Page 2 of Nanny for the Athletes

“My brother is always looking for someone to watch his dogs,” Emily said. “He has four of them.”

“Andmybrother,” Leslie added, “plays for the Colts. The NFL team. They had a dog-nanny in Indianapolis who would watch all the players’ dogs whenever they were out of town. Someone with a huge farm and lots of open land. But since the Colts moved to St. Louis a few months ago, they’ve been struggling to find a replacement.”

“Oh! Let me give you my card.” I reached around in my purse and came out with the flimsy rectangle. “Here you go.”

Leslie took the card. “Lizzy’s Dog Boarding. Do you mind if I have a few cards? I can pass them around to the team.”

“That’s actually the only copy I have. It’s the sample the printing company gave me. But I’ll have more soon! They’re supposed to arrive next week.”

“Beth paid extra for priority shipping,” Trip muttered. “Even though business cards are pretty much useless these days.”

“Clearly they’re more useful than you think.” I pointed to the card. “That’s my personal number. Tell them to reach out any time. Or swing by! I’m there most days.”

“Except for when you’re sitting in the front row of a hockey game,” Emily smiled.

I chuckled nervously. “Oh, don’t worry. The dogs back home are in good hands.” I turned and gave Trip a look, warning him to stay quiet.

He must not have gotten the message, because he said, “Beth hasn’t had much business yet. I told her it can take months, oryears,for a small business to become profitable…”

I elbowed him in the ribs, which shut him up. It was one thing to be overwhelmingly negative about my new business in private, but when we were in front of others…

“I’m sure the business will do great,” Leslie said, shoving the card in her pocket. Then she screamed, “Come on, ref! That was high-sticking! Open your fucking eyes!”

“Sorry,” Emily said. “My fiancée can be a little intense. Especially when her future brother-in-law is on the ice.”

Leslie squeezed Emily’s thigh. “Just being supportive.”

“I know, and I love you for it.”

We watched the remaining eight minutes of the first period. When it ended, and the players skated off the ice, Trip stood up and asked, “I’m getting a beer, do you want something?”

“A white wine, please. Thanks!”

When he was gone, I turned to Leslie and said, “It must be exciting, your brother playing for an NFL team that just moved into the city.”

“We were excited to get the team, and even more excited that my brother would be playing close to home. But most fans seem to hate the Colts for switching cities again. They got blown out earlier today, and there were atonof boos raining down from the crowd.” She shook her head. “Lots of players on the Colts have dogs, though. Especially the bachelors that don’t have family to watch them.”

“Your brother Braden treats his dog like his baby,” Emily said. “Like, he legitimately uses a baby voice with the dog.”

“Logan is worse!” Leslie said with a laugh. “He adopts a new stray practically every month.”

“He has a soft spot for runaways,” Emily said in a strange tone.

Leslie put her arm around her fiancée. “He does.”

“Well, no matter how many dogs he has, we should be able to accommodate them,” I said. “All of my equipment arrived last week. I have twenty extra large kennels, and room for sixty if I ever want to expand. But as long as the weather is nice, they can play outside all day. They’re only kenneled at night when it’s time to sleep.”

“And you don’t haveanycustomers yet?” Emily asked.

“We’ve had customers! Just none that are overnight.” It was onlyslightlya lie, since I’d had one customer, rather thancustomersplural.

Before I could explain more, I got a text from Trip:

Trip: Can you come get in line with me? I’m at the beer stand outside our section.

Me: Do I need to? I’m doing some good networking for my business.

Trip: The line is really long, so I want to go ahead and buy two beers for myself now. And there’s a limit of two beers per customer.

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