“I was starting to worry about Caleb, to be honest,” Eva continued. Spencer could feel her looking at him, but he didn’t turn his head. Eva was emotionally intuitive—and nosy—enough to see exactly what Spencer was thinking. “He never seems to want to leave the house anymore. I even offered to set him up with a friend of mine, but he said he had plans. When has Caleb ever turned down a date?”

Never. Not once. If there was one thing Caleb loved more than gambling, it was women.

“He’s never going to make anything of that animal, but at least he’s taking an interest in something. And he’s showering again, thank God.”

Spencer was forced into a laugh. It hadn’t been a shower so much as a sink bath that left little to the imagination, but Eva was right. His brother had even started to make an attempt to clean up his side of the living room. There were now two black garbage bags full of his clothes.

“This Ruby thing seems to be working out pretty well, doesn’t it?” Eva persisted.

Spencer pressed his lips together and watched as Caleb and Ruby worked together to get Wheezy secured in the back of her car. As soon as the door was slammed shut, they high-fived as though they’d known each for years instead of days.

“That depends,” he said, turning to look at Eva. “What exactly is the Ruby thing again?”

Eva’s answer was a light, teasing laugh. “To help a woman train her dog for our show, obviously. Why? Did you have something else in mind?”

Chapter 8

“Be a love and make my bed for me while you’re in there, would you?” Mrs. Orson popped her head into her bedroom and smiled beatifically at Ruby. “My strength isn’t what it used to be, and you do such a good job on the corners. You must have been a soldier in a past life.”

Ruby sighed as she wriggled out from the closet, where she’d been doing her best to lure Wheezy out for his daily walk. Things had come to such a pass that all she had to do was step inside Mrs. Orson’s front door and he ran straight for hiding.

“I wasn’t a soldier. I was one of those mall kiosk people who spray perfume on you without asking. That’s why I’m being punished now.” She gestured to where Wheezy had burrowed himself, his head resting on a pair of Gucci flats that probably cost more than Ruby earned in a month. “Can’t you tie him up or something before I arrive? I’ll never get him out now.”

“Then you might as well make the bed,” Mrs. Orson said brightly. “Since you came all this way.”