Doggie Day Care Murder by Laurien Berenson Read Free Book Online

satisfaction on her face was easy to read.
    â€œWell, more than talking, actually. I’ve been giving him a few lessons.”
    â€œHandling lessons?”
    â€œDo try to keep up, Melanie. That is what we’re talking about, isn’t it?”
    I stared at her suspiciously. Davey enjoyed playing soccer and basketball. He’d tried a little acting and he liked to write short stories. He had plenty going on in his life without being coerced into adding another activity that suited Aunt Peg’s interests more than his own.
    â€œWhose idea was this?” I asked.
    â€œDavey’s, of course.”
    I sat and waited.
    â€œAnd perhaps a little of mine.”
    Now we were getting closer to the truth.
    â€œAdmit it, you’ve been very busy lately,” said Aunt Peg.
    â€œI had a baby three months ago! There’s a reason I’ve been busy.”
    â€œNevertheless, Davey might have been receiving a little less attention than he was used to.”
    I sat back in my chair, feeling deflated. That hit me where it hurt. Had I been so wrapped up in Kevin and his needs that I’d been shortchanging Davey? Was it possible that I’d been too sleep deprived to notice that my older son was feeling left out?
    Motherhood. If there’s a harder job, I’d like to know what it is.
    I looked down at my plate and realized that while I was listening, I’d managed to eat the entire scone. With butter.
    â€œDid Davey tell you that?” I asked.
    â€œNot in so many words.”
    Drawing information out of Aunt Peg was like trying to call a hunting dog off a scent. You might as well just give up and wait until she was darn good and ready to give in.
    â€œDavey didn’t say anything. But the circumstances speak for themselves. You have a new husband and a new baby. There have been a lot of changes in Davey’s life recently, along with many new things for him to adapt to.”
    â€œYou’re talking about changes that Davey wanted . . . changes that he likes . . .”
    I heard myself protesting and stopped. Aunt Peg was making me feel guiltier by the moment. Which, knowing Aunt Peg, was probably her intention.
    â€œWith everything else that’s going on in your life right now, I thought it might do him good to have a special project to work on by himself. Something that was all about him and nobody else.”
    â€œBut junior showmanship?” I asked dubiously.
    â€œThink about it,” said Aunt Peg. “It’s what I know. It’s not as if I was going to teach him tap dancing or origami. Showing dogs is what I’m good at.”
    Even so. “Does Davey want to learn to show dogs?” I asked.
    â€œFunny that you can’t answer that question for yourself,” said Aunt Peg. “How is it that you’ve never asked him?”
    â€œI have—” I said, then stopped and thought.
    Maybe I hadn’t. Maybe I’d been waiting for him to indicate an interest on his own. Kids these days, especially those who grew up in high-achieving, high-stress areas like Fairfield County, were pressured to learn, and perform, and excel in so many different ways. Whenever possible, I tried to back off from adding more expectations from Davey’s already full agenda. Maybe I had been remiss.
    â€œYou’ve been giving him lessons?” I asked.
    Aunt Peg nodded. “He’s quite good for his age. Considering the length of his arms and his stride, someone his size would probably do better with a smaller dog. But the Poodles are very accommodating and they know what’s expected of them, which helps. So between them they manage to make it work.”
    I gazed around the room. All of Aunt Peg’s Standard Poodles, with the exception of Custer, had competed in the show ring long enough to earn the fifteen points required to complete their championships. They were probably just as good at teaching Davey what was expected of him as Aunt