Page 17 of Hidden Memories

Mila brings the slimy ball back to me, and I send it out again into the cluster of trees at the far end of my garden. She finds it but picks up on the scent of something and decides to have a sniff around rather than play fetch.

I put my boots up on the railing and smooth my whittling knife into a curve of the latest chess piece I’m doing for my nephew, Nino. I never thought it would be this much work when I embarked on carving a Harry Potter set for Christmas. Still, he’ll love it, and now that the kid is going to be spoiled rotten by his wealthy NHL daddy, I like the idea of giving him something money can’t buy.

Money.

The root of all evil. I know I have it now but I won’tlet it corrupt me. I won’t let it make me lie, and cheat people, or ever think I’m better than someone who doesn’t have it.

As always, all this thinking about money and status and less than and more than leads me right back to Kat.

How am I going to help and keep her away from me at the same time?

Mila comes back with the ball, and she puts the slobbery thing on my lap. “Tell me, dog, why am I such a sucker?”

I lift the ball as if to throw it, and her eyes light up. She flinches, perched and ready.

I throw it again into the distance, but something else catches her eye around the other side of the house, and she rushes off.

She comes back with Julia, wild white strands escaping her bun, waving at me.

“Yoo-hoo. I was just visiting your dad and thought I’d pop in with some treats for the pup.” She lifts a paper bag in the air. “You know I like your picky dog to sample the goods before I order too much of anything for the shop.”

Julia, a close family friend who has been everything to me and my brothers since moving to California, is always welcome. When Rio and Enzo were trying to start a tech company, she offered a workspace in exchange for labor. She let me buy supplies at wholesale cost through the tack shop she owns and hooked me up with her discounts for fencing and outbuildings. Her last kid had just gone off to college when we arrived, and her husband was sick. I suppose we had a lot to offer each other.

Though I’m still feeling off and not much like talking, I straighten my spine and find my manners just as I would have with myown mom.

“Of course, Jules. Just give her one, though. I haven’t given her supper yet.”

Julia reaches into the bag, and Mila, well-behaved when it comes to food, sits before even being asked.

Julia laughs. “You’re always the perfect little pup.”

Tell that to the groundskeeper when he has to fill in one of her holes.

Mila sniffs the offering carefully. I’ve never met a dog who would leave behind treats, but she does, and there’s never any rhyme or reason either. Eventually, Mila decides this particular treat is edible and wolfs it down in one go.

Julia gives me a thumbs-up. “Mila approved. Maybe these can be our next bestsellers at the shop.”

The shop. Julia owns Heritage Tack and Feed…Which has me thinking…

I put my project down on the table, stand, grip the railing, and lean over to see if Julia can be part of helping me with this Kat dilemma.

“I don’t suppose I can ask you a favor.”

She laughs while staring at Mila who is begging for another treat. “Always for you, Santi.”

“I…” take off my hat, scratch my head, and put it back on, “…have this lady…”lady, “and she’s looking for a job. But she has a kid who needs to come to work with her. I think she’s pretty hard up for something.”

“Okay…” Julia eyes me. “What kind of skills does she have?”

“I don’t think she’ll be picky. She just needs a job that allows her son to go to work with her.” Not that I know any of the details, but if she comes begging, as the saying goes, beggars can’t be choosers.

“You know this person? How?”

She has now wandered to the spot just below me, Milaat her heels. Julia peers up, all cocked eyebrows and that white bun of hers that means business. She’s able to see every expression I make. I can’t hide under my brim.

I go in for the kill. “She’s a single mom, Jules.”

Julia’s shoulders soften. The kid did it for me, too.

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