A teenager at the counter screamed. Robert stepped protectively in front of the girl as Margo reached for a broom. Axel took the move as an invitation to play and, grabbing the bristles, proceeded to drag Margo for a turn around the café. Selena tried to grab Axel’s collar, but the dog, delighted that everyone found this game as much fun as he did, spun around and planted his front paws on Selena’s shoulders for the second time that day.
“Hey, you two,” Robert called out, trying not to laugh. “We’re only a café. We don’t have a permit for dancing.”
Her son managed to pull his dog to a sitting position.
Margo shook her broom at Drew. “Your mother doesn’t give you an allowance big enough to buy this monster a leash?”
Drew held up the broken end of the now useless restraint. “The third one this week.”
“Oh, no,” Selena moaned. “Now how are you going to take him to the park?”
“I’ll use my belt.”
He might as well. The thing never seemed to hold up his pants.
“And you—” Margo shook her broom at Axel, who now lolled belly-up on the floor at Drew’s feet “—I’m not sure you deserve a cookie.”
“Aw,” Robert said, “can’t you see he’s wasting away to nothing? Skin and bones.” He reached behind the counter, then palmed a biscuit to Drew. “Give it to him in the park. After he’s done something he’s supposed to, for a change. So what’ll you have, kid?”
“I was going to have a smoothie,” Drew replied, eyeing another customer walking through the door, “but I think I’ll just grab a Snapple and head out. Mom’s paying.” Bottle in hand, he shrugged away from Selena’s attempted kiss.
“I have a meeting with a sponsor at noon,” she said after his retreating form. “Pick me up in an hour, but wait outside this time.” She resisted the urge to tell him to zip up his jacket. To ask if he’d remembered gloves. If he wanted the umbrella. Twelve-year-olds were a universe apart from eleven-year-olds in what they would tolerate from Mom. Pity. At times she missed her little boy.
As the door shut behind the pair, warmth and peace descended on the café. Selena desperately needed some quiet time with adults. Ever since she’d walked into Margo’s Bistro from an installation she was doing in SOMA, the café had become a touchstone. A safe haven. A place where no one was a stranger for long.
Robert stepped behind the counter, and as Margo put away her broom, she surreptitiously ran her hand down his back. Selena smiled. Robert, a former flat-out workaholic, had wandered into Margo’s Bistro ten months ago to read the want ads over a cup of coffee. He hadn’t counted on falling for Margo and being swept up in her definitely noncorporate way of life. But did he ever look happy now. Not even a visit from Axel the Demolition Dog could eradicate the smile marriage to Margo had put on his face.
Selena flopped into one of the two overstuffed armchairs by the front window. When Margo joined her in the chair opposite, Selena asked, “Is it too early for Irish coffee?”
“A wee bit. And every time you ask you seem to conveniently forget we don’t have a liquor license.”
“You can’t blame a girl for suggesting.”
“Rough week?”
“No more than usual. You know that controlled chaos I call my life? I think I’m losing the controlled part.” Glancing around the crowded room, Selena didn’t see any of the friends who made up their core circle. “Where is everybody?”
“Well,” Margo replied, stretching slowly and luxuriously as if she were the most contented woman in the world, “Rosie and Hud are still on honeymoon. A working honeymoon, some political retreat in D.C. Casey’s staying with Bailey and Derrick, who’ve taken all the kids to Fisherman’s Wharf today. Say a little prayer for those brave souls. And Nora and Erik are at a medical conference in Lake Tahoe. Nora’s sister has Danny.”
Pairs. Selena was struck by the realization the once tight single-parents coffee group had become a loose confederation of married friends who got together when new, blended and extended family commitments allowed.
And she was the last staunchly single person standing.
“And Ellie and Peter?” she asked before she could examine how she felt about being left behind. “Is it your ex’s weekend to have them?”
“Yes. Tom and Catherine are taking the kids to look at prospective summer camps.”
Selena was pleased to see Margo finally speak of her custody arrangement without a trace of stress.
“So you have my undivided attention,” Margo promised, “and Robert’s on call if we need him.”
As if on cue, Robert brought two cups of coffee, a double mocha with vanilla whipped cream for Margo and espresso for Selena. “Your usual, ladies. Apart from the dog-and-pony show, Selena, how’s it going?”
“Fine. Only if you don’t count the dog.”
“Oh, that sweet baby,” Margo cooed in exaggerated admiration. “You can’t stay mad at him.”
“You don’t live with him. And my neighbors aren’t as forgiving as you two.” Selena sipped her high-octane drink. “I know I wasn’t a dog-savvy person when I agreed to take him, but who knew he’d grow this big?”
“You didn’t notice the size of his paws when we found him?”
“You did?”
“Well, it occurred to me….” Margo suppressed a grin.
“What’s the latest?” Robert asked. “Besides the exhibition here this morning.”
“This week he ate the cushions on my sofa.” Selena shuddered to remember. “And the mail. Five days running. I was so worried about the possible effects—on him—I took him to the vet for X rays. Dr. Wong says Axel has a cast-iron intestinal tract, if you’re interested. Then I received three calls from neighbors about his barking. And, last but not least, yesterday he ran off two students from the dance studio next to Sam’s. I owe for their missed lesson.”
“He may be bored,” Margo suggested.
“How can he be bored when he has Drew for a constant companion? And the two of them never stop moving.”
“Does Drew walk him every day?”
“Walk? Hah! They run everywhere. It’s only a matter of time before they knock someone over, and I have a lawsuit on my hands.”
Robert sat on the arm of Margo’s chair. “Sounds like Axel needs an obedience class.”
“Obedience. What a nasty word,” Selena replied with a frown. “I don’t want to break his spirit.”
“But if he breaks his leash once too often, he’s going to land in the pound,” Margo protested. “And then how will Drew feel?”
“Awful. Simply awful. Me, too.”
“You always say you love controlled chaos. Sounds like it’s time you take control of your dog before a solution is imposed upon you. One you might not like.”
Margo had touched a nerve. She knew just how much Selena hated being backed into a corner. Being told what to do and how to do it.
“I may have a solution,” Robert said. “I have a friend with an older brother who’s a dog trainer. Or psychologist, I’m not sure which. But he has an impressive list of clients. I could get his number for you.”
“A dog shrink?” Selena was skeptical. “Sounds a little too California even for me. Is he on the level?”
“Absolutely.