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“You’re not getting any”

Grace sagged at the pathetic truthfulness of this statement, a situation made all the worse by the fact that both A some

Lots

“Remember the storm?” Mallory asked “When we almost died in this very place?”

“Right,” A on chocolate cake, maybe”

Mallory ignored this and pointed her fork at Grace “We made a pinky proe And A it live her And you, Miss Grace, you were going to findyour own tail and go after some happy and some fun It’s time, babe”

“I a fun here” At least, more than she’d ever let herself have before “And what it’s ti look at the last stack of pancakes, Grace stood up and brushed the crumbs off her sundress

“What’s today’s job?” Amy asked

When Grace had first realized she needed to get a te new So stuffy pencil skirts or closed-toe heels or sitting in front of a computer for fifteen hours a day Because if she had to be off-track and a little lost, then she was going to have fun while she was at it, da birthday flowers to Mrs Burland for her eightieth birthday Thenclass”

“Modeling for an art class?” Mallory asked “Like…nude?”

“Today they’re drawing hands” Nude was to happened before then, like et beamed to another planet

“If I had your body,” Ae a lot for it”

“Sounds like you’re talking about so,” Mallory said dryly

Grace rolled her eyes at the both of them and stood She dropped the last of her pocket money onto the table and left to make the floral deliveries When she’d worked at the bank, she’d gotten up before the crack of dawn, rode a train for two hours, put in twelve ot home in time to crawl into bed

Things were majorly different here

For one thing, she saw daylight

So er afford Starbucks, but at least she wasn’t still having the recurring night under a sea of pennies that she’d been trying to count one by one

Two hours later, Grace was just finishing the last of the deliveries when her cell phone buzzed She didn’t recognize the inco number, so she played mental roulette and answered “Grace Brooks,” she said in heron top of her world Sure, she’d given up designer wear, but she hadn’t lost her pride Not yet anyway

“I’ walker Someone who’s on time, responsible, and not a flake”

Her flyer? “A dog walker?” she repeated

“Yes, and I’d need you to start today”

“Today…as in today?” she asked

“Yes”

The man, whoever he was, had a hell of a voice, low and a little raspy, with a hint of impatience Clearly he’d misdialed And just as clearly, there was so to drum up work for themselves

Grace considered herself a good person She sponsored a child in Africa, and she dropped her spare change into the charity jars at the superet work, and that so…Grace could totally do dog walking Offering a silent apology for stealing the job, she said, “I could start today”

“Your flyer lists your qualifications, but not how long you’ve been doing this”

That was too bad because she’d sure like to know that herself She’d never actually had a dog Turns out, rocket scientists and renowned biologists don’t have a lot of tis

Or kids…