Howl at the Loon (An Alpine Grove Romantic Comedy Book 6) Read online

  “The dogs don’t care. And I don’t care because I know what’s under the coat.”

  She poked him in the ribs. “Very funny.”

  He slowly ran a fingertip down the side of her neck and sparkly tingles skittered down her spine. Inclining his head to nuzzle her neck, he murmured, “I think we were analyzing the perfect proportions of the female form earlier.”

  “I think you were analyzing.”

  “The inquiry into cup size was particularly fascinating.”

  She put her mug back on the nightstand and turned to kiss him. “Yes, it was. You have been known to dwell on that topic.”

  “Just trying to be thorough.”

  Kat grinned. “Sometimes your focused analytical nature can be a good thing.”

  “It’s important to capitalize on your strengths.”

  Later, Kat sat at her desk attempting to write an article. It was going nowhere. She stared out the window at the dripping trees. The deluge had subsided and now it was just cloudy and dreary outside. She got up and stepped over a few sleeping canines as she made her way across the hall to Joel’s office.

  Leaning in the doorway, she waited for him to look away from his computer screen at her. With a snort of disgust, he gestured toward the monitor. “I have no idea what the last programmer was thinking when he worked on this stuff. What a mess.”

  “Working on other people’s code always makes you cranky.”

  “Only when the code is poorly written.”

  She smiled. “I think I’ve heard this song before. I noticed it finally stopped raining. Does that mean the guys with chain saws are showing up today?”

  “I think so. Since they’re only cutting down a few trees, they’re working it in during their down time. All the logging equipment for their big jobs is stuck off somewhere in the boonies because of the load limits on the roads.”

  “I guess chain saws are light.”

  “It’s expensive to get a gigantic skidder or feller-buncher machine stuck in the mud somewhere.”

  “I suppose. Given that I don’t want to witness my trees falling to the ground, I’m going to head to town. My dog-caretaking responsibility is gone for the day, I can’t do anything else on my article until they give me more information, and Maria’s new kitten is too adorable to be ignored. I need some tiny fuzzy feline time to take my mind off the forest carnage.”

  “It’s only a few trees, and you know which ones they are.”

  “I know. Before I go I’ll wander around and say goodbye to those unlucky conifers with the blue spray paint on them.”

  “They’ll still be there. Just on the ground.”

  “Don’t remind me.”

  Joel stood up, put his arms around her, and looked down into her eyes. “This is your last chance to stop this. Say the word and I’ll send the loggers away.”

  “Nope, I’m in. We’re doing this thing. But I’m still going to go out and apologize to the trees.”

  “Okay. I’ll keep an eye on everything. Have fun with the kitten.”

  After a short foray around the forest to bid farewell to her trees, Kat got into the dirty green truck and went through her typical tirade of foul language to encourage it into motion. At the end of the driveway, the springtime seasonal river alongside the road was running high. It was a good thing the old Ford had good ground clearance. Robin’s car might end up downstream on her return trip to drop off Emma. That was a disturbing notion.

  After she got to Maria’s place, Kat needed to remember to call Joel and ask him to look at the culvert again. Water seemed to be flowing everywhere except through the old rusty metal tube at the end of the driveway. The rushing stream was taking an increasing amount of the driveway rock away with it. The erosion was becoming extreme, and at this rate she’d soon be driving across the culvert itself, which was just asking for trouble. Having no way to get to the house wasn’t exactly going to win new customers to her burgeoning dog-boarding business either.

  Kat parked the truck at Maria’s apartment building and walked down the main street to the old Frederickson’s building, which was located a few blocks away. There was no way Kat would even consider parallel parking that evil hunk of truck in town. She valued her sanity too much to even try. Not to mention the fact that she’d probably hit five other cars in the process. Parallel parking was not one of her strengths.

  Kat walked into the advertising agency office where Maria worked, and her friend looked up from the paperwork scattered across the large wooden desk. A computer and a big stack of books sat off to one side. Never one to dress down for any occasion, Maria was clad in a form-fitting purple dress that had strategically placed scrunches designed to emphasize her figure. She was already well-endowed, but the violet creases and crumples of the dress made her look like an Italian Dolly Parton. Even though the dress looked agonizingly uncomfortable, Maria assured Kat that the “miracle fabric” was fantastic.

  After pressing a couple of keys on her computer keyboard with a final flourish, Maria said, “Hey girlfriend! You ready to head out?”

  Kat pointed at the books. “Are you in the middle of something? I’m ditching all forms of work this afternoon, so I’m not in a rush.”

  “Nope. Michael found more psychology and advertising books. You gotta watch out for a guy who lives with a librarian. Jan keeps finding more of these things. To tell you the truth, I didn’t think the Alpine Grove library was that large.”

  “You’re certainly going to be well informed.”

  “And well rested.” Maria tapped the top of the stack. “Some of these are serious sleep aids. Or they were until I got Scarlett. I thought cats were supposed to nap all the time. That kitten is bizarre. In fact, I’m pretty sure she’s possessed.”

  “All kittens are like that.”

  “You mean they’ll just be sitting there, then all of a sudden leap up and run around like they’re being chased by an axe murderer?”

  “Pretty much.”

  Maria bent to grab her purse from the desk drawer. “I think you gotta see this, girlfriend. I mean, Murphee wasn’t like that when she was a kitten, was she? You never said anything.”

  “I was probably too tired. Murph was on the kitty night shift and it drove me nuts. I started making sure to play with her after I got home from work, so she’d stop waking me up in the middle of the night.”

  “Well, I’m still going with my demonic-possession theory. All the squalling noises that tiny animal makes are a little creepy. I need to get a microphone and record those sounds. They could use her scary kitty voice for special audio effects in horror movies. She could make me millions.”

  Kat opened the door for Maria and they walked out to the street. “I’m glad you’re adjusting to the joys of pet ownership.”

  “Sort of. I still blame you for turning me into a cat lady. This is so not sexy. As if I didn’t have enough problems finding a date around here.”

  “But Scarlett is so cute.”

  “I know. And she needed a home. But just you remember, her real name is Katie Scarlett like in Gone with the Wind. But it’s also so I don’t ever forget that my descent into cat-lady-hood is all your fault.”

  Kat gestured dismissively. “Yeah, yeah. You already love her and you know it.”

  A tall, lanky man wearing glasses was walking toward them on the sidewalk and Maria called out, “Hey Rob. How’s your hard drive spinning?”

  He grinned as he stopped in front of them. “Hi Maria. Hi Kat. I’m okay. What’s up with you?”

  Maria held out her hands and engaged in a complex handshake with Rob. Kat was impressed. She clapped her hands after the performance. “Wow, where did you guys learn to do that?”

  Maria said, “It’s a secret. Only those of us who work in the Frederickson’s building know it.”

  Rob shook his head. “Actually, it’s not much of a secret. Michael taught it to us. I have no idea where he came up with it.”

  “Hey, don’t spoil the illusion,” Maria
said. “Where’s your sense of adventure? We could have said that it’s from an ancient Native American fertility ritual and she’d never know.”

  “Uh, I’m not sure I’m on board with the idea of a fertility ritual,” Rob said.

  “How’s Tracy?” Kat asked. “Is she still mad at you?”

  Rob shrugged and pushed his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose. “Probably. She went to another art class in LA. She’s probably spending the whole time telling her friend Shelby what a jerk I am.”

  “Women need their girlfriend time,” Maria said. “Kat, for example, is here to tell me the latest stupid thing the engineer has done.”

  “I am not!” Kat said. “Joel is fine. They’re cutting down trees at my place today and I don’t want to watch.”

  Maria put her hand on her hip. “So you’re not gonna say one word to me about the engineer? I find that hard to believe. Because, let’s face it, men always do stupid things.”

  “No, I’m not. I am going to play with your kitten and share a few important cat-care tips with you.”

  Rob smiled. “Well, on that note, I have to go tend to my girlfriend’s cranky dachshund now. It was good to see you both.”

  “I hate to break it to you, but I think Roxy is your dog too now,” Kat said.

  He waved off the comment and said, “See you later.”

  As he walked down the street toward the Frederickson’s building, Maria said to Kat, “What’s up with him? Behind those geeky spectacles, that man has the most gorgeous expressive eyes and they were telling me he’s not a happy boy.”

  “I think he and Tracy are going through some adjustments.”

  “Adjustments? What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “They went on a great trip to Napa last fall and she wants to travel more because they’ve got more money now. He says he’s got too many deadlines to go somewhere at the moment. Given that meeting all those deadlines is key to getting the money in the first place, they’ve reached an impasse. When I saw her at the vet clinic, she was definitely pissed off at him.”

  They stood at the crosswalk waiting for a car to go by. Maria said, “Life is short, so I see her point. On the other hand, I too have had to make some unfortunate life concessions due to dire financial considerations.”

  “I’m sure they’ll work it out eventually. Getting out of town and seeing the sun in LA while she’s at that class will probably help. She’ll miss Rob and remember why they’re together.”

  Maria grinned. “Wow, girlfriend, you sound so wise in the ways of the heart. What’s happened to you?”

  “Partly it’s from living with someone normal, I guess, after so many years of serious dating disasters. Also, I’ve met a lot more people in relationships lately.”

  “No kidding, girlfriend. People board their weirdo dogs with you and fall in love. Wanna take care of Scarlett the scary kitten? Because, seriously, I really need a date.”

  “Very funny. And for the record, I don’t plan to board cats.”

  “Not yet.”

  Kat nudged Maria playfully. “Don’t even kid about that. You know all too well that I’ve got enough to do dealing with the weirdo dogs as it is.”

  Maria unlocked the door to her apartment and looked over her shoulder at Kat. “Watch out. She’s small, but super fast.”

  “Don’t worry. I’m bracing myself.”

  The two women scuttled into the apartment as a tiny orange tabby streaked across the room and into the hallway toward them. Scarlett had striking dark- and light-reddish-orange stripes that made a swirling pattern on her sides. She galloped down the hallway and crash-landed into one of Maria’s pumps that had been sitting next to its mate near the door. The little cat jumped up, twisted sideways, and pirouetted into a frontal attack against the offending footwear. Maria bent to pick up the shoe and examined it. “C’mon, Scarlett! Those were expensive.”

  Undaunted, Scarlett resumed her attack on the other shoe, gripping the heel in her small paws and raking the toe leather with her back feet. Maria tried to extract the shoe and Scarlett reluctantly let go, jerking away with a squawk of irritation.

  Swiveling away from Maria, the kitten made a loud screechy noise and shot out of the hallway toward the bedroom, her paws skittering across the tile, then thudding into something in the other room. Maria and Kat ran after her, turning their heads in an effort to spot the racing feline. Scarlett was near the window making rrr-ing noises as she batted at the draperies.

  As she rushed toward the window, Maria yelped, “No! Not the curtains again.”

  The kitten’s little tail was fluffed out and her back was arched against the enemy. With a mighty whap at the offending cloth, she somersaulted behind the curtains and started to scrabble upward. Maria whipped the fabric away from the wall and Scarlett rolled back down to the floor. She bolted back out of the bedroom toward the living room.

  Maria held the curtain out in front of her and shook it at Kat. “We go through this every, single day.”

  Kat grinned. “I think you need more kitty toys.”

  A jingling ball rolled into the room, followed by Scarlett scampering around it, so she could bat it against the furniture like a pool ball. As the rolling toy came to a stop, she crouched down with a growl and began stalking it cautiously. Scarlett’s tail whipped back and forth behind her as she sidled up alongside her spherical opponent. Apparently, the tip of the striped appendage entered her peripheral vision because the cat stopped suddenly and leaped at her tail, swirling around in a circle in an effort to catch the offending entity.

  The cat missed her tail, fell down, and glared up at Maria. With a quick lick at a paw and a plaintive meow, Scarlett bolted back out of the room.

  Kat giggled. “Kittenhood is so adorable. It’s too bad they don’t stay this way.”

  “Yeah, sure. Easy for you to say.” Maria examined the curtains. “I think I’m gonna have to give up on window treatments for a while. You want something to eat?”

  Kat followed Maria back into the living room, where Scarlett had settled into the sofa with one paw stretched out in front of her. Kat sat next to the kitten, who crawled into her lap. With her fingertip Kat traced the tabby M pattern above the kitten’s striking golden eyes. “She’s so pretty.”

  Maria busied herself in the kitchen, opening a can of soup. “Want a Twinkie? They make a fine appetizer.”

  “No thanks.”

  “You have no sense of culinary adventure.”

  Kat leaned back on the sofa and let Scarlett crawl up on her stomach for a power nap. The kitten curled up into a little fuzzy orange ball, and Kat slowly stroked the soft fur. “I got the invitation to Beth and Drew’s wedding yesterday.”

  “That’s the woman who dated the engineer, right? With the stinky dog?”

  “Actually it was her mom’s dog, but yes, Beth went out with Joel a long time ago.”

  Maria pressed buttons on the microwave and turned to face Kat. “So marriage, huh? That sounds so permanent.”

  “Drew is really nice. And he has the cutest puppy.”

  Maria gestured at the somnolent kitten. “You’re just a sucker for tiny furry things.”

  “Maybe so. But when I saw them, he and Beth seemed so happy.”

  “You wanna eat over there on the coffee table?”

  “Yes. I don’t want to disturb Scarlett.”

  “It’s always a fine idea to let the Tiny Tabby Terror sleep when sleep finally happens.” Maria put the bowls of soup on the coffee table and sat down next to Kat. “So after all this time, you and the engineer must have talked about marriage. Is he for or against the institution?”

  Kat sat up, readjusting Scarlett on her lap so she could reach her soup. “I’m not sure. The subject has never come up, I guess.”

  “He seems to be a permanent resident of your house. Don’t you guys ever talk to each other?”

  “Of course we do. In fact, today he was so sweet when I melted down about the loggers coming out to cut the
trees.”

  “So if he asked you, what would you say?”

  “You mean if he asked me to marry him?” Kat looked down at her hand on the kitten. “Give me a break. I don’t think he’s going to do that.”

  “Why not?” Maria looked at Kat and shook her head. “Okay, fine. Never mind. I don’t want to pry, but as you know, I am a romantic. Given my lack of any action with members of the opposite sex lately, I have ample time to ponder your romantic life. I mean, you actually have one, which is more than I can say. But what if he does pop the question and you’re not prepared? You need to be ready. I don’t suppose you told him about your little adventure in Vegas, did you?”

  “No. That was a long time ago. And I don’t think it was legal, anyway.”

  “I know you’ve been putting it off since, well, I don’t even know how long, but maybe it’s time you checked. If you crazy kids filed a marriage license on that excursion, I’m guessing the State of Nevada thinks you’re married, even if you don’t.”

  “You know I don’t remember what happened. Ned was such a loser, I can’t believe he would have been organized enough to think about stopping by a courthouse. There’s absolutely no way.”

  “You’ll get no argument from me that he was a loser of the most extreme nature. My opinions on that particular subject have been detailed at length over many bottles of wine. But what if you did actually do the deed? If you end up getting married to the engineer, you’d be a bigamist and that’s sooo illegal. Not to mention icky. You’ve got to get over yourself and check on this, girlfriend. We’re talking one or two phone calls at the most and you’d know for sure.”

  Kat slumped down on the sofa. “I guess. It wasn’t an issue for years, since as you know, I wasn’t exactly Miss Popularity with the male of the species. And lately, I’ve had a lot of other things on my mind. All that mess with Ned was such a long time ago. I know I’m not married. I don’t think anything happened. If it did, I would remember. Wouldn’t I?”

  “Maybe...maybe not. You’re just too chicken to call the State of Nevada and find out.”

  “I am not!”