She felt things with Toby she’d never felt with anyone else. Talking about how different their lives would have been if he hadn’t left town had helped her see what was important. Toby was the one. Maybe he’d always been the one. A thought that made her dizzy with happiness. Unless, of course, he was going to be difficult. He’d always been stubborn, and once he got something in his head, it was tough to change his mind.

“Not a problem for today,” she said, walking up the path of her parents’ house.

A large inflatable snowman sat in the middle of the yard. There was a family of snowmen by the front door, making her smile as she let herself in.

“You’ve been busy, Mom,” she called, starting the unraveling process.

She hung up her coat and scarf, put her hat on the little shelf and unlaced her snow boots before stepping out of them. Hmm, there hadn’t been a response from her mom, and Belle and Burt hadn’t come running.

“Mom?”

“Is that you, Reggie? We’re in the basement.”

Reggie headed for the stairs. When she was halfway down, her mother moved to the bottom of the stairs.

“Don’t be mad,” she said, her expression two parts guilt and one part amusement.

“Unless you decided on a different favor for your wedding, I couldn’t possibly be mad. What’s going on?”

Leigh pointed to the far end of the basement, where Belle was stretched out on the carpet, Burt resting beside her. At first Reggie couldn’t figure out what her dog was doing, but then she saw the scattered pieces of what had been Gizmo’s vacuum. Belle was chewing on a piece of the casing.

“It’s my fault,” her mother said quickly. “I was running late, so I thought I’d let your little invention take care of the upstairs. When I got home from running errands, I didn’t think anything of it, except Belle didn’t come to greet me, so I went looking for her. This is what I found. She must have carried it down here to kill it.”

“Oh, Belle,” Reggie said, trying to sound stern. “Gizmo is not going to be happy.”

Belle wagged her tail.

Reggie wasn’t overly concerned about her client. Gizmo had at least a half dozen of the machines at his workshop. It wasn’t as if Belle had destroyed the only one, but still, this was so unlike her.

“You’ve become a sassy girl,” Reggie said, pulling out her phone and taking a picture of the damage. “You might need a little extra training when we get home.”

She texted the photo to Gizmo, along with an explanation.

Bill me the cost of the vacuum. And maybe look at making it a little more dog-proof. Belle won’t be the only one going after it.

Three dots appeared.