Page 42 of Nanny for the Athletes

Claire shook her head.

“But you know what Easter is, right?”

She shook her head again.

Oh my God. Where did this kid grow up?

I had so many questions, but I didn’t want to seem like I was interrogating her. “It looks like Suzie started on the left side of the field, so you can start on the right side. When the bucket is filled up, bring it back here and empty it into this trash can. Sound good?”

She nodded.

“All of these dogs arereallyfriendly,” I assured her. “But if you get scared at all, just yell for me or Suzie and we will help.”

Claire immediately got to work, scooping up a nearby pile and then sprinting to the next one. I watched her for a minute to make sure she was okay. She flinched whenever some dogs ran near her, but otherwise she seemed totally fine.

I went back inside and turned on the football game. The Colts were winning 14 - 10 at halftime, which put a smile on my face. With the game on in the background, I took care of some little tasks: updating the files for the dogs that had been bathed, verifying two new reservations that had been booked online, and ordering a new shipment of dog bones. Then I completed all of Sassy’s check-out paperwork for when her owner picked her up. Every few minutes I peeked out the window to make sure Claire was fine. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw her crouched down, petting Loki.

She just needed a little experience with dogs to get over her fear.

The Colts were in the fourth quarter now, and the game was tied 24 - 24. The camera zoomed in on Christian while he was in the huddle, discussing the next play with his teammates. I even caught a brief glimpse of Braden.

“Oh, close game,” Suzie said, poking her head in after dumping off her bucket. Heidi was standing at her side, tongue lolling out of her mouth.

“Should they win this game?” I asked.

Suzie shook her head. “They were underdogs today. It’s a miracle they’re not losing by twenty points.”

“Can the Colts keep their win streak going?” the announcer was saying. “They’re hoping to get within field goal range here to avoid going into overtime.”

Suddenly, there was the unmistakable sound of Claire shrieking. I leaped up from the chair and ran outside, with Suzie close on my heels. Claire was over in the right corner of the field, surrounded by most of the dogs. She continued screaming while they barked at her insistently.

I took off at a sprint, panicked thoughts filling my head. If she got bit, that would be awful for everyone involved. It would terrify her for the rest of her life, and Logan would probably be furious with me. I didnotrelish the idea of being on his bad side. Then there was the effect it would have on my business. If word got out that a child was bit while at my kennel…

There was a blur of black and tan fur as Heidi shot ahead of me at full speed. She reached the corner of the field first, inserting herself between Claire and the other dogs. She ran back and forth, pushing the other dogs back and clearing some space for Claire to breathe. She barked at the other dogs, not in an aggressive manner, but in a way that warned them to leave the girl alone.

“Claire!” I said when I finally reached them. “Are you okay?”

With her hands clutched to her chest and tears running down her cheeks, she nodded.

About that time, Pickles joined us. The Golden Retriever smiled around at everything and everyone, happy to be part of whatever was going on.

“What happened?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I gave Loki a treat, and then all the other dogs wanted some, but I didn’t have enough to share, so they started barking, and I thought they were going to eatme…”

“A treat? What treat?” I realized she was holding something in her hand. The wrapper to one of the turkey sticks in my pantry.

Now it all makes sense.

“No!” I said in a commanding voice. “Get away.”

The dogs kept circling us. They weren’t aggressive, and I never felt like we were in danger, but they wereveryeager to get some of the turkey stick. And Claire was still whimpering. Heidi continued pacing back and forth, trying to create a protective perimeter around us, but she was increasingly having to snap at the other dogs to keep them back.

Just when I was getting frustrated with the situation, a Mercedes pulled off the main road and drove up my property. Hearing the sound, one dog turned and ran over toward the gate. Another dog followed, then another, until all of them were running in a large pack across the field.

“I’m so sorry about that,” I quickly told Claire, bracing her by the shoulders. “Are you okay?”

To my immense surprise, she let out a giggle. “That was scary. But fun. It’s like they thought I was dinner!”

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