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Lenora had the decency to look appalled by this sudden intrusion into her extramarital activities.“Bertie—I didn’t expect you back so soon.”

“They didn’t have the newCosmo,” he muttered.

Lenora produced a feeble smile.“Um… this is Hank,” she said, introducing the man with whom she was closely entangled. “Hank, meet Bertie, my husband. Hank is a traveling salesman for Berghoff,” she told Bertie, as if passing on an interesting little tidbit of information. “You should see the quality of his pots and pans. Really remarkable.”

“Oh?” said Bertie, staring at Hank, who gave him an uncertain grin, then held out his hand. It was a firm hand, with a lot of dark hair on the back. The same color of his hairy chest. His head, though, was fully bald, which obviously didn’t seem to bother Lenora.

“Nice to meet you, buddy,” said Hank the traveling Berghoff salesman.

For a moment, silence ensued, then Bertie shook the man’s hand, dropped it, and walked out of his own house, back to his car, and moments later was cruising down the road, in search of a place to stay. He had the impression his life had just turned to crap.

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When Odelia finally arrived home, she let the three cats out of her pickup, then slammed the door, still lost in thought. Like Dooley, she wasn’t happy about leaving Max in Vena’s care. Not that she doubted the vet’s qualifications, or that she would take excellent care of Max. But she had a bad feeling about leaving her cat behind, and would have preferred to stay with him throughout the procedure. The thought of Max waking up in the middle of the night in a cage gave her a sick feeling, and she wondered if she shouldn’t ask Vena if she could pick up Max as soon as the operation was behind him.

She entered the house, three cats scooting between her legs, and her heart sank as she watched the devastation. She and Chase had decided to give the house a thorough remodeling. Now that Chase had officially moved in with her, they needed to make some changes. Chase needed shelf space and closet space, and wanted to turn the guest room into an office so they could both work from home if they wanted to. Until now she’d simply plunked her laptop on the kitchen counter but a regular office was a great idea.

They’d also decided to put a stationary bike in there, and use the room as a home gym as well. And while they were at it they’d decided to put up some nice new wallpaper and give the ceilings a fresh coat of paint, too. All in all, it would be great when it was done, but right now it looked like a tornado had hit the house and decided to linger.

Chase was home already, and greeted her with a smile and a kiss.“Hey, babe. So how did it go with Max?”

“Not so good,” she said as she dropped her purse on a chair. “He needs to have an operation. Vena is going to pull three teeth. And he needs to stay there overnight.”

“Oh, heck,” he said. “That’s tough. How did he take it?”

“Um… I’m not sure. We didn’t have a lot of time to say goodbye. He wasn’t happy.”

“Yeah, I can imagine. And how are you?”

“Oh, I’ll be fine,” she said with a wave of the hand. “I was thinking…” She hesitated as she slung her arms around her boyfriend’s neck.

“Were you thinking? That’s interesting,” he said with a grin.

“I was thinking about picking up Max after the operation. There’s no need for him to stay there, is there? Locked up in a small cage, feeling woozy, waking up all alone…”

“He’s not alone. Vena is there, remember? And the other pets.”

“Yeah, but still.”

“Let’s ask Vena. She probably knows best.”

“Yeah, she probably does,” she relented, then sniffed the air. “Something smells good in here, and it’s not paint or bleach or wallpaper glue.”

He grinned, more widely this time.“I decided to surprise you with a nice home-cooked meal. To celebrate the end of phase one of our home renovation project.”

She closed her eyes with relish.“Oh, thank you thank you thank you. I’m starving.”

She hadn’t realized it before, but she really was starving. They’d painted the guest bedroom ceiling that afternoon, then she’d brought the cats to the vet, and she now realized she hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast.

Moments later she hopped up onto the high kitchen stool and enjoyed the sight of her boyfriend placing a plate in front of her. It was spaghetti bolognese, the special sauce probably her mother’s, microwaved from the freezer. She didn’t care, though. She was grateful Chase had put in the work, and she appreciated the gesture.

In a corner of the kitchen the television was softly playing, and she now focused on the image of a familiar figure.

“Isn’t that the lottery guy?” asked Chase, pointing to the screen with his fork.

“Yeah. Looks like he went missing.”

“Weird,” said Chase, twirling spaghetti around the tines of his fork like an expert.

“Why?”

“Missing person in Hampton Cove? And your uncle didn’t think to tell me?”