Chip added, “That’s one of the best things about dog shows, Lexi. They really are wonderful entertainment for the entire family.”
“Chip, Evy. Thank you so much for joining me today, and I cannot wait for next week.” Lexi turned to the camera. “After the break we have the current Best in Show title holder coming to visit us! That’s right—Baron, the legendary standard poodle, and the woman herself, Bunny Butterfield Barker, are up next along with one of the international guests this year, Juliet Lomax of London and her adorable miniature schnauzer Jade.”
There was a pause, and then a camera operator shouted, “And we’re off. One minute thirty, Lex.”
Evy felt her gut unclench, and with that moment of relaxation, a flood of background voices managed to slip in.
—ready for the nine o’clock—
—think I’ll get a wrap for—
—noticed me? She hadn’t even looked—
Nope. The jumbled voices weren’t welcome. Evy closed her eyes and clamped down on the mental shields she’d been practicing for months.
“Thanks, guys! You were great.” Lexi jumped off her tall chair and hustled to the wings where a young woman was holding a bottle of water and a mirror. “Evy, I expect you to drop some shockers.”
Evy laughed, but it sounded brittle to her own ears. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“That’s not the EV Lane I know!”
“What can I say, Lex? They’re keeping me on a short leash for this one.”
Chip was already off to the side, chatting with an older woman in full show regalia who had a black standard poodle sitting near her feet. Near them stood an elegant woman in a brilliant orange wrap dress who carried a tiny brown dog with curled whiskers in her arms.
Evy guessed that Bunny Barker was the tiny White woman with a silver bob wearing a designer suit. The woman next to her was much taller, Black, and carried herself with a regal air. She had to be the international competitor, Juliet Lomax from the UK.
Evy wandered over and held her hand out to the black poodle. “Hey there.”
The poodle ignored her, keeping his eyes fixed on Bunny and Chip, but the small brown dog shook in her owner’s arms and barked with righteous ire.
“Jade, no.” The tall woman tapped the dog’s nose and gave Evy a cutting look. “Please don’t stress the animals.”
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—”
“No, you shouldn’t have.” Bunny cut her eyes away toward Chip. “Charles, nice to see you. We need to get the dogs on the stage, but I’ll talk to you later.”
Bunny led the other woman and the two dogs onto the stage where they took their place on a low couch an assistant pointed out to them. The black dog named Baron immediately sat at attention on Bunny’s left side while the little brown dog turned in circles, inspecting the area before she settled down.
The broadcast had come back, and a chirpy meteorologist with abundant curls was sharing the weather forecast.
“I used to work for her.”
The weather lady? Evy turned to Chip. “Who?”
Chip nodded at the stage.
Evy’s eyebrows went up. “The Lomax lady from London?”
“No—Bunny.” He smiled. “I worked for Bunny.”
“She’s not very happy Lorain hired me, you know.”
“I’d heard there was some tension.” Chip smirked a little. “Bunny has very fixed opinions, but she’s not bad at heart.” He nodded at Baron. “I was Bunny and her ex-husband Stewart’s handler in the show ring for years. I probably know her dogs better than she does.”
Evy didn’t know what to say to that. “Well… That one doesn’t look neglected.”
“Oh no, Baron is the pampered prince. Did you see his collar?”
“I didn’t notice.” Evy looked back at the dogs. “Very sparkly.”
Chip leaned closer as the forecast ended and the camera turned back to Lexi, Bunny, the British woman, and the two champion dogs sitting at their feet.
“Those aren’t rhinestones,” he said. “They’re not even crystals.”
Evy’s eyes went wide. “You can’t mean—”
“Twin custom-made Cartier chokers,” Chip said. “Platinum with diamonds for her dog Zara and platinum with diamonds and onyx for Baron. I heard someone say her ex-husband spent something like a million dollars for the pair.”
Holy shit, that was insane. “Who spends that much money for dog collars?”
“Bunny.” Chip looked amused. “They had a custody fight, you know.”
“Wouldn’t their kids be too old for that?”
“No kids. The custody fight was about the dogs.”
Evy’s mouth dropped open. “No way.”
“They had a huge kennel, but Bunny’s ex ended up with most of the younger dogs, and Bunny got the prize. They both agreed that Baron and Zara shouldn’t be separated, so she got them both.”
And their collars. Evy shook her head. “Lexi was right. These dog shows attract some very strong personalities.”
Chip’s eyes hadn’t left the two dogs on the stage. “You have no idea.”
Evy got home and carefully hung her black suit in the closet. She only had three designer outfits that fit in with the Palm Springs society crowd, and those pieces had been carefully chosen.
“Aunt Marie?” She slipped into a pair of linen joggers and a cropped tank top. She might have hated having a flat chest when she was younger, but the older she got, the more she loved her lack of boobs. “Marie?”
Evy lived with her aunt, which suited both of them most of the time. They were independent, busy with their own work, and didn’t step on each other’s toes too often.
She wandered out to the kitchen in Marie’s midcentury home and poured herself a glass of iced tea, then rinsed her breakfast dishes from the morning and set them in the strainer to dry. They didn’t have a dishwasher, and with just the two of them, it didn’t seem that important.
The house was her aunt’s and hadn’t been updated much since the 1970s. There was still shag carpet and dark wood paneling. The roof needed to be replaced, and the whole place needed an exterior coat of paint.
She didn’t pay rent, but the house wasn’t hers either. Updates or big projects were always a stress for Evy. How much did she contribute? Was the house going to be hers someday, or would Aunt Marie leave it to another relative? If it wasn’t going to be hers, should she really be the one to pay for a new roof?
Evy was forty-four, still lived with her aunt, and didn’t own her own home. With real estate the way it was in Palm Springs, she’d probably never be able to afford one.
Her best friends were a real estate mini-mogul, a dentist, and trust fund babies with real estate, vacation homes, and fancy cars. She hung out with rich people without ever having any hope of paying back their generosity.
It wasn’t that she couldn’t pay the bills. Her pool-cleaning company was humming along at a good pace and made her excellent money, and though her hosting and comedy work had taken a hit when she’d been “blessed” with telepathy, that was picking up again too.