Page 19 of Pugs & Kisses

R idley, girl, what is this?”

Evie burst out laughing at the tall, furry hat Ashanti placed atop her head.

“It’s not for you; it’s for the dog,” Ridley said. “It’s a hat like the guardsmen at Buckingham Palace wear. I figured Barkingham Palace’s mascot should have one.” She looked over at Evie. “Sorry, I didn’t bring one for your mutt. Granted, I didn’t know you had a mutt.”

“No worries.” Evie waved her off. “It’s sweet that you would have bought Waffles a gift if you had known he existed.”

“That’s a silly name, by the way,” Ridley told her. She glanced over to where Evie sat with her legs tucked underneath her on the sofa, Waffles snuggled in her lap. “But he does look like he has a blob of syrup on his head.”

“Thus the name,” Evie said, running her fingers along Waffles’s fur.

She had been fully prepared to keep her dog secured in his travel crate while she and Ashanti helped Ridley settle in from her two-month stint across the pond, but Ridley told her not to bother locking him up.

Six months ago, she balked at the idea of a dog in her downtown high-rise condo; now she was bringing home doggy souvenirs.

As far as Evie could tell, London had been good for her friend.

“Thank you for thinking of Duchess,” Ashanti said. “I’m sure she’ll love it.”

“I’m surprised she isn’t here. You and that damn dog are usually joined at the hip.”

“She’s at The PX with Thad and Puddin’. They’re putting the finishing touches on the Cigar Room. It looks amazing. They went with the deep raspberry-colored accents.” She kissed the tips of her fingers. “Perfection.”

“When is the grand opening?” Evie asked. “Well, the re–grand opening?”

“Thad is shooting for the end of next month, but Von thinks they’ll be ready within the next four weeks.”

“Have you started searching for a new job, Ev?” Ridley asked as she lifted a designer blazer from a designer garment bag.

Evie sent Ashanti a look. That obvious subject change had not gone unnoticed, but she and Ashanti had decided before coming to Ridley’s that they wouldn’t push her to talk about Von.

Although Evie really, really wanted to push.

She wanted the whole story when it came to what went down between her and Thad’s best friend.

The fact that Von refused to talk was also telling, at least according to Thad, via Ashanti.

Evie would get a full account out of Ridley eventually. Right now, there were other things she needed to discuss with her friends, and Rid had given her the segue she needed.

“I’ve put off the job search for the moment,” Evie said. “I have another project I want to handle first, and I’m hoping you and Shanti can help brainstorm a few ideas. You remember The Sanctuary near Audubon Zoo, Rid?”

“The pet rescue where you interned that one summer?” Ridley asked.

She nodded. “I used to help out often before things got so busy with working at the clinic and at Barkingham Palace, but I hadn’t been there in well over a year.”

“Sorry,” Ashanti said.

“No need to apologize,” Evie said. “It’s not as if you forced me to work for you. I do feel bad about abandoning the rescue, though. And I discovered a few days ago that things have gotten really bad there. As in, it may shut down. The mentorship program has already been disbanded.”

“No way,” Ashanti said. “I always regretted that I never got the chance to take part in that program.”

“Well, no one will if The Sanctuary closes,” Evie said. She lifted Waffles from her lap and moved her feet from underneath her, setting them flat on the floor, along with her dog. “I’ve decided to put off the job search for now so that I can focus on trying to save The Sanctuary.”

“Exactly how much will it take to save it?” Ridley asked.

Good question.

“One of the issues we’re facing is the fact that we don’t think Doc Landry has given us the full picture of how bad things are.”

“Oh, how is Dr. Landry?” Ashanti asked. “I loved him as a professor.”

“Doc is Doc,” Evie said with a shrug. Ashanti’s nod signified that her answer was sufficient. “But we didn’t really need Doc to tell us that things aren’t going well. It was obvious to us by the state of the facility.”

“Who is this us you keep mentioning?” Ridley said.

Shit. She hadn’t caught what she was saying, but of course Ridley did. With a healthy intake of breath, Evie prepared herself for the fallout from her next words.

“Um, Bryson Mitchell is also going to help with the effort to save The Sanctuary. I’m meeting him for dinner this evening so that we can come up with an initial plan.”

“Wait a fucking minute!” Ridley said, tossing the cashmere sweater she was folding onto the floor as if it were a dirty rag. “Bryson Mitchell? That fine-ass basketball player you dated back in school?”

“I never dated him,” Evie said.

“Bullshit,” Ridley said.

“We volunteered at The Sanctuary together that summer. We did not date.”

“Come on now, Ev. Don’t try to rewrite history,” Ashanti said.

“What?” Evie said, going for the most innocent look she could manage.

“Girl, do you not remember that weekend Shanti and I spent with you at your parents’ house that summer? We could play connect the dots with the hickeys that man put on your neck.”

Evie felt her entire body flush with the most intense heat ever. She absolutely remembered that weekend. She’d met Bryson at The Sanctuary for what was supposed to be a quick check-in on a Doberman that had been rescued from a storm drain. The check-in turned out to be not so quick.

“Fine, I can admit that things got a bit… overly friendly that summer,” Evie said. “But we were not a couple. We were just having a little fun.”

“You should have fucked him,” Ridley said. “I told you that back then. Instead, you returned to LSU that fall and went back to Cameron’s crusty ass.”

Because Bryson left Louisiana without so much as a goodbye.

Evie pushed down the rush of indignation and hurt that bubbled to the surface.

“That all happened a long time ago,” she said. “It has nothing to do with what’s happening with The Sanctuary today.”

“The hell it doesn’t,” Ridley said. “Is he married? Because if he isn’t, you better fuck that man now. Make up for time lost.” She pointed a stiletto heel at her. “Better yet, fuck him in front of Cameron!”

“What is with you and this new fascination with voyeurism?” Ashanti asked.

“I’m not sure, but it’s become my preferred porn genre.

” Ridley shrugged. “But I don’t want Ev to fuck the basketball star in front of Cameron for my benefit.

Although I would love to see him lose his shit over you getting your back blown out by someone better than him. This is for you, Ev. You deserve it.”

Evie pushed up from the sofa and walked over to the glass-topped dining room table where Ridley was sorting her unpacked clothes. She picked up the cashmere sweater from the floor and added it to a pile on the table.

“No one will be getting their back blown out anytime soon,” Evie said.

“Ahem.” Ashanti cleared her throat.

“A-fucking-hem,” Ridley followed.

Evie held up both her middle fingers. “You can both go to hell,” she said.

The three of them burst out laughing.

“All jokes aside,” she continued. “I just broke up with Cameron. What would it look like to have me dating this soon?”

“Like you have common sense and good taste,” Ridley said.

Evie shook her head. “I think it’s better I just chill for a while when it comes to men. I’d rather focus on The Sanctuary. It’s filled with sweet dogs that are probably more loyal than any man I know.”

“True dat,” Ridley said.

“What do you need from us regarding The Sanctuary?” Ashanti asked.

Evie pressed her palm to her forehead and slid into a cream-colored leather seat at the table.

“Honestly, there’s so much that I’m not sure where to even start.” She held her hands up. “No. That’s a lie. I do know the first place to start. The website is an atrocious, obsolete mess. Oooh!” She reached across the table and picked up a blue and white package. “Can I have a cookie?”

“It’s called a biscuit,” Ridley said in a horrible British accent. Then, in her normal voice, said, “Take the entire pack. I brought a bunch of them home with me.”

Evie pulled out a thin cookie—biscuit—and bit into it.

“There’s nowhere for people to donate online to The Sanctuary,” she continued. “There’s not even a Facebook page.”

“That’s a minimum,” Ashanti said.

“Even I know they should have a Facebook page, and I hate that hellscape,” Ridley said.

“Do you think Kara can build us a website?” Evie asked. Ashanti’s seventeen-year-old sister was a genius at that kind of stuff. She had been in charge of Barkingham Palace’s social media when everything went viral last year. “I’ll pay her out of my own pocket.”

“It’s a nonprofit, so it would count toward her community service hours.”

“Perfect,” Evie said, her shoulders drooping with the relief that washed over her.

She’d anticipated Ashanti and Ridley coming through for her, and they did not disappoint.

Not that she ever expected them to. She had been able to count on Ashanti since the day she met her back as an undergrad at LSU.

The same went for Ridley, though her help tended to come with a side of salty commentary Evie could often do without.

“Is that all you need from Kara? A website?” Ashanti asked.

“The website is just the start. The Sanctuary doesn’t have a social media presence at all.” Evie grabbed the package of cookies—these were coming with her—and went to collect her bag and her dog. “I’ll let you know what comes out of my dinner tonight with Bryson.”

“I know one thing that should come—” Ridley started, but Evie stopped her, pointing two fingers in her direction.

“Don’t finish that statement.”

Ridley held her hands high. “I’m just saying.”

“Let’s go, Waffles,” Evie said. “We have fifteen minutes to get to the restaurant.”

“You’re bringing the dog on your date?” Ridley asked.

“Yes, and it’s not a date,” Evie said.

She put her hands in the air again. “If you say so.”

“Have fun on your non-date,” Ashanti added with a laugh.

Goodness, what was she going to do with those two? Well, besides keep them. Evie knew she would never find better friends.