That Man of Mine (10 page)

“Why is he breathing like that?” Mimi asked. “Is he sick?”

“He looks like a bulldog mix,” Zeke said. “Or a pug, maybe?”

“That's Toby,” Lanie said. “He's kind of a sad case. His former owner took a job as a merchant marine and had to leave him behind. He's three and very sweet. And no, he's not sick. That just the way he breathes. He's neutered and up to date on his shots, too.”

“Does he shed?” Mimi asked. “Because he looks like he's the kind of dog that sheds.”

“Well…”

“How's his bark?” Zeke asked.

“I have no idea,” Lanie said. “He's been here a couple of weeks now but I don't think I've heard him bark. He's a little depressed, I think. Not unusual considering he's probably missing his owner.” She opened up the crate and put her hand on the dog's head. He seemed to enjoy being petted (at least Mimi thought he did), but he didn't wag his tail so it was hard to tell. “I'll be honest, you're the first people who've shown any interest in him.”

Oh, Lord
. Talk about a guilt trip.

“He seems tame enough,” Mimi said. “But he's a lot bigger than what I wanted. Maybe, we could come back next week? Will you have more dogs then?”

“But he's the one I want,” Cameron said. “Please. I promise, I'll do everything and I'll even vacuum the house if he leaves his dog hair everywhere.”

Mimi looked to Zeke for guidance, but he just shrugged as if to say this was her decision.

“Please, Mom,” Cameron asked again.

“Okay, sure. Why not?” she heard herself say.

“If Cameron can have Cujo then can I have this little cat?” Mimi turned around to find Claire holding a kitten in her arms. “She's so sweet!”

Mimi had to admit, it was adorable. Tiny and furry and looking at her with the sweetest little olive colored eyes.

“You're leaving to go to school in seven months, remember?”

“Seven months is a long way away. And you said yourself cats were way easier than dogs. They practically take care of themselves!”

“I don't know, Claire.”

It was so impractical! Getting a dog
and
a cat at the same time. She knew how this would end. In about a week, Claire would tire of the kitten, and yes, even though cats weren't a lot of work, Mimi would still be stuck taking care of it and emptying out the litter box.

Mimi waited for Claire to come up another argument or plead with her the way Cameron had, but instead Claire's face took on a resigned look. Like she knew Mimi would say no anyway. And that tactic worked better than any pleading or arguing could have.

“Oh, all right,” Mimi said. “I guess one little kitten isn't going to hurt anything.”

“Really?” Claire's voice hitched with excitement. “I going to name her Buttercup, from
The Princess Bride.
”

“And I don't want to confuse him, so I'll just keep his name Toby,” Cameron added, scratching the dog behind his ears. Toby drooled in response.

“Great!” Lanie said. “Normally, there's a twenty-four hour waiting period to check out your paperwork, but hey, if we can't trust the mayor and the chief of police, who can we trust? I'll be right back.” She scurried off to her office, leaving the four of them, or rather, the
six
of them alone.

Mimi glanced over to catch Zeke staring at her. “What?”

“You're just a big old softie, aren't you?” he said.

She looked down at their two children, both of whom were now on the ground playing with their respective new pets. They both seemed so happy. Which of course, made her happy. She could almost pretend everything was back to the way it used to be. When they were
all
happy.

A part of her wished she could go back to being the kind of wife who could compartmentalize her life and put everything in its own neat little square. Then she could take each square out whenever she needed it. But that didn't work anymore.

Zeke said he'd go back to counseling. And he seemed sincere enough. She mentally shook her head. She shouldn't do it. She shouldn't take a step backward. But on the other hand, he was right. She did still love him and she didn't want her marriage to end. So what other recourse did she have? Maybe the counseling would work this time.

“Let me think about it,” she said quietly.

He didn't ask what she meant by that or what it was she had to think about. The relieved look on his face said he already knew.

T
oby didn't just drool.
He was the king of drool. It was like Hansel and Gretel and their breadcrumbs. All you had to do to figure out which direction Toby had gone, was follow the trail of doggie saliva.

“See, Mom, he doesn't shed!” Cameron had pointed out (with no hint of sarcasm).

“Yeah, isn't it
great
?” Claire said (sarcasm included).

The only good thing about Toby was that he was indeed house-broken, for which Mimi was grateful. Especially on a morning like today when she was running late for her meeting at the bank. She'd been dreading it ever since she'd made the appointment with Bruce last week. But if she was going to try to get Billy Brenton for the
Spring Into Summer
festival, then she needed to know what had gone wrong last year.

She clipped her hair back in a low ponytail, slipped on some pearl earrings, and ran to the kitchen to make sure Toby had water in his bowl, which, yes, he did. She had to admit, the kids were keeping up their end of the bargain. Cameron walked Toby before and after school and always made sure to keep his water bowl filled. And Claire seemed happier now with Buttercup around. She'd had a few friends over the other night and the girls had locked themselves in her room, listening to music and playing with the kitten.

Speaking of the kitten…Buttercup and Toby seemed to be getting along fine (thank goodness!), but Buttercup's favorite sleeping place was Claire's bed. Which Mimi had no objection to, except that her litter box was in the laundry room. Yesterday, Buttercup had been left in Claire's room all day with the door closed and Mimi had come home to find Buttercup whimpering by the door, trying to get out. If Claire wanted Buttercup in her room, then she was going to have to leave the door open when she wasn't home.

Mimi opened the door and glanced around Claire's bedroom. Naturally, the bed was unmade and clothes littered almost every square inch of the floor. She tried to rein in her blood pressure. Teenage girls were messy. It was just a fact of life. She wasn't about to blow her stack over something so inconsequential.

“Buttercup, are you in here?”

A soft little mewl came from somewhere deep under the comforter.

“Okay, so just checking,” Mimi said, feeling a little foolish talking to a kitten. “I'm going to leave the door open so you can get to your litter box. Be a good girl! And don't make fun of Toby. He can't help it that he drools.”

Now that the pets were all accounted for, she grabbed her tote and headed out to the minivan. She'd spent last night reviewing the festival papers, making notes of her own, along with a list of questions she wanted Bruce to clarify. He'd been mayor for the past six terms (twelve whole years!) and in that time the festival had declined to the point that it was now a financial mess.

She was going to have to approach him with tact. No one wanted to acknowledge their failures. But hopefully Bruce would be man enough to help her. He might not be mayor anymore, but he still had to want what was best for Whispering Bay.

 The Whispering Bay Community Bank was a short five minute drive from her home. Mimi introduced herself to the receptionist and the woman led her to an office in the back of the bank. Bruce sat at his desk looking very important as he stared hard into a computer screen. He waved her into a chair. “I'll just be a minute.”

Mimi made herself comfortable and waited. She pulled the festival folder out of her tote and laid it across Bruce's desk.

She waited for at least ten minutes before he glanced back over at her. “Mimi, what can I do for you this morning?” Despite that it was February and cool outside, the top of his balding head glistened with sweat.

“Thank you for seeing me, Bruce. I have a few questions about the
Spring Into Summer
festival.”

“Yeah, good luck with that. It's been a thorn in my side for the past twelve years.”

“I don't understand, I thought the festival practically ran itself,” Mimi said.

Bruce made an impatient sound. “I don't expect you to understand the finances, those are pretty complicated, but the bottom line is that every year we don't raise booth prices, we lose more money. Security alone for this event is killing us. Plus, there's the tents and the portable restrooms we have to rent. Chairs, lights, you name it. All that gets more expensive each year, but our revenue has stayed the same.”

The current price for a business to rent a booth at the festival was two hundred dollars, and Bruce was right—the rate hadn't been raised in over ten years. Mimi had thought it was reasonable, but maybe Bruce had a point. Maybe the festival should increase the booth price, although she hated doing that. It wasn't just local businesses that rented booths. Housewives rented booths to sell their arts and crafts. Plus, there were dozens of non-profit organizations that rented booths at half that cost.

“But, the main purpose of the festival isn't just to raise money. It's to promote the town and the local businesses, right?”

“Yes, but the festival also has to sustain itself. It can't drain money from the city budget.”

Mimi nodded. This was the part of the conversation she'd been dreading. “Um, what happened last year with the whole Billy Brenton thing?”

“What do you mean what happened?”

Playing dumb didn't look good on Bruce. Mimi was a patient woman, but she hadn't come here to play cat and mouse with him.

“What happened, as in, why didn't he show?”

“Oh, that. Not my fault. I had a deal with his manager. Yep. I had it all set up for him to come play and then at the last minute, he backed out.”

“Wasn't there some kind of legal ramification to that? Can't the city sue him?”

Not that Mimi wanted to sue Billy Brenton (she was his biggest fan!), but if he'd really signed on to do a concert then backed out at the last minute like Bruce claimed, then he should take fiscal responsibility for the mess he'd created. As much as she hated the idea of suing anyone, her first responsibility was to Whispering Bay.

“Can you give me a copy of the contract? I can get Pilar to take a look at it and she can advise us on our best course of action.”

A trickle of sweat ran down the side of Bruce's cheek. He slipped a handkerchief out of his pocket and blotted his head. “I hope you don't say anything about this, because what I'm going to tell you is pretty damn embarrassing, but it was more of a verbal agreement. Should have known better, I know, but getting that far with him was already a major feather in my cap. I was just trying to do what was best for the city. Of course, it all blew up in my face.”

Mimi almost felt sorry for him. She thought Bruce had more business savvy. He'd advertised Billy Brenton on a
verbal
agreement? No wonder he hadn't wanted to talk about it before.

“I'm sorry it all fell apart, Bruce, but maybe considering what happened last year, he might want to make it up to us by playing at this year's festival. I know it's a long shot, especially since we're less than four months out now, but I want to give it a try.”

Bruce seemed reluctant at first, but then he opened a drawer in his desk and handed her a business card. “This is the name of the company who manages him. The contact person's name is Crystal.” He must have sensed her distrust, because he added, “I know you think I'm still bitter about the election, but you couldn't be more wrong. I only want to do what's best for this town, and if you can get Billy Brenton to play at the
Spring Into Summer
festival, then I'll be the first in line to congratulate you.”

For a second, all Mimi could do was stare at the card. Bruce was actually going to help her? Boy, had she pegged him all wrong.

Mimi tucked the card away in her tote. “Thanks, Bruce. I really appreciate this.”

*~*~*

H
ow friggin' hard could
it be to get ahold of one country music singer? Okay, so the country music singer was world famous and probably Nashville's biggest male star of the moment, but seriously,
someone
had to know how to get in touch with
someone
who could get in touch with
him
. Or at the very least, this Crystal person. This was America. Home of the Free and Land of the Brave, as well as
People
magazine, the Internet and Twitter. Nothing was sacred anymore.

Mimi hung up the phone in frustration. The number Bruce had given her was for a music management company in Nashville. She'd been shuffled from assistant to assistant for the past hour with no real hope in sight. It was useless. She might as well have been trying to call the man on the moon. She'd been at it all week and she was no closer to getting Billy Brenton than when she'd started.

Harry Tuba and his polka band were looking better and better. Except, if that was the best she could do she might just be driven out of town with pitchforks. And the
Spring Into Summer
festival was the least of her problems. Every day someone called wanting something from her. More parking spots at the city library. A new trashcan next to the public beach access. Her personal favorite, though, was a call from Mr. Quinton from the Dolphin Estates Neighborhood Association demanding that the doggie poop pick-up law be enforced with threat of jail time.
That
had been a conversation Mimi never hoped to repeat.

Why had she ever thought running for mayor would be a fun thing to do? Poor Bruce. Is this what his life had been like the past twelve years? He said he didn't harbor any ill feelings toward her for beating him out in the last election. He was probably secretly glad.

Besides her mayoral duties there was also Allie's wedding to help plan. She'd given Mimi her guest list. It was a smallish number to work with—about seventy-five guests in all. The church and the date were taken care of but there was still the dress and the reception venue to consider. A while ago Mimi had mentioned to Allie that her grandmother's dress was still in storage. It was a beautiful dress, all organza and lace and it would look gorgeous on her, but it would need alterations. Someone who knew how to work with old material and whom they could trust. Mimi had a good idea where they could find that someone. Now she just had to get Allie on board.

Today's copy of the Whispering Bay Gazette featured Allie and Tom's engagement announcement splashed across page three. It was a gorgeous picture of the two of them with their arms around one another with the gulf in the background. They were just three and half months away from the wedding. Mimi had booked a lunch at The Harbor House to discuss possibly using their banquet room for the reception.

She glanced at her watch. It was time to call it a night. She'd been in the office nearly all day, except for the three times she'd gone home to check on Toby and Buttercup. On her last visit home, Toby had left a huge drool mark on the carpet in the living room and Buttercup had discovered she had claws. Luckily, the pillow she'd decided to shred was an old one Mimi had been about to toss anyway.

She fiddled around the computer for a few more minutes, checking her email and her Facebook page to see if any of her friends had posted anything worth reading. On a whim, she decided to check out Rusty's page. Zeke had said he was staying at Rusty's cousin's fishing cabin. Right there on Rusty's profile picture was a shot of him and another man holding up a large mouth bass. A few more clicks and she found out the other man was Benny Newton, none other than Rusty's cousin of the fishing cabin fame.

A few more clicks and she pulled up a picture of said cabin and a location. It was scary how someone with minimal computer skills like herself could find out so much with so little effort. According to the map the fishing cabin was located north of Whispering Bay near the Intercoastal. Mimi figured it was at least ten miles away.

She logged herself out of her computer and grabbed her jean jacket, ready to head home. Zeke was taking the kids over to Tom's to spend the evening with Allie and Henry. They were ordering pizza and watching movies. Which sounded like fun. Like something they'd done once as a family. Tomorrow, it would be two weeks since she'd told Zeke she'd consider going back to counseling. It had been hard to think of anything else, really. It wasn't fair to keep him waiting for an answer, but she didn't want to go through a repeat of last year. If they went back to counseling, Zeke would have to prove that he was serious about it this time.

Maybe tonight she'd get her own takeout and watch a movie, too. Something completely romantic. Like
Casablanca
or
When Harry Met Sally.
Something that would blot out the frustrations of the past week. She'd get ice cream. And popcorn. And wine. Only, she'd stick to one glass, because the night of the margaritas was still too fresh to consider more than that.

She walked past the empty receptionist's desk. It was Friday afternoon and after five o'clock, so the city building was nearly deserted. She'd almost made it to her car when she spotted Doug in the parking lot. He waved and jogged over.