Page 27 of Worst in Show

I finish taping up the poster, trying to get my irritation to recede, but when I look again, Leo has taken down his sign and is writing something on it. When done, he smacks it up against the pane, and even from where I’m standing, I can see what it says: BUY A COLLAR, GET TWO FREE TOYS!

He did not.

He raises his chin as if to say “Take that.”

“Insufferable,” I mutter. “Pop, can we do a different promo this week?” I call up to Harvey as I head toward storage. “Or add something to sweeten the deal?” Maybe we have some superfluous junk in there we can include to one-up Leo’s offer. And balloons to embellish our sign.

There’s no immediate response, so I yell louder, “Pop, did you hear me?”

“Hold your horses, I’m coming,” he calls back, but before his voice has rung out, Cap lets out a loud bark upstairs, followed by a shout from Harvey, and then I hear a long string of dull thuds as something goes tumbling down the stairs.

For a split second, I can’t move, but when the noise stops, the paralysis breaks, and I rush to the front. “Pop?”

Harvey is at the foot of the stairs, moaning. I crouch by him, my hands flitting across his shoulders. There’s no blood, but he’s obviously in pain. “Pop, can you hear me?”

“My leg,” Harvey groans, his hand jerking to his right side.

Behind me, the bell jingles, and heavy steps reach us in a hurry.

“I’ve called 9-1-1,” Leo says. “I saw him fall from my window.” He surveys the length of my grandpa’s supine body and leans closer. “Harvey, how are you doing? Stay with us, okay? An ambulance is on the way.”

“I think it’s his leg or hip.”

“It’s a pretty steep fall,” Leo says, looking up.

I follow his gaze, and there’s Boris at the top of the stairs. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what happened.

The five minutes it takes for the medics to show up are the longest of my life. Harvey is clasping my hand tight, so I know he’s alert, but his face is greenish white with pain.

“Miss, are you coming?” one of the medics asks as they’re loading Harvey into the ambulance.

I look from the gurney to the store. A knot forms in my throat as I check my watch. “We’re supposed to open in… I’d have to lock up first.”

“We’re taking him to Delnor. You can follow us,” the medic says, closing the doors.

“But I don’t have a car.”

Leo, who has been lingering off to the side, takes a step closer. “I can drive you. Do what you need to do here, and we’ll follow them.”

I look up at him. Analyze his face for ulterior motives. There is nothing but concern in his expression. “Are you sure? Aren’t you busy?”

“This seems more important.” To the medic he says, “We’ll be there shortly.”

After the ambulance leaves, Leo escorts me back into the store and tells me to come over when I’m ready.

I nod numbly, but not until Cap’s black nose presses into my hand do I snap into action. The dogs, the store…

“One thing at a time, Cora,” I say to myself. “What would Harvey do?” The store is eerily silent as if it knows not to encroach on my already strained mental state. “Okay, pups—up you go.” I bring the dogs up to the apartment and make sure they have water. Boris is under the table, and he looks more miserable than usual, so I take a moment to reassure him it wasn’t his fault. “I do think we need to put a bell on you though. Before you actually kill someone.”

I put the gate up at the top of the stairs to keep them contained and double-check that the sign on the front door says we’re closed before I hurry across the street. Outside Canine King, I pause for a moment. Inhale. Exhale. I can’t see Leo inside, but Tilly watches me through the window, and maybe it’s those kind, brown eyes that help me finally turn the handle.

Into the lion’s den I go.

You shouldn’t bite your nails,” Leo says at a stoplight.

I grunt a monosyllabic response.

“There’s a plethora of bacteria under there. Gross habit.”

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