Page 44 of Booked for Theft

“You just like the word machination and wanted an excuse to use it,” I muttered.

“It’s an excellent word, and I fully intend on using it at every opportunity.”

As I couldn’t blame him for that, I eyed Mr. Tawnlen. “Four dogs and a wife, sir?”

My boss grinned at me. “My wife adopts police dog washouts, trains them for another role, and then gives them to people in need. Right now, we have three service dogs in training. The one is an actual washout, and the only thing she is useful for is being loved. That’s an important responsibility in our household, but she’s the first dog my wife has ever encountered that couldn’t be trained for something. We’re at the stage we’re beyond grateful she is potty trained, can sit on command, is gentle natured, and otherwise causes no real problems. She will love her victims to death, but that’s about it.”

“So, she’s trainable enough to be a good pet?”

“She’s an excellent pet,” he confirmed. “Lady Love will be the one we keep in our cabin, assuming we can keep one in our cabin.”

“You should be able to keep all four in your cabin,” Bradley said, and he tapped at the laptop for a few moments. “Yes, I put you into one of the larger cabins because of the number of furry bodies, and the cruise ship’s rule is a cleaning fee should an animal improperly use the facilities. There is a special room for dogs to go on potty walks, and the larger rooms have a special grass box for them to do their business. There is a section of floor that opens up, revealing where your dog can use their facilities without having to head to the dog room.” Bradley stared at the laptop before regarding me with wide eyes. “This is about as fancy as the litter box your mom got for Ajani.”

“Why don’t we have a fancy litter box for Ajani? I want one.”

Bradley laughed. “I’ll order three for us, and we’ll keep the box for one so we can take it on the cruise with us.”

“That is so not fitting in our luggage, Bradley.”

“It doesn’t have to. I’ll arrange for it to be delivered to our cabin, that way, we don’t have as much work to do while on our cruise. Our suite is large enough for the machine.”

“That is not how cruises work, Mr. Hampton!”

“It is when we are booking out the entire cruise ship between our wedding party, our family, our pets, and Dad’s employees.”

I would never understand the excessively rich. “Fine. Maybe it does work like that under these circumstances. But why does Ajani need three?”

“Ajani doesn’t need three, but we are getting a foster fail on Monday,” he reminded me. “We will have a normal litter box for our foster fail until she is big enough to use the litter box safely.”

Right. We were getting a new kitten on Monday. “Okay, I’m a little dumb today.”

“You’re overwhelmed due to the excessive number of animals in our reservation for the cruise.”

I counted cats in my head and frowned, realizing there was one extra. “You put too many cats on the reservation.”

“What if our foster fail has a sister she can’t be separated from, Janette?” he asked, and he faked distress, widening his eyes and attempting to make his lip tremble.

“The rules still apply. The kittens must get along with Ajani.”

“It shall be as you demand.”

“But only two kittens if there is a sister she can’t be separated from. We are not foster failing an entire litter of kittens.”

Bradley’s pout, rather real comparatively, warned me of trouble on the horizon. “No.”

“But Janette!”

“I said no. Two foster fails at an absolute maximum, and only if they get along well with Ajani.” I gestured at our friends, who watched us with amusement. “You may attempt to convince them to join us in foster failing these kittens.”

Mickey held up two fingers. “I’m interested.”

I raised a brow at Beatrice. “And you, ma’am?”

Beatrice giggled. “I’m interested in meeting the candidates. My test of the wares has been going well, and we are prepared to add furry children into our lives. After meeting Ajani, we have both decided we want to try our hand at a kitten.”

The library would be overrun within a week. “I should apologize for this now, Mr. Tawnlen.”

“All kittens, assuming they can be trained to Ajani’s level, will be welcome in the library. We are also going to test one of our training service dogs in our branch to see if having a service dog accessible helps some of our patrons.”