Page 33 of Nanny for the Athletes

When I woke up, I had a group text initiated by Christian:

Christian: Had a great time last night, Beth. Sorry about the situation with the dogs. Hope everything’s all right now.

Braden: Pickles has pooped four times this morning. So I’m pretty sure he ate a lot of that dog food once Loki tore it all up.

Me: We got the dogs under control. Thanks again for your help with all of that. And sorry we got interrupted in the limo. I hope you two didn’t go home sexually frustrated!

Braden: I DEFINITELY had blue balls last night. But that’s all right. It was still a great time ;-)

Christian: It just means we’ll have to pick up where we left off. Want to get dinner this week? Mondays and Tuesdays are usually good for our schedule.

Braden: Tuesday’s better for me. Monday night I’m staying in and watching the football game.

Me: This week probably isn’t great for me. Can we talk about it when you drop your dogs off before your next road game?

Christian: Sounds good.

Braden: See you then! Pickles misses you already. And not just because he, like, ate a whole shitload of dog food.

Braden punctuated the conversation with a photo of Pickles laying on his back in a human bed, belly exposed. Also in the photo was Braden’s chiseled leg, nude all the way up to the thigh. The sight of it sent an excited shiver up my spine.

I need to tell them we should keep it professional. That’s the best thing for everyone.

On Sunday, Logan pulled up my driveway in his big black SUV. That was a surprise; he wasn’t supposed to pick up his dogs until Monday. I wasn’t sure how to broach the subject about Loki’s behavior with him. I wasn’t very good with confrontation, and Logan was one of my first customers since handing out my business card at the hockey game. Fortunately, I didn’t have to bring it up.

“Heard about what happened,” he said bluntly while approaching the gate. There was a healthy scowl plastered on his face as the dogs came running up to the fence. “You’re a little shit, you know that?” he said to Loki.

“Yeah, he’s earned his name,” I said with a grimace. “I thought you weren’t picking them up until tomorrow?”

“Plans changed,” he growled. He didn’t seem annoyed atme, but at whatever situation had caused him to come back early. “How much damage did the little shit cause?”

I shrugged. “It wasn’ttoobad. A few bags of dog food, a crate of bones, three bags of chew toys…”

Logan clenched his jaw and pulled his phone out. After a few taps, he shoved it back in his pocket. “That should cover the damages, with a little extra as an apology. Come on, you mangy fuckers. There’s someone at home I want you to meet.”

He opened the gate. Loki, Heimdall, Odin, and Freya ran across the driveway and hopped into the open door of his SUV. Logan closed the gate and walked away without another word.

My phone chimed in my pocket. It was an alert from Venmo: Logan had transferred $5,000 to my account. I stared at the number for several seconds before it sank in.

“Alittleextra as an apology?” I asked.

“I’ve got another road series next week,” he said. “I’ll drop them off Sunday, and pick them up Wednesday.”

“Um. Okay. Just make sure you book it online so I have a record.”

“No time,” he said. “Sunday to Wednesday. Is that a problem?”

“Nope!” I replied, thinking of the money he had just transferred. “I’ll manually put it in the system.”

He nodded once. “Good.”

And then he drove away.

16

Beth

Players for both the Blues and Colts visited my kennel throughout the week. A lot of them were doing daily doggy daycare, dropping their dogs off early in the morning and then picking them up that afternoon. That was my favorite kind of customer because it meant I didn’t have to keep them overnight.

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