Spence’s little sister pouted a little, but then she nodded and said, “Okay.”
The afternoon moved on and everyone wanted a turn holding my new pup. It was the most amazing birthday I’d ever had, and I couldn’t stop thanking Spence. At some point I wandered into the kitchen to get the puppy some water and found Spence’s mother putting the finishing touches on my birthday cake. Mrs. Spencer was not an attractive woman. Tall and imposing, she had broad shoulders, a thick neck, and shoulder-length, greasy, gray hair. She typically dressed in polyester pants and an oversize shirt, and today was no different.
“Oh, hi, Mrs. Spencer!” I said when I saw her. I realized I hadn’t even spoken to her since I’d been brought there blindfolded. “That cake looks amazing.”
“It came from a box. It’s not rocket science,” she said, her tone clipped and curt like always.
Mrs. Spencer made it so hard to like her. She was often short with people, and she complained far more than she complimented.
“I don’t like yellow cake, but I had a coupon,” she went on. “I wanted the Duncan Hines, but the stupid coupon was only good for Betty Crocker, which is tasteless unless you load on more icing, and that’s how they get you. You gotta pay for two packages of icing. It’s all a big racket.”
I forced a smile and pretended to agree with her by nodding.
“What’re you naming the puppy?” she said next.
The fact that she seemed to have taken a shine to my new dog was pretty surprising.
“I think I’m going to call her Bailey,” I said, snuggling the pooch to my face to get a few more kisses.
Mrs. Spencer set down the knife she’d been spreading the icing with and held out her arms for the dog. I hesitated just a moment before reluctantly handing her over.
“I’ve been calling her Patty,” she said to me, as if to correct me. “Spence brought her home three nights ago from the breeder, and we’ve been taking care of her.”
I forced myself to smile. “Patty’s a very cute name,” I said carefully. “But I really like Bailey.”
Mrs. Spencer frowned and abruptly changed the subject. “I don’t know where he got the money for her,” she said, making a motion with her chin toward the living room where Spence and Jamie appeared to be in a deep discussion about something.
Moving to the sink, I put the dog bowl under the faucet and filled it with cool water. Mrs. Spencer was always talking about money. How little she had. How much everybody else had.
“It was incredibly sweet of him,” I said.
“I’ve volunteered to look after her while you two are off at college, but if Patty stays with us you’ll have to send money here for food and vet bills,” Mrs. Spencer said.
I stiffened. It was suddenly very clear to me why she’d volunteered to look after my puppy when Spence and I went off to school. She wanted the money and she wanted to get Bailey used to being called Patty. “I think Momma and Daddy will take care of her,” I said firmly.
“You’ll break Stacey’s heart,” Mrs. Spencer sniffed.
“I’ve already let Stacey know that she can come over any time to visit Bailey,” I said, putting a little emphasis on the pup’s name.
I then held out my arms expectantly. I wanted nothing more than to take Bailey away from mean old Mrs. Spencer.
Instead of handing me the dog, however, Spence’s mom narrowed her eyes at me, then bent down and placed the puppy on the linoleum. Bailey promptly ran back into the living room without getting a chance to take some water.
I very nearly snapped at the bitter woman, but managed to hold my tongue and wave at the cake. “I’ve always liked yellow cake. I’ve even liked it without frosting.” With that, I turned away from Mrs. Spencer and hurried off to get my puppy, but she had already disappeared from sight.
The Spencers’ small living room was packed with people; it seemed that more of our friends had arrived in just the last few minutes, and I couldn’t spot Bailey anywhere. I moved through the room, saying hi to everyone who’d just arrived and surreptitiously looking for Bailey, but I couldn’t find her. And then I had a very worrying thought. If the front door had been open, maybe Bailey had gotten out.
Rushing to the door, I saw that it was open a little and through the crack I could see Spence and Jamie just outside on the front porch. As I watched, Jamie stepped close to Spence and handed him something that looked like a folded-up piece of paper.
“Don’t let anybody find that on you, Spence. Not even Amber,” he said.
My breath caught. What could they be talking about? I was about to pull open the door, when behind me there came a startled cry, and the room went quiet except for the voice of Pam Ritter, captain of the cheer squad. I turned to see Pam in the middle of the room and Bailey backing away from her.
“She just nipped me!” Pam cried. “Your stupid dog just bit my finger!”