The Seat Filler: A Novel Page 12

  “But my rent is due in four days,” I told her. I didn’t have however many days they were going to take to give me back my money.

  “It could be worse,” she told me sympathetically. “You reported it within two business days, which means your liability is limited to fifty dollars. If you’d waited more than sixty days, your liability could have been up to five hundred dollars.”

  “Wait, what? Someone stole from me and I’m liable for fifty bucks?” I know it didn’t sound like much, but it was a lot of money to someone like me.

  “Because they used your debit card and it was processed as a debit instead of a credit transaction, it’s not under the same sort of protection, and you do have liability.”

  My mom had told me once to always use my bank card as a credit card, and now I was finally understanding why. “But isn’t that why the cards have those chips in them? To force them to input my PIN?”

  “Not every vendor has an updated card reader, and there are places that will take a swipe instead.”

  I put my head in my free hand. What was I going to do? I felt totally defeated. “Okay. I guess it is what it is.” It didn’t sound like there was a whole lot I could do. I assumed Karen was only doing what she was supposed to do. “Thanks.”

  “Sure thing, Juliet. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

  “No.” There wasn’t anything else she could do to help with the rest of the mess that had become my life.

  “You have a good day, and thank you for doing business with Regional Advantage Bank.” Pause. “And say hi to Noah Douglas for me the next time you see him.”

  She hung up, having shot that last barb at me with a slightly sarcastic tone. Someone nicer probably would have assumed she was being polite, but I knew my own kind and how we threw shade at others.

  I needed money. Like, now. Not fifteen days from now. And business days were stupid. Our world was international and open 24-7. There should just be days, and weekends should count when someone took all your money.

  A cold chill enveloped me, and I shuddered a little. I was just now understanding what had actually happened—and there was a sense of violation that some unnamed person had stolen from me. Taken everything I’d worked so hard for and blown it all in just over twelve hours. It seemed so unreal that I’d been robbed. My normally dim outlook on humanity had grown even bleaker.

  I glanced at my phone. I needed to take that shower and get ready. I had an appointment in a couple of hours. I relied on muscle memory to carry me through the motions as I considered my options.

  There was always my mom, but she had a major hang-up about me not repeating her mistakes. She didn’t want me to marry someone older than me who had a reputation as a player like my dad apparently had (I found that hard to believe) and who would walk away when things got too hard. She’d always counseled me to be sensible and get a steady, well-paying job. She had not been pleased when I’d graduated with an accounting degree but no plans of becoming an accountant. That I would figure out what I wanted my job to be.

  When I told her about my plan to buy the van and start Waggin’ Wheels, she reminded me that I wasn’t prepared and didn’t know how hard it was to start your own business (which she had done, so she knew better than I did). I kept insisting that I could do it and she didn’t have to take care of me. There was no way I was going to run to her now and admit that she’d been right about everything and I needed financial help.

  Especially since she was being so careful with her own expenses because she was pursuing her degree full-time. I knew her concern came from a place of love and that she would help if I asked, but it was important to me to be independent.

  I could ask Shelby, given that Noah was paying her so well and all, but I wondered if that would be akin to him giving me money, and I definitely did not want that.

  It was something I kept running over in my mind. Part of me hoped that the bank would do their investigation quickly and that I didn’t need to worry about bringing in some extra money, but I knew I couldn’t depend on it.

  I spent the day helping out at an adoption fair for a local animal shelter. Volunteering always put me in a good mood. While there I also handed out fliers offering one free grooming session to anyone who adopted a dog. There was nothing better to me than knowing animals were going to a good home, and I could definitely use the karma points. The hours flew by and thankfully distracted me from my current circumstances.

  After the fair ended and we’d packed everything up, my problems came rushing back. What was I going to do? What could I do?

  I could sell my plasma. I could try to get some gig job like delivering food or doing people’s grocery shopping. The problem was that I didn’t have a car, just my van. And by the time I added in the gas costs, I probably wouldn’t be making any money. I could try to borrow Shelby’s car, but now that she had a full-time job again, I knew she’d be driving all over the place to meet with her contractor and look for samples to show Noah and pick up band saws and jackhammers or whatever she did with her day, and her car would not be available.

  When I got into the van, my phone rang. It was Shelby.

  I answered and said, “This is a coincidence. I was just thinking about you.”

  “Juliet, I need your help.”

  I put on my seat belt and said, “I swear, if you’re calling me because you’re claiming that Noah is in desperate need of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation . . .” I mean, I would probably be too freaked out to do it, but if it meant keeping him alive, I could probably take one for the team.

  Maybe.

  “No, it’s nothing like that.” It was then that I noticed the frantic edge in her voice, making me feel like a jerk for teasing her. “I’m at Noah’s place with the movers and there was someone here watching his dog because I told him we’d be in and out all day and that guy just took off and I remembered that you mentioned that the dog tries to get out and run off and everybody’s asking me what to do but I’m so distracted and I cannot start this job by losing Noah Douglas’s dog.”

  Honestly, she was extremely lucky that Magnus hadn’t run away already. “Okay, there’s a leash hanging up in the kitchen. Put it on his collar and hold on to him until I get there. Things are going to be fine. I’m on my way. I’ll take care of him.”

  Traffic was terrible and I could hear my phone buzzing, presumably with texts from Shelby asking if I was almost there yet. Shelby had never really liked animals, and I could only imagine that this was freaking her out. Magnus was a sweet boy, but he was a big dog and might not be all that easy for her to manage.

  When I arrived, Shelby was waiting out front with tears streaming down her face. “I’m so glad that you’re here!”

  I hugged her briefly and moved to take the leash. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded and gulped. “This has to go well. It just does. I cannot blow this again. This is my last chance.”

  “I’ve got this,” I told her. And I meant it. I was going to do whatever I had to do to make sure that this was a success. Shelby was my framily (my friend who was also my family), and I had her back. “Go and do whatever you need to do. I’ll take him for a walk.” Magnus wagged his tail at me, apparently pleased to see a slightly familiar face. Or maybe he understood the word walk.

  “Thank you,” she said. “I owe you one.”

  A mover stepped out of the front door. “Are we taking the mattress or leaving it here?”

  “Leaving it here. I’ll be inside in a second to tell you what else goes and what stays,” she said. Then she whispered to me, “Can you believe Noah Douglas has a mattress on the floor? Like he’s still in college? I can’t wait to buy him an actual bed.”

  I didn’t want to think about Noah in any bed. “Sounds fun. Anyway, we’re off.”

  She waved happily to me, her good spirits restored now that I was in charge of Magnus.

  “Come on, boy.”

  We’d only been walking for a couple of minutes when I noticed a
dog sitting across the road from us, watching. He looked like a black poodle mix. He had on a collar, but I didn’t see any people with him. The road had a sharp bend here, and I was afraid he might run out into the street at the wrong moment and get hit.

  I tugged Magnus to come with me, and I crossed the road. The dog growled slightly, as if warning us not to come too close, but there wasn’t any real conviction behind it. In fact, he looked like he was trembling a little. I put the loop of the leash handle around my wrist to free up my hands. I told Magnus to sit and he did as I asked. I crouched down and pulled out one of the treats I still had in my pocket and offered it to the dog. He waited a few moments, sniffing the air between us. In the end his hunger won out, and he came over to scarf down the treat.

  “Good boy,” I said, and then I reached out carefully and picked him up. He was light and easy to carry in one arm. I took a look at his tag. His name was Sunshine, and I put his address into my maps app. When I asked it to give me directions, it told me to walk about a minute south to get to his house. I had to turn my phone around to determine that south meant left.

  “Let’s get you home,” I told him. “I bet somebody is missing you.”

  Sunshine’s house was a bungalow that reminded me of Noah’s place, and I knocked on the door. An older woman with long white hair answered the door. “What?”

  Did she not see that I was holding her dog? “I found Sunshine here on the side of the road.”

  She shaded her eyes and stepped forward. “I didn’t realize that he’d gotten out. How were you able to carry him? Sunshine doesn’t like strangers.”

  “He seems to like me.” I was good with difficult dogs. We had an understanding. The understanding was that I would ply them with treats if they made a minimal effort to do what I wanted. It had worked out well for me so far.

  “I suppose you better come inside,” she said with a grimace, and I followed her in. A real curmudgeon, as my mom would say. “I’m Gladys Kravitch.”

  “Juliet Nolan,” I responded.

  “You out wandering the neighborhood looking for lost dogs?” She closed the front door once I’d stepped inside.

  “I was just up the road at Noah Douglas’s house, helping out with Magnus.” I lifted his leash, in case she hadn’t noticed him, either.

  She fixed her annoyed gaze on the dog, and Magnus hid behind my legs. “Bah. The movie star.” She said the words with disgust, the same way I’d say the spinach and kale salad.

  “This way.” Magnus followed us as she led me down a narrow hallway into her living room, and it struck me how sparse it was. My own grandmother had died years ago, but I remembered her house being full of tchotchkes and knickknacks. While there was definitely a grandma vibe to the decor, with heavy burgundy drapes, a lace doily on the coffee table, and older oak furniture, there were no mementos out. No collectibles or walls full of pictures. There was, in fact, only one picture.

  “Is this you and your husband?” I asked.

  “Yes.” She paused. “Was. Was my husband.”

  “I’m so sorry. When did he pass?”

  “Last year.” I heard the way her voice caught. “My Bruce and I were married for forty-seven years.” She sat down on the couch and pointed to a stuffed, quilted armchair and said, “Sit. There.” Like I was one of the dogs.

  I just did what she told me. It was easier. I usually dealt well with prickly people, because I realized that everyone had more stuff going on in their lives than they usually cared to admit, so it was easy to ignore the small, offensive things. I put Sunshine down, but he immediately turned around and tried to get back up in my lap, so I let him.

  “You expecting a reward?”

  “No! I just wanted to bring Sunshine home.”

  She pointed to the writing on my polo shirt. “Waggin’ Wheels?”

  “It’s my company,” I told her proudly. “A mobile dog-grooming service.”

  “Do you ever do dog sitting?”

  Huh. I’d never considered that. Maybe it would be a good idea for me to include more services beyond grooming. It could mean more clients. “I haven’t, but I guess I could. Why?”

  She pointed toward the hallway, and it was then that I noticed a large suitcase. “My fool sister broke both her legs when she was taking down her Christmas lights. I’m her only living relative, and I have to fly out to Montana to look after her. Her condo complex doesn’t allow any pets, so I need someone to take care of Sunshine. He already seems to like you.”

  “I’d love to, but I can’t take him home with me. My apartment doesn’t allow dogs, either.”

  “Stay here. I have a guest room.”

  “Here?” I asked, surprised by how sudden this all felt. “But you don’t even know me.”

  “I was going to call a service and have them send a stranger over that I’d make the same offer to. How is this any different? At least this way I already know that Sunshine won’t bite you, which gives you a leg up over anyone else. I’d need you to be here for two weeks. I can pay you fifteen hundred dollars. Half now, half when I get back.”

  I didn’t even know what to charge her, or if that was fair or maybe even too much. I didn’t want to take advantage of her. “If you’re on a limited income, you don’t have to—”

  She cut me off. “I can take care of myself just fine. My Bruce made sure of that.”

  I felt like I was going to insult her if I refused or offered to do it for less, so I said, “I’d love to.” This was definitely going to solve my money problems, and it presented me with a way to diversify my business for the future.

  “Good.” She nodded. “I tend to trust my gut, and it’s saying you’re the right person for the job. Can you start tomorrow?”

  “Yes.” That would give me a chance to go home and pack a bag.

  “Come on. I’ll give you the tour.”

  As I stood up and looked out of her window, I caught a glimpse of Noah’s house.

  And it was only then that I realized I was about to become his closest neighbor for the next two weeks.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Gladys’s house had three bedrooms and two bathrooms. She showed me the guest room and where she kept the spare linens and towels. In the hallway there was a picture of Gladys and Bruce on their wedding day. She was wearing a long, flowy yellow dress and had a wreath of flowers in her hair.

  “You look so beautiful in this photo,” I told her.

  “My Bruce convinced me to elope. I wore my prom dress. He always did have fool ideas about things.”

  In the family room, she showed me the TV and the various necessary remotes. I was instructed not to mess with the DVR recordings of her “stories.”

  “My Bruce was always messing with the timers,” she said. I could hear the ache in her voice every time she mentioned her husband. She probably just thought they had been average people in a regular relationship, not knowing how many people probably looked at them and hoped they would find what she’d already had.

  I know I did, even if it was impossible for me to have that in my own life.

  We went into her kitchen, and she pointed out several places where the wood floors were buckling. “We had some water damage a few years ago. My Bruce always intended to replace them but he never had the time, and then he got sick . . .” She trailed off and shook her head. “Just keep an eye out when you’re in here.”

  She showed me where she kept Sunshine’s food. She had already written out her daily routine with her dog, and it boiled down to feeding him at specific times in the morning and evening and taking him for two daily walks. Easy.

  Sunshine also had an orange teddy bear that he adored but was often misplacing. She told me to keep an eye on it. I told her I would.

  “Any questions?” Gladys asked.

  “Not that I can think of.”

  I put my phone number into her cell phone and then called it so that we’d have each other’s numbers. She told me she would Venmo me the seven hundred and fifty d
ollars, and I tried not to look surprised that she knew how to do that. She then went to a drawer to give me a copy of her front door key. “I’ll be leaving for my flight at six in the morning tomorrow. You should come over sometime after that.”

  “I will,” I said as I tucked the key into my front pocket. “Thanks for the opportunity. I will take really good care of Sunshine.”

  She walked me to the front door, and when Magnus and I stepped out onto the porch, she said, “You feel like an answer to a prayer, although I haven’t spoken to God since my Bruce died.”

  “You’re kind of an answer to a prayer for me, too.”

  But apparently that was too much emotion for her, as she just muttered, “Bah,” and shut the door in my face.

  I grinned. I liked Gladys.

  I walked back up the road toward Noah’s house while Magnus tried to sniff every rock and twig we passed. The moving crew’s van was gone, but Shelby’s car was still out front. I let myself inside the house, calling her name.

  She came out of the kitchen. “Hey! You were gone awhile.”

  “Yeah, I just got a job with Noah’s neighbor. She’s going to pay me to dog sit, so I’ll be there for a couple of weeks.” Then I told her about how my morning had gone and my checking account situation and that the down payment Gladys had given me would tide me over until the bank put my money back.

  “That’s a relief,” she said. “And yay for you for expanding your business. Speaking of business, have I mentioned that this is my dream job?”

  “Maybe once or twice,” I teased.

  “Noah said not to go too crazy but that I had no budget. He would trust me.”

  Wow. That was a mistake of epic proportions. “Does he know how you are?”

  “I won’t go nuts.”

  “Ha. Famous last words. Maybe you should give him solid-gold countertops.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” I expected her to tell me it would be too tacky, but instead she said, “The weight of them would crush the cabinets underneath.” She grabbed her sketchbook and put her laptop into her purse. “I need to get home and start ordering some stuff. The permits should come through by this Friday, and then we can start construction first thing next Monday.”