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“Fine, five tomorrow,” I said. “The other three… on Wednesday?”

Behind me, Beast was pulling hard on my pants leg. His little teeth were scraping my skin, but I tried not cry out.

After all, dogs were forbidden by my lease.

“Tuesday,” Jerry countered finally. “Take the weekend. Forget paying tomorrow, just have the whole thing for me on Tuesday.”

I sighed with relief… until my pants ripped. Beast went tumbling sideways, landing in plain sight.

Jerry frowned. I smiled awkwardly and shrugged.

“You know dogs aren’t—”

“He’s very little,” I offered meekly.

“Still…”

“Tiny. And quiet. So, so quiet. Right beast?”

On cue of course, Beast wagged his tail and barked.

Jerry’s frown softened, but only a bit. He stared at my little corgi for another moment or two, then took his foot out of the doorway.

“Eight-hundred dollars, miss Decker. Cash. Tuesday morning.” He raised an eyebrow. “We on the same page with all that?”

I nodded eagerly. “Same page, same paragraph.” He was still staring me down. “Same sentence.”

Jerry finally smirked and nodded back before spinning away. “Have a good weekend then.”

The door closed, and I leaned back against it. My face was soon covered in corgi kisses as I sank to the floor.

I didn’t have eight-hundred dollars. Hell, I didn’t have half that amount. Not yet, anyway.

That’s all your own fault, you know.

Beast continued licking my face, improving my sour mood. In truth it was my fault. I’d been splurging on ingredients. Buying the best when I could’ve made more economical substitutions. Still, it was hard for me not to. When I cooked, I cooked with the best. The best knives, the best cookware, the best spices. I bought the freshest proteins, too. Grass-fed beef. Free range chickens. Cage-free eggs…

Think any one of your clients care where their eggs come from?

It was stupid, I knew, because it was costing me my business. I was barely making enough to eke out a profit, much less pay my rent and make bills. Originally I’d figured I could save money as well. Finish out culinary school. Get a job somewhere prestigious, work my way up the ranks..

Maybe one day even open my own restaurant.

Your own restaurant? Yeah, okay.

It wasn’t that I couldn’t do it, it was just that everything still seemed so far away. Right now I was still trying to scrape together rent for my meager little apartment…

…while fighting off an overly-affectionate corgi.

I held Beast out at arm’s length. “Do you have eight-hundred dollars?”

He stared back at me with his curious brown eyes and cocked his head.

“Yeah,” I chuckled. “Didn’t think so.”

Three

KAYLEEN