Chez Stinky (36 page)

“I think it’s time to give Larry a call.”

Kat squealed, grabbed the document, and ran up the stairs to the phone. “Woo hoo!”

Chapter 14

A
month later, the leaves on the aspen trees were starting to change color and the forest was beginning to smell like fall. Louise, true to her word, had given her blessing for Kat to inherit Chez Stinky and receive the money from the trust.

Before the Lumberjack returned to Las Vegas, Joel had agreed to go out into the forest with him to help the old man finally find his gun. Kat kept Linus in the house, just in case. She didn’t want the Lumberjack to mistake her dog for a bear again.

Kat and Joel set to work refurbishing the roof and the rest of the house, so it would survive the winter. Kat was also having plans drawn up to build a boarding kennel the next spring. And she bought a new computer, which she set up in the second downstairs bedroom.

One sunny fall day, Kat was outside digging more weeds out of the garden when Joel stepped out of the front door onto the landing. He had rebuilt the front entryway to the house, so the stairs were now under cover and no longer sported blue carpet. Joel stood with his arms crossed. “Cindy wants to talk to you about something.”

Kat looked up from her digging. “Cindy? Why does she want to talk to me?”

“Who knows?” He turned and went back inside.

Kat brushed the dirt off her hands and went up the stairs into the kitchen to answer the phone and find out how Joel’s sister had managed to annoy him this time.

“Hi, Cindy. What’s up?”

“Joel told me you’re going to board dogs. Like as a business.”

“Yes, that’s the plan. We’re building a kennel this spring.”

“One of my friends needs to board a dog now. Right now. It’s an emergency and it’s too far for me to drive out to her place every day. Can she leave her dog with you?”

Kat raised her eyebrows. “I’m not really set up with the business yet. But Joel fixed up the Tessa Hut. It was leaning and he straightened it out, so it looks a lot better than the last time you saw it.”

“Great! She’ll be there in an hour. ’Bye!”

Kat hung up the phone slowly and looked over at Joel, who was leaning on the kitchen counter.

“Apparently, I’m in the boarding kennel business now.”

He walked over to her and wrapped her in his arms. He tilted her chin up and looked into her blue eyes. “You might be pretty busy with all those dogs.”

She smiled and put her arms around his neck. “Not
that
busy. We’ll figure it out.”

Joel bent down to kiss her and whispered, “Yes we will.”

The End

You’ve reached the end of this book,
but not the end of the series.
For more Alpine Grove adventures,
check out Book 2:
Fuzzy Logic

Thank you for dedicating some of your reading time to
Chez Stinky.
I hope you enjoyed the first novel of the Alpine Grove Romantic Comedy series.

If you would like to be notified by email when I release a new book, you can sign up for my New Releases email list at
SusanDaffron.com
.

I know that not everyone likes to write book reviews, but if you are willing write a sentence or two about what you thought of
Chez Stinky
, I encourage you to post a review at your favorite book vendor site or share a message with your social networking friends.

If you would like to share your thoughts about the book with me privately, you can reach me through the contact page on the
SusanDaffron.com
web site.

I look forward to hearing from you!

~ Susan C. Daffron

Chez Stinky
is dedicated to my mom, Margot Daffron who lost her battle with cancer a few weeks before this book was published. I wish she’d had the chance to read it.

Like all my other books, this novel is also dedicated to my husband James Byrd, my best friend and biggest supporter. Thanks for everything!

W
riting a novel is not a small task and I’d like to thank my husband James Byrd for his support and encouragement throughout my first foray into fiction. If he hadn’t written his first novel
Vaetra Unveiled
, I never would have been inspired to write
Chez Stinky
so this book wouldn’t exist.

I’d also like to thank my beta readers for their eagle-eyed reading and great feedback:

• Cynthia Daffron
  
• Dian Chapman
  
• Kathy Goughenour
  
• Kate Turner
  

Posthumous thanks to my mom Margot Daffron for finding a typo on a preliminary cover printout and to Carolyn Daffron and Rich Weishaupt for answering a few last minute questions. (I take full responsibility for any errors.)

Susan Daffron is the author of the Alpine Grove Romantic Comedies, a series of novels that feature residents of the small town of Alpine Grove and their various quirky dogs and cats. She is also an award-winning author of many nonfiction books, including several about pets and animal rescue. She lives in a small town in northern Idaho and shares her life with her husband, two dogs and a cat—the last three, all “rescues.”

Alpine Grove Romantic Comedy on Amazon.com
Chez Stinky
Fuzzy Logic
The Art of Wag
Snow Furries
Bark to the Future

Susan is also the author of a number of award-winning nonfiction books, including several about pet care and rescue. A complete list is available at:
www.susandaffron.com/books/

Get book release notices by email:
www.susandaffron.com/releases