unkindly, but she wasn’t about to sugarcoat the situation for him either.
“I know it looks bad, and Juliet can sometimes be a little…”
“Frigging nuts?”
She decided to skip the expletives, even if she was a tiny bit annoyed that he was there trying to convince her to … what? Not pursue it? Not press charges? The guy had been through a lot recently, and at the end of the day, despite everything, he still cared for his bride. He was only guilty of being blinded by love.
“Well, yeah,” he relented. “But she doesn’t mean it. She’s like a cute little Chihuahua.” His smile was real this time, kind of boyish. “She’s all bark and no bite.”
Zoe scoffed. She’d had enough experiences with Chihuahuas to know they could bite pretty hard. “Sorry. But I’m not convinced. And there’s nothing I can do about it, anyway. It’s in the hands of the police now. If she’s truly innocent, then she has nothing to worry about and their investigation will turn up nothing.”
Owen stared down at his feet, or rather, he stared down at Freddy who rolled onto his back to ask for a belly rub. He gave in, squatting down to pet him. Freddy squirmed like a writhing worm, trying to get the belly rubs and give Owen’s wrist a lick at the same time. Like his slobbery kisses were tit for tat.
“I suppose you’re right,” he said. “It’s just difficult right now. I can see that she’s angry and hurt. I wish there was something I could do for her.” Sighing, he stood up. “Well, I’d better go. Thanks for hearing me out. I’m sorry to bother you. I know your day didn’t go exactly as planned either.”
“It wasn’t my day. It was your day,” she said. “And again, I’m sorry.”
He nodded, but his head sank as he trudged back to the stairwell.
Zoe saw the hunch in his back, heard his feet scuff like he just didn’t have the energy to go on. She couldn’t begin to understand what he saw in Juliet, but she couldn’t ignore a problem to be solved. She loved a challenge. And God knew, Juliet was nothing if not challenging.
Rolling her eyes, she jogged back down the hallway after him. Freddy jumped and barked at her heels. Why are we running? Are we going somewhere? I like going places. I like running too.
When she reached the top of the stairs, she called out. “Owen!?”
A second later, his head poked back around the corner.
“Try a box of truffles from the shop at the ferry building,” she called down to him. “They’re the kind that she requested to be placed in your honeymoon suite for after the wedding.”
“Really?” He smiled, like she’d just thrown him a morsel of hope. “Thanks. I will.”
“I hope she likes them.”
He gave her a wave and as he continued back down the stairs, his footsteps seemed a little livelier.
Zoe smiled, shaking her head. To each their own, she thought.
Freddy stood at the top of the stairs like Owen might come back for more belly rubs. As Zoe headed for her office, she called to him. Eventually, he abandoned his post. He lingered behind, double checking the doors again. Or maybe it was because he forgot he was on the same floor and had done it already.
Zoe waited in front of her door, watching him move systematically from room to room. Maybe it wasn’t that he was such a poorly behaved dog, she told herself. Maybe he was actually super smart, checking for danger, protecting her. A real guard dog.
As he passed the next door, his tail whacked against the wood, making a knocking sound. He spun around and barked at it.
Then again, maybe not, she thought.
Zoe took out her key and turned toward her door to unlock it. But suddenly, there was no door, no key, no floor. Just an ear bursting bang.
Heat warmed her face, light blinded her, and it felt like the door just hit her in the face. Her feet lifted off the ground as she sailed backward. She was thrown against a wall.
Pain shot down her shoulder. Her head whipped back, smacking against the door frame, hard enough to crack the wood. Or maybe that sound was her skull.
The next thing she knew, she was on the ground, Freddy frantically licking her face, wondering if it was time to play. Zoe pushed herself to a sitting position and blinked at her office—or what was left of it, anyway.
It hadn’t been the door that hit her. That was lying on its side in the entrance way, blown clean off the hinges. Flames licked around the frame. Even above the ringing in her ears, she could hear the constant crackle and roar of the fire burning within.
It took her a few stunned moments to realize what she’d just been hit with: an explosion. Her office just blew up.