Shajuanna arrived sans cameras this time, Cole noted. Even her glam factor was muted as well, sort of. Shajuanna stepped out wearing sequined basketball shorts and a navy racer-back tank and high-tops that cost, if Cole remembered the ad correctly, half her apartment’s rent. Her cap matched her shorts and her sunglasses covered half her face. She waved high and dramatically when she noticed Cole.
“Looks like you’re on.” Scott slipped his arm from Cole’s shoulders and took Hugo’s leash from her hand. “See you later.”
“But you just got … here.” Cole let her protest trail off. Scott was moving away at an easy lope but she knew he was getting out of her way.
“What’s up with your boyfriend?” This was Shajuanna’s greeting.
Cole smiled. “He’s taking Hugo for a cooldown and a drink. We just left the ring.”
“How’d you do?”
Cole glanced up as her numbers were posted and felt the warmth of satisfaction. They had improved slightly from the week before. “Not bad.”
“You want to come help me decide who I should bring into the ring today?”
Cole fell into step with her as they headed toward the back of her vehicle. “Not Shujaa?”
“Oh, I’ve got a kennel full of dogs. All with the potential to become champions. Today I brought Akita and Mmumba.”
“How was L.A.?”
Shajuanna adjusted her sunglasses. “Sample sale. Snatched from Rihanna’s shopper. You ever been there? No? Then whatever you heard about the place is true. I keep my bags packed from the time I land until I’m home. It’s a drive-thru type place. I make my order, fly through to get what I need, and I come home. But enough of that. Tell me about Leila’s lessons. She talks about nothing but you.”
“Really?” Cole didn’t want to contradict Shajuanna but Leila had been pretty much a handful during the week of lessons. When they weren’t testing each other, Leila was sandbagging. It’s too hard. That’s dumb. I’m tired.
“She showed me three things she learned this week. She knows I’m going to test. Miya said she spent an hour every day after you left practicing what you’d taught her that day. You’re a good teacher.”
“She’s a good student.” More likely she was afraid to disappoint her mother. Whatever worked.
Shajuanna decided to compete with the Argentine mastiff named Mmumba. Without the docked tail or ears, the pure white dog looked almost cuddly, more like a Lab on steroids.
“Mmumba reminds me of my little brother as a teen. Loved him but couldn’t stand to be in the same room with him half the time. Which was bad luck for me since we were so poor we had to share a bedroom.” She stroked her pet. “Male and cocky. Always showing off, trying to have his way. Thinks he knows more than me. Mmumba is a trip!”
Half an hour later, none of that conflict showed as Shajuanna and Mmumba breezed through the course, until the final jump. Mmumba first balked and then walked around it.
Shajuanna was so pissed she didn’t even say good-bye, just climbed in her motor coach and left.
Cole looked at Scott as she pulled out of the parking lot. “I’m ready to head out.”
The child’s cry of alarm didn’t penetrate the noise of the crowd at first. It was the second shriek of terror that dampened the noise.
Scott and Cole reacted as one, turning and running in the direction of the cry.
They found a few people gathering where the competitors set up for the day. A pen of chicken wire had been set up next to a camper to make a dog run. Inside the enclosure a black-and-white border collie had a little girl backed up against the camper wall. The collie was making high yips of excitement. Head held low, ears up, legs braced and teeth bared, the dog made a lunging movement forward every time the little girl tried to move.
“For pity’s sake! Someone get me a stick. I gotta git my Boo Bear outta there!” Lorene stood by the pen, her eyes wide with fright. “That dog’s got my little Boo Bear cornered. Where’s the dog’s handler? Somebody find the handler before my grandbaby gets bit!”
Scott stepped up to the woman, who had never before spoken directly to him, and took her by the shoulders. “I will get her out, Lorene, but you need to get calm. You’re scaring your granddaughter.”
The little girl was crying and dancing in place. “Me maw! Me maw!”
Scott turned Lorene to face her granddaughter. “Tell her in a calm voice that everything’s going to be okay. She’s going to be okay.”
“Hey there, Boo Bear. It’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay. This nice man here,” Lorene patted Scott’s arm, “this nice man’s going to get you out of there.”
“What’s going on here?”
A woman had come running from the direction of the refreshment stands. She had an ice-cream cone in one hand and a leash in the other. When she saw what was going on, she dropped both. “Oh my God! Bebe. No! Bad girl! Bad Bebe!”
Scott looked at Cole. “Let’s lock this circus down. You get Hugo to distract the dog and I’ll grab the kid.”
Cole nodded. She reached out and unclipped Hugo’s leash but held on to his collar.