Once I’d gotten the hang of listening to the audiobook, it hadn’t taken long for me to get swept up in the story of Tamsin, a rebellious princess who captured the attention of the Elder, the mysterious, Yoda-like figure who lived in the woods on the outskirts of her kingdom. There was a prophecy, and since Tamsin fit the description, many—including herself—believed she was the chosen one, the one who would unite the kingdoms torn asunder by a hundred years of war. I had my doubts about this, and the Elder did as well. But he started to teach her anyway, as Tamsin’s roguish brother, Jack, kept the kingdom more or less (oftentimes less) afloat, honing her abilities, especially her talent for communicating with birds. The first book had ended on a cliffhanger, as Tamsin and the Elder were forced to flee the kingdom, pursued with an invading army at their backs. I’d downloaded the second book immediately and was already about halfway through it.
I was listening to it constantly—in my car, in my room, before I went to bed, my phone propped on my nightstand and a sleep timer on so I wouldn’t miss anything. But the place I really loved to have the story told to me was while I was at work. There was something wonderful about being outside, moving, keeping an eye on the dogs in front of me while the rest of me was swept up in the story. As a direct result of this, all my dogs were getting much longer walks than normal, since I hated to stop in the middle of a really great part. The walks that were normally twenty minutes had turned into epic walks that took us all over town, and as a result, most of them were getting pretty wiped out.
“Well, it sure looks like they had fun,” Maya said as she bent down and scratched Banjo’s ears. Banjo immediately flipped onto his back and looked at her expectantly—he was a fool for belly rubs.
“Definitely,” I lied, since I honestly couldn’t have told her. Tamsin had been captured by the book’s great villain, locked in a tower, and separated from the Elder, so the amount of fun the dogs were having had not been my primary concern.
“So here are the keys for the Wilson house,” she said, handing them to me. “You got the e-mail Dave sent you?” I nodded. Dave was beyond on top of this—making sure I had dog information and addresses and instructions, most of it laid out on spreadsheets.
“I should probably get these guys back,” I said, looking at the time on my phone and realizing that I should have had them back an hour ago and was going to have to hustle if I wanted to bring them home before their owners returned from work.
Maya nodded, but then looked at me thoughtfully. “You’ve been doing a great job here, Andie,” she said. I looked at her, surprised. “I mean it. I think you really have a talent for this.”
“Dog walking?”
“Working with animals,” Maya said, looking at me steadily. “Not everyone does. Certainly not all the people we’ve hired have it. But you do.”
I nodded, trying to process this. At the start of the summer, I would have said that it was just walking dogs, that anyone could do it, but now I wasn’t so sure. Especially after Toby came on one walk with me and spent the whole time freaking out every time Bertie sniffed a tree. Maya gave me a smile as she clipped her carabiner filled with keys back onto her belt loop. “So . . . ,” I started, not really even sure what I was asking her. “Did you know you always wanted to do this? The whole dog and cat thing, I mean?”
“Oh, no,” she said, shaking her head. “Not at all. I was actually in business school, getting my MBA. That’s where I met Dave.”
“Really?” The question was out of my mouth before I could stop it, and I hoped I didn’t look as shocked as I felt.
“I know,” Maya said with an easy laugh, not seeming insulted by this. “Hard to believe, right?”
“So what happened?”
Maya smiled as she bent down to scratch Banjo’s belly, and the dog’s back leg started twitching like crazy. “At the end of the day, I decided I wanted to do something that made me happy.” She gave the dog one last pat before standing up again. “And it’s working out so far.”
I nodded as I clipped the Wilson keys onto my own key ring. Maya handed me my paycheck, we said our good-byes, and I stepped out into the late-afternoon sunlight, three dogs moving sluggishly behind me. But even as I tried to get the dogs to move, Maya’s words were staying with me. The idea that you could rethink the thing you’d always thought you wanted and change your plan—it was almost a revolutionary concept. That you could choose what would make you happy, not successful. It was the opposite of everything I had long believed to be true. I looked back at the office for a moment, Maya’s words still echoing in my head. Then I gave Freddie a pat on the head and pulled the dogs back out onto the sidewalk.
ALEXANDER WALKER
Andie, you okay?
ME
Fine.
ALEXANDER WALKER
It just sounds like you’re crying. At 3 a.m.
ME
I’ll keep it down.
ALEXANDER WALKER
What’s wrong?
ME
I just finished Clark’s second book.
ALEXANDER WALKER
Oh boy.
ME
HOW COULD HE DO THAT?
ALEXANDER WALKER
I think there’s ice cream in the kitchen.
Meet you there in ten?
ME
Better make it five.
? ? ?
“What’s going on?” Clark asked as I glared at him, taking the stairs to the diner two at a time, my arms folded tightly over my chest.
“I’m not talking to you,” I said, pausing at the ever-deserted hostess stand, looking around the restaurant, and seeing Palmer and Tom sitting a booth over from our normal one. I started to head over to them, Clark following close behind me.