Once Upon a Pet Show (A Redpoint One Romance) (7 page)

He motioned at the growing crowds. "The start
of the pet show?"

Her face cleared, and she gave him a smile
that set him going again. "Oh yes. Very exciting day."

She didn't indicate the excitement he thought
she should. That most exhibitors who returned year after year
displayed. The Redpoint One Exotic Pet Show was a looked-forward
event in the field. Many applied to display their pets and were
turned away. Maybe she didn't realize the full ramifications yet of
her acceptance?

"Sorry. I'm a bit distracted by a meeting I
had this morning." Vallory reached down to touch the top of his
bot's white outer casing. "Is this the pet you were trying to
name?"

Damien frowned, quickly glancing back. Sure
enough, the electrical panel cover was closed and locked, and his
bot was now at Vallory's feet, looking up at her as she smoothed a
hand over its back shell. How did it finish the repair so fast? How
did it get past him and to Vallory without him noticing?

Why did he care?

"Some of them like names. Some appear not to,"
Damien said with a shrug. "Mine appears not to."

"It could be that you aren't trying the right
names," Vallory said, looking up at him with a lop-sided smile.
"That's the way it was with my crew. How many people have pets
named Neon and Frumpmuffin?"

Damien almost choked. "Frumpmuffin? How did
you figure that one out?"

"Long story, and a culmination of a long
frustrating day and a conservative upbringing." Her smile turned
into a grin, with a dimple appearing in her right cheek. The grin
disappeared when she straightened. "Speaking of pets, sorry, I do
need to go and check up on my pets this morning."

Vallory headed off with a wave of her hand.
Her skirt swished over the top of the bunched-up socks. As she
turned away he'd noticed a streak of pink in her hair to match the
color of her dress. Very unconventional for a exhibitor. Hadn't she
been to one of these events before?

His bot let loose with a sad whine. Damien
raised his eyebrows as he looked down at it. Both its eyestalks
were fixated on Vallory's retreating figure.

Good grief, his bot liked her. Really liked
her.

"It won't work," he said to it. The bot looked
up at him with just one eyestalk, the other still watching Vallory
as she disappeared into the crowd. "Don't get any ideas. Once the
show is over, she will be gone, and we will still be
here."

His bot gave another sad sound. A sadness
Damien refused to feel. Redpoint One was his home. He had no
intention of leaving. Especially not with a self-called nomad. He
liked having a home.

Stealing himself, he turned away from her
direction, motioning at his bot. "Come on. Time to get back to
work."

***

It took all of Vallory's self-control not to look
over her shoulder back at him. Even so, it was as if Damien's stare
burned into her skin.

Silly. At least, she tried to tell herself
that.

The other part of her brain reminded her of
how he looked her up and down several times. Replayed the hint of
humor lurking in his eyes when his gaze reached hers
again.

And maybe a bit of disapproval?

She really hoped she hadn't seen that part.
She didn't want him to disapprove of her. It was bad enough to have
the disapproval of some of the other exhibitors.

She gave herself a mental shake. Stay focused.
This wasn't a trip to find romance. No vacation romance for her.
After all, this wasn't a vacation.

This trip revolved only around the daubpups,
and only the daubpups, she reminded herself firmly even as her mind
replayed everything about Damien in slow motion. Reminding her of
what the rest of her had been focused on only a few moments
ago.

No. The daubpups. She forced herself to
visualize them. Trouble-maker Penny. Calm Clementine who would
often snuggle the others. Frumpmuffin, one of the smarter of the
group no matter its name.

Her footsteps quickened.

She hadn't meant for the meeting to run for so
long. Not only did it run long, but it meant she didn't have time
for a proper breakfast. Now the pet show was open, and she hadn't
had time to check on her little ones.

After the excitement of the previous night,
she really should have taken the time to be back at the pet show
early in the morning. Even if it had meant getting up at such an
indecent time. But, after sleeping so poorly after the interview
with the show security, it had been hard to get out of
bed.

She scowled at that thought as she finally
reached the wide doorway into her building. Why did she have to
stay so long and answer so many questions? As she'd told them, she
hadn't been around at the time of the pet-napping. How could she
have seen anything if she hadn't been there to see anything? Round
and round the questions and answers had gone until she'd felt like
she was in a bizarre real-life Alice in Wonderland
scene.

"Another one this morning," someone whispered
as she gained the right aisle.

That comment froze her to the spot, forcing
people coming up behind her to divert around. From the appearance
of the woman and the badge hanging from one of the pockets of her
trim gray and white pinstriped suit jacket, one of the two talking
was an exhibitor. Hard to tell with the other one, but she would
guess just an attendee.

"How could that happen after last night?" the
other woman asked as the crowds continued to move past.

"No one knows. They think it may have happened
during morning feeding. All I know is that I'm getting a new bolt
to lock my enclosure before the day is out."

And she hadn't been here for the morning
feeding.

The volume of the crowd drowned out whatever
the two said after. Didn't matter. There must have been another
pet-napping. Who? Where?

She wanted to know, but no way was she going
to ask Security. Not after last night. She could just picture
herself trapped in their main office again answering hours worth of
worthless questions. Just as last night, she hadn't been in the
fairgrounds to even see anything in the first place.

But, the same worry was there. If someone's
pets had disappeared, what about hers?

Which set her off into the building
again.

Not easy to move quickly, not with the crowds
building fast. She'd heard of the popularity of the Redpoint One
Exotic Pet Show, but knowing and being in the thick of it were two
different things. And this was only the morning crowd and not even
the weekend? The thought increased her anxiety for her daubpups
over what was to come in the next few days.

Oh, please, keep the internal enclosure
environmental controls working. Please let them still be there when
she arrived.

Vallory dodged and ducked, moving as fast as
she dared. As fast as the crowds allowed.

From a break in the people, she spotted the
right enclosure. Ms. Mishley waved at her from in front of her own
enclosure as Vallory finally touched the clear front wall of the
duabpup's temporary home.

Even better, the daubpups were still inside.
Not along the front watching the "people entertainment channel," as
she liked to call it. They had migrated to the back corners of the
enclosure. Rebuilding nests, eating, drinking, grooming each
other's fur. Clementine was on top of one of the fake tree limbs,
running under and on top of it in the gravity-defying manner she
found fascinating. How did they keep their grip?

But, all safely inside. She let out a long
breath of relief, letting the tension seep out of her. Her
daubpups, safe inside right where they should be.

Thankfully, Ms. Mishley didn't come over. She
looked busy, with another of the gray service carts parked at one
corner of her enclosure with buckets and bags on both shelves.
Probably doing the same cage maintenance Vallory needed to
do.

With her hands shaking, it took her more time
than normal. Such as refilling the water and food trays. Seeing the
matted straw in a back corner where the daubpups liked to make
their nests, she went to the small aisle at the back of the
enclosure for a fresh bundle of dried grass. She brought out a blue
and gold-starred ball they loved to play with, as well.

The daubpups squealed and whistled at the
sight of it. Several jumped after it the moment she let it roll
towards the front corner so she could safely get inside to change
out the bedding. The job should have taken only a few minutes, but
the duabpups insisted on attention. Scratches, pets, playing with
their tails, playing with the ball.

As she alternated between playing with them
and changing out half of the grass, she noticed a crowd growing on
the other side of the clear wall. It started with children, who
pointed and whispered at each other at the daubpup antics. Then
their parents started to gather. Then other adults. The daubpups
ignored them, continuing their fun, with the voices and sounds on
the other side blocked out by the solid front wall.

Vallory didn't know how to feel about the
attention. Protecting any species included education of the public.
She'd put up a display at one side to give information in the form
of a small movie she'd made while they were still in their original
habitat. Before that habitat had been destroyed.

But, to sell them as pets? No, she wouldn't do
that. She hadn't yet seen them reproduce. The group must stay
together if they were going to survive.

She sighed. No luck with the meeting today.
Yes, she had three more meetings scheduled, but what after
that?

"What are we going to do?" Vallory whispered
to Frumpmuffin as she rolled the ball back. Frumpmuffin put a paw
on top of the ball and gazed up at her with head cocked.

"I'm serious. What do we do if we don't find a
place? I don't know where to take you after this."

Frumpmuffin didn't answer back. Merely bumped
the ball towards her in the way that told her they still wanted to
play.

Vallory gave a big sigh loud enough to attract
the attention of Clementine on the branch. She rolled the ball
away, and rolling bundles of daubpups pushed and bumped against
each other in their effort to chase and grab it. The children
outside laughed and pointed at the sight.

She admitted it was funny. She stuffed the
last of the used grass into the bag and stood up. "Time for me to
go. Want to give me back the ball?"

She couldn't even see the ball due to the mass
of dauppups over it. Then it appeared, with the colorful creatures
batting it between each other in their own unique version of
soccer.

"Fine, have fun," Vallory said, cinching the
top of the bag tightly. She would need to take it down to the
incinerator. It wouldn't be fun carrying it through the crowd. Yes,
tomorrow she needed to do this earlier in the morning.

She halted half way to the front door, the
duabpups wrestling for the ball around her feet. She frantically
searched the moving colors. Ticking them off in her mind in a
silent roll-call.

No, not there.

She turned. Clementine and Neon on the branch.
Pizza was busy making a new nest in the new grass.

Oh no. Where was she? No bright copper body in
the bunch.

Vallory dropped the bag of old straw at the
door and headed back for the rear of the enclosure. Even as the
daubpups climbed the bag as a new toy, she searched all the
crevices made by the artificial branches. Even rooted through the
grass to see if she was hiding underneath. Pizza whined at her,
telling her in the daubpup way to go away.

Penny was nowhere to be found.

A new anxiety built. Oh no. Please
no.

One more count of the daubpups present told
her the same thing. One of them was missing, and of course it was
Penny.

Why did Penny do this to her? Didn't they have
enough problems without her pulling a disappearing act?

"Not the day for it," Vallory said out loud as
she pulled daubpups from off the top of the bag. Of course they
climbed on top. They loved climbing.

She used the ball to distract them and allow
her to get her and the bag outside without one of them trying to
follow. She wished one of the enclosed carts were nearby. It was a
long way to the back of the building with such a big bag. Her arm
started feeling the weight by the time she reached a few enclosures
down.

"Missing one?" Mr. Pyman asked as he came out
from behind his enclosure. "We had another incident."

Vallory froze, glancing quick back. Still
children and adults in front of it, enjoying the antics of her
daubpups. She forced herself to relax. "Oh no. They're all there.
One was in the grass. All accounted for."

"Hmm." The sound told her that he didn't
believe her.

Vallory headed away, feeling her face
flush.

Penny. Why did she have to be herself right
now?