Page 20 of Broken SEAL'S Secret Baby
Cece then leads the way out the kitchen entrance to the garden and over to Gidget’s spacious dog kennel. Mr. Fluffy trails along behind us, sniffing the air as if he is hoping for a bite of the dog food.
Kate looks at the cat. “Does Mr. Fluffy have special food, too?”
“Uh-huh,” Cece says. “It was beside the dog food.”
“We’ll feed him when we get back,” Miss Bailey decides. “He’s had cat crunchies this morning, so he can wait a little while.”
Gidget’s spacious run is to the right of the kitchen door. Her heated dog house backs up to the wall where it can be plugged in, and her food dispenser is next to it. I had a custom app on my phone that lets me check on her, but Idon’t make it out here often. I’m ashamed to say that I hadn’t even looked at the app since waking up.
Cece runs to the gate. Gidget jumps against the chain links, making the whole structure rattle. She drops back down and runs around the enclosure in circles, emitting high-pitched puppy yaps of excitement.
Kate hands the dish of food to Cece. She then crouches down by the gate, carefully reaches up, undoes the latch, and opens it. Instantly, she has an armload of excited, wiggling puppy. Gidget wags her tail and laps at Kate’s face in a frenzied ecstasy of greeting.
I am embarrassed to notice that Gidget’s run is badly in need of cleaning.Had the dog walker come yesterday at all?
“Does she have a lead?” Miss Bailey asks. “We need to take her out of here until I can clean this up.”
“On the hook over there,” Cece says. “Mommy and I used to walk her around the garden.”
I wait for a renewed freshet of tears, but they don’t come. Cece is occupied with her puppy.
“Put the dish down over there,” Miss Bailey says. “We’ll put her on the lead to have her breakfast. Then, Mr. Emory, I’m afraid I’ll need your help for a little while.”
“Who’s Mr. Emory?” Cece asks.
I laugh. “That’s me, Punkin.”
“Oh,” she observes, without further comment.
After Gidget inhales her food, Miss Bailey directs me to walk the excited little beast around the garden. Cece skips along beside me, pointing out the flowers that are blooming and the new lettuce that is coming up.
By the time we return, Miss Bailey is mopping the kennel. Somewhere she had found a rake, flat-bladed shovel, and trash bags. The mess is neatly bagged and tied closed.
She turns to me with a grim look. “I don’t know who was supposed to be responsible for taking care of the dog,but this is a disgrace. It hasn’t been cleaned for several days.”
“The dog walker is supposed to clean the kennel,” I say. “Manuela usually checks on him. I think we’ve all been a little distracted.”
Kate sighs and relents. “I suppose so. At least the automatic feeder and waterer made sure she had the basics.”
Cece tugs on her sleeve. “Can I show you my garden, Miss Kate? It isn’t ready yet. Mommy was going to help me order seeds, and I was going to learn to grow my own vegetables.”
I trail along behind Cece and Miss Bailey, feeling about two inches high. I should have been seeing about things like this. She is right. That kennel was a disgrace. And I didn’t even know that Cece hoped to have a garden. Guilt gnaws at me. I’d been thinking about myself and letting things go.
Cece’s garden turns out to be six metal raised bed containers. Five of them have earth in them, and the sixth has a layer of kitchen waste in the bottom.
“I didn’t mean to make extra work for you, Miss Bailey,” I say. “With your classes, and everything…”
She turns and gives me a brilliant smile. “This will be no trouble at all. Cece and I can have fun with this. We can put a table out here when the weather is warmer, and we can do our work together, can’t we, Cece?”
“We sure can!” Cece exclaims.
We take another lap around the gardens, admiring the spring flowers, salad vegetables sprouting in protected beds, and leaves growing on young trees that are set in containers.
It is nearly lunchtime when we go back inside. Kate rummages in the refrigerator and finds the fixings for sandwiches and salad.
When we had finished eating, she says, “You know, I think Cece and I both need to talk with Manuela. I have afeeling that she can tell me a lot more about what needs to be done. This is a large, complex setup. I’m surprised you don’t have more staff.”
“We usually do,” I say. “During the summer months, there’s a gardener, and Em would hire people to do the extra cleaning. We usually send our laundry out, but there is a washer and dryer off the kitchen bathroom, but I don’t know if I should wash my slacks.”
