Chapter One
Lily
“IthoughtItoldyou not to come in today,” I say to Layla, my sister, who is now three weeks away from her due date and looks like she’s going to pop at any minute.
“Listen, if I sit around that house any longer, I’m going to set it on fire.”
“Wow. Extreme much?”
“Maybe, but you can only clean, fold and organize so much before it starts making you crazy.”
“Fair enough. We just got a new batch of leash and collar sets that need tags. Wanna do that?”
“That works.”
I pull down on the metal string, clicking the neonopensign on. My sister and I have owned Furbabies, our boutique pet store, for four years. We sell pet accessories and homemade treats with locally sourced ingredients.
When I was younger, it was my dream to work with animals. I could see myself working at a zoo with all sorts of different creatures. Or as a veterinarian taking care of people’s beloved pets.
As I got older though, those dreams faded as we lost our own family pets. It’s truly not fair that animals don’t live as long as people. I knew deep down that even though I would love to work with animals, I did not have the heart for the hard parts of those jobs.
The parts where you have to give pet owners bad news or hard decisions to make. The part that leaves them in tears. I can’t do that.
Instead, I opened a pet store. My sister is as much of an animal lover as I am, so when I told her about my plan, she wanted in. They say don’t go into business with family, but we have never had issues.
“Get comfy on the couch. I’ll bring the stuff to you,” I tell my Laylaas she penguin walks to the coffee bar.
We had to have something for humans, so we have a cute little coffee bar and a couple love seats. I grab the box of new collars and leashes. I’m excited about them because they are every color of the rainbow. I cleared away enough wall space to hang them in the order of the rainbow.
“Here ya go,” I say to her as I set the box on the couch next to her, “the tags are in there, along with the tagging gun.”
“Okay. Thanks, Lily.”
“No problem.”
Layla and I are two years apart and I can’t remember a time when we weren’t doing something together. We have always been inseparable. Our mom, to this day, calls us two peas in a pod. And now we are about to add another pea to our pod, whenever she decides to join us. This is my sister’s first baby and she’s having a girl. I’m excited to be an aunt, but I am also extremely nervous. I’ve never really been around many children, not long enough to know how they are. I’m not even sure I want to have kids. Isn’t it like having a puppy...but for eighteen years? No thanks.
I hear the bell chime above the door when our first customer of the day comes in. Layla and I were unsure how a store like this would do in a town like Columbus Falls. A clothing store for people...yeah that makes sense, but a clothing store for pets...we were taking a big leap of faith. People everywhere have pets though, and for some of those people, their pets are their children and they treat them as so.
“Good morning, Riley,” I say to her as she walks in. She bar tends around the corner at The New Atlas, and she’s my cousin’s best friend’s wife. Chris being the cousin and Grayson being the best friend...I think I have that right.
“Good morning. Grayson sent me over to pick up more cat cookies.” She puts her hand on her growing belly. “If he treats our child as good as he treats our cat, she’s going to be spoiled rotten,” she says.
I laugh while I round the counter to the case with the cookies. “Do you want a small, medium or large bag?” I ask her.
“The large, lord knows Sharkbait goes through them fast enough. Maybe if Grayson stopped feeding them to him morning, noon and night. I might have to hide these.”
I open a paper bag and scoop the small cat cookies into a bag. The cat cookies are about the size of a nickel, but I manage to get them to look just like the bigger dog cookies. I fold the top down and put a sticker over it, sealing it shut, handing her the cookies and checking her out at the register.
“Here.” I reach under the counter for one of our free cat toys. “It’s a kick stick,” I tell her as I hand it to her. “It has catnip in it, so don’t be surprised when he goes a little bonkers”
Riley laughs. “Thanks. He will love it.”
She turns and walks out of the store, waving to Lilah as she goes.
“All you pregnant people,” I say. “What happened nine months ago? Did we lose power for a week or something?”
“Ha. Ha. Real funny sis.”