Chez Stinky (15 page)

“Well, I’ll have to get back to you about that. Everyone in Alpine Grove knows me.”

Kat wasn’t sure if those who knew Bud would vouch for his work, but she figured she’d see if she could extract a few salient details. “Who have you worked for recently?”

“Well, I added a porch on my house.”

“Can I take a look at it? I’d like to see an example of your work.”

“I’m not quite done. It just needs a few finishing details. I can call you when I got it all straightened out. I have some car repairs that I’m working on right now, too. I got a race car in my yard that I’m fixing up. The wife says that if I don’t get it running, she’s going to have it towed to the scrap yard, along with the rest of my other cars I’m restoring. So that’s been taking my priority right now. And I can only work a few hours before my back starts to hurt and then I need to rest.”

“It sounds like you’re busy. I plan to get a number of estimates before I make a decision. Thank you for your time.”

As she hung up the phone, Kat decided she was done with Bud. There had to be other contractors in Alpine Grove. Or somewhere nearby. All she needed was someone with tools who knew about building. Of course, Joel had tools. Maybe she should call him again. Her mind drifted. He’d had such a cute half-smile when she was babbling at him while he was removing the cat from the wall. But he probably thought she was a complete nutcase. Or even worse, just another woman who breaks things like his sister.

After making the command decision that Bud and Martha were never going to touch Chez Stinky again, Kat was ready to attack the house again. The next step in her marathon cleaning program would be to deal with the living room. After walking the dogs and settling them back in their hallway downstairs, she donned her grubby clothes, ready to wage another battle with the dust dinosaurs.

The process of cleaning was by turns bittersweet and disgusting. She swept the rough-hewn floors and discovered old pennies, thousands of dead bugs, and even a desiccated gold fish that had been lurking in a corner behind a shelf. As she went around the living room and carefully dusted the knick-knacks sitting on the various cabinets, dressers, and shelves, she was hit with a bout of nostalgia. She remembered playing with them when she was a little girl. Her favorite had been a little ceramic woman wearing a hoop skirt, which actually was a bell.

Ever the literal one, Kat had named the little musical figurine Belle. As she rubbed the damp cloth over the web pattern of cracks in the ceramic, a tear ran down her cheek. In all the confusion of dealing with the inheritance and the house, Kat hadn’t had much time to think about the fact that she wouldn’t see her Aunt Abigail again.

Abigail had always been the weird, fun aunt who liked to get out and do things. Whether it was hiking in the forest or deciding that it was time to jump in the car and go get an ice cream cone, she was often in motion. And unlike a lot of grown-ups at that time in Kat’s life, Abigail talked to her like an intelligent (if small) person. The sum total of her conversation didn’t consist of “Oh, look how much you’ve grown!”

Abigail had always seemed interested in Kat’s little-girl life. She wanted to know about Kat’s friends, school, and what she liked to do. Knowing Kat liked creating crafty things, Abigail always had some type of embroidery or craft kit for her to work on whenever she visited. In fact, Kat had discovered a worn woven-loop potholder with crispy edges that she was pretty sure she had created years ago with a loom kit.

After she dusted the surface of an old credenza, she pulled out the drawers and discovered a cache of CDs. Kat hadn’t seen a CD player anywhere, so she opened up the double doors on the front of the battered piece of furniture to discover a remarkably modern-looking stereo system. Bose speakers? Now that was a surprise. She riffled through the CD cases and learned that apparently Abigail had a fondness for rock and roll, with the occasional foray into heavy metal. Who knew?

Although Kat had been enjoying the quiet of her little corner of forest, the idea of blasting a few tunes to help her regain cleaning momentum was appealing. She opened up the door of the CD player and put in an old album from Electric Light Orchestra. As the sound of “Tightrope” filled the house, rustling sounds of dogs waking up came from downstairs. Canine nap time was over.

She went down the stairs and opened the gate to let the dogs upstairs. The four-pack, as she’d come to think of them, launched up the stairway and wandered around the kitchen and living room, sniffing to find out what had transpired since they’d last been there. Tessa raced around the living room and kitchen area twice and then screeched to a halt and stared at Kat expectantly.

“Hi, you guys. You all be good. I still have a lot of cleaning to do.”

Kat grabbed her damp dusting cloth from the sink with a flourish in time to the music. Spotting the movement, Lori perked up her ears, wagged her tail, and ran over to Kat and Tessa to join in the fun.

“So do you like ELO?”

Tessa leaped around joyfully, and Lori jumped backward a few times in front of Kat to indicate her musical enthusiasm. Linus came over to the kitchen and the three dogs followed Kat around as she danced around the living room and kitchen, dusting various surfaces as she went. By the end of the song, even Chelsey had joined in the parade. All four dogs were panting happily as the next song began. As she sang along to the music loudly and way off-key, Kat was glad that even though dogs have great hearing, they aren’t music critics.

By the time the album was over, Kat and the dogs were exhausted. Kat collapsed on the sofa, and Lori leaped up and curled up next to her. Tessa and Linus settled down on the floor in front of her feet, and Chelsey crawled under the sofa, settling in for a snooze. Kat rested her hand on Lori’s back and leaned back on the sofa. Closing her eyes, she listened to the quiet snuffly sounds of dogs snoring around her.

For Kat, the next few days consisted of more cleaning, memories, reflections, and dog walks. She settled into a comfortable routine and most of the time was able to handle Tessa, Chelsey, and the rest of the canine crew with relatively few problems. No parts of Chez Stinky fell off or disintegrated during her cleaning and no cats ended up trapped anywhere, which she regarded as a great step in the right direction.

Although she had caught only a few glimpses of the outdoor cats Butch and Sundance, those fleeting moments of flying fur, along with the food consumption, assured Kat that the pair were okay and enjoying barn-cat life. Kat also found a number of rodent body parts that indicated the felines were taking their jobs as Chief Mouse Officers seriously.

Even Murphee was slowly starting to adjust to life at Chez Stinky. One afternoon after she had patrolled the upstairs area for other cats and secured the dogs downstairs in their hallway, Kat let Murph out of the bedroom to explore. Murphee wandered around the living room and kitchen, sniffing and rubbing against furniture. Eventually, she curled up with Kat on the sofa and enjoyed some quality lap time while Kat read a novel.

Kat was still worried about the roof, but the weather had been gloriously sunny and it was easy to ignore the problem for the time being and just enjoy what was left of her vacation. Next week, she’d have to return to her cubicle and the rest of her real life. But for the time being, she wanted to relax and enjoy herself.

Now that the house was somewhat more habitable, maybe she could invite Maria up for the weekend. She could get the dirt from her friend on what was going on at the office before she had to face the world of technical writing again. She’d been completely alone for the last couple days, and it would be nice to see another human being.

Kat picked up the phone and dialed Maria’s number at the office.

“Hello. This is Maria.”

“Wow, you sound so official!” Kat said with a smile.

“Hey, girlfriend! I thought maybe you’d been chewed up by a rabid chipmunk out there in the forest. How’s it going? Have you found the man of your dreams lurking behind some big pine tree yet?

“No. Mostly I’ve been dealing with a guy named Bud who is very attached to a power saw he named Martha. I didn’t want to horn in on their relationship.”

“Sounds sexy. Things are kinda different out there in the woods.”

“Definitely. Do you want to come see for yourself? I was thinking we could do a Wine and Whine up here so you can fill me in all the fun stuff at work before I have to go back there.”

“Well, that won’t take long. Fun has not been the word of the day around here. I think Mark might be insane. What is wrong with that dude?”

“I couldn’t tell you. I don’t think he likes me much right now, either. We can talk about that when you’re here.”

“I’ll have to cancel that date I have with Brad Pitt. But for you, anything. I think I might just take a four-day weekend, too. I need to get out of this place for a while.”

“I definitely know that feeling. Before I went on vacation, I wanted to commit serious bodily harm to Mark. I think I was getting wound a bit too tight. Oh, one other thing about coming up here. You might want to bring casual clothes. And comfortable shoes. It’s a little more rustic than you might be used to. Also, you know about the dogs and cats here. They have fur. It falls off. They shed
a lot
. Just keep that in mind.”

“What do you mean ‘rustic’? You aren’t saying I can’t wear my heels, are you? You know I like my heels. I feel naked without my heels. And way too short. I hate that.”

“I’m just saying you might want to leave the stilettos at home. But it’s your choice.”

Kat gave Maria directions and suggested she drive slowly up the driveway if she valued the suspension on her car.

Chapter 5

A
ll four dogs started barking uproariously from the basement and Kat looked out the window to discover Maria’s little red Mazda Miata picking its way around the holes in the driveway. The poor little sports car was designed for pavement, not rocks and potholes.

Maria looked up at the trees as she removed the scarf from her hair. Kat sighed as she saw the four-inch heels on Maria’s sandals as she exited the little car. It was only four days; maybe Maria could make it through the visit without breaking her ankle or any other valuable body part.

Kat opened the front door and ran down the stairs to greet her friend. Linus appeared from behind the house and launched down the driveway when he saw the interloper. Maria looked up from her purse; a look of first confusion and then horror crossed her face when she saw the great hairy animal. She ran behind her car and shrieked, “What is that?”

Linus skidded to a stop and sat in front of Maria. Kat was impressed that in all the times she’d seen him meet people, he never managed to actually knock anyone over. He had amazing stopping skills, like a well-trained rodeo horse.

Kat smiled and said, “That’s Linus. He’s a dog.”

“Are you sure he’s really a dog? I didn’t think they made them that big.”

“Yes, I’m sure. How was your drive up here?”

Maria shrugged her shoulders. “What’s with the people here? I’m driving through town and there’s all these people waving at me. I didn’t know what to do, so I waved back. I felt like I was in a parade. Now, I’m okay with that because you know I’ve always wanted to be the princess on the homecoming parade float. That’s not going to happen at this late date. But I did get to do my best Princess Di wave. Maybe I can be elected Miss Alpine Grove. I need to get a homecoming king, though.”