Page 32 of Men or Paws

Too late now.

Beth peeked over at me before averting her eyes toward the window. “You have a nice view of the backyard from the office.” She nodded a couple of times. “Very nice.”

I held in a laugh.

Her acting skills needed some work.

She was clearly uncomfortable seeing a check with so many zeroes.

Beth shifted back and forth, her weight on the left leg, then on the right, avoiding eye contact. Obviously not knowing what to do with herself, she finally decided to park her butt on the edge of the desk and cross her arms.

I held in another laugh.

Beth was sitting on the check.

The thought did occur to me to let her know about her butt blunder, but maybe that would make her even more uncomfortable than she already was. Getting back to showing her the house and moving on with our day was my best course of action.

“Shall we continue the tour?” I asked.

“Yes!” Beth pushed off the edge of the desk like she had been sitting on burning coals, her quick movement sending the check fluttering in the air.

Unfortunately, Houdini clutched it in between his teeth before it hit the floor.

“No!” I lunged toward the dog and grabbed him by the snout. “Drop it.” I tried to pry open his mouth and remove the check before it disappeared down his throat or got too soggy, but that just made him clench his jaws tighter. “Drop the check, Houdini.”

He wagged his tail and growled, like we were playing with one of his chew toys.

“Houdini, drop it,” Beth said, bending down toward Houdini, but instead of helping me she bopped my head with hers. “Ouch.”

We both stood up straight and rubbed our heads, staring at each other.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

Beth nodded, continuing to rub her head. “I’m fine, and you?”

I nodded. “I’ll live, but you’ve got a hard head.”

She smirked. “You’re one to talk.”

Houdini hacked up the check.

It landed on the top of my foot, partially on the bare skin, the other part on my flip-flop.

I reached down and scooped up the goopy, paper mess, wrinkling my nose. “This is disgusting.” I dropped the check in the garbage can.

“I’m so sorry about that,” Beth said.

“No worries—I’ll just write another check. You weren’t supposed to see that.”

Beth frowned. “I wasn’t snooping, I promise. The check was just there on the desk when I was looking at the scripts.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “I believe you.”

Beth stared at me with a dazed look on her face, like she was having difficulty seeing me through a thick layer of fog.

Pretending not to notice her reaction, I gestured to the door. “Almost done, just a few more stops on this exclusive VIP tour.”

“Lucky me,” Beth said, her sarcasm returning.