“All right!” Michelle gave a pleased smile. The smile lasted for several seconds and then it turned into an impish grin. “Do Norman and Mike know you’re going out to dinner with Ross?”

“No, and don’t tell them. I don’t need anybody to cat-sit.”

“Cat-sit?”

“That’s right. Moishe’s perfectly all right alone. I don’t think I can take another late night gathering at my place.”

Michelle gave her a perfectly blank look. “What’s this about cat-sitting and late night gatherings?”

“I’ll tell you on the way back to The Cookie Jar. Are we finished in here?” Hannah waited until Michelle nodded and then she pushed back Dean’s desk chair. “Pick up your tape and the shooting script, and head for the hills. I’ll let the skunk out and join you.”

Less than two minutes later, Hannah came barreling out the back door. She took the steps at a running jump and landed next to Michelle with a thump.

“Did you see the skunk?” Michelle asked.

“I saw it, all right. When I opened the bathroom door, there it was trying to jump back out the window. It was really scared and it’s going to be glad to get back outside.”

“Do you think it’ll find its way out all right?”

“I don’t know why not. I shut all the other doors so the only thing that’s open is the back door.”

“Good. I wonder why it went in there in the first place.”

“Maybe it was attracted by the other skunk.”

Michelle looked confused. “What other skunk?”

“The two-legged one that used the trailer for an office.”

Chapter

Chapter

Twenty-Six

“You look great!” Ross said, stepping inside and giving Hannah an approving hug. “I really like that outfit.”

“Thank you.” Hannah shut her mouth firmly, following the advice her mother had drummed into her head from little on. When a man compliments you, don’t argue with him. Just say a polite thank-you. She didn’t explain that she’d run next door to Beau Monde Fashions in a panic right after Ross had asked her to dinner, and she’d begged Claire to pick out something to make her look irresistible. She failed to mention that the outfit had put a crater in her budget even with her generous business-next-door discount. And she bit back her inclination to repeat Claire’s remark about how the new dress would hide the extra ten pounds around her waist and make the parts of her anatomy that most men noticed look lush and curvy.