On the Scent: A laugh out loud pet detective rom com!

“We can’t afford for him to miss work, Zach.”

He pointed the spatula at her. “Don’t worry about that. I’ve got it covered. He’s got paid leave for as long as he needs it.”

“You sure?” Jenny’s hazel gaze softened with hope. She knew how dire the agency’s finances had been, and like Brian, had probably lost her own fair amount of sleep over the dilemma. But neither of their parents were in the picture to help, financially or otherwise. They were also too damn proud to ask for help from their friends. Zach would have to rally the troops into action. A little help with meals. Some babysitting duties. Clothes and toy donations. Whatever it took.

“Positive.” He arranged a plate full of food in front of her before moving to the fridge to get her some orange juice. “How is my baby niece doing anyway?”

A happy grin tugged the edges of Jenny’s mouth. “She’s amazing. I still can’t believe she’s here.”

“Of course she’s amazing.” He snagged a couple of pieces of bacon and thrust them into his mouth. “Can I go peek in at her?”

“Sure.” She waved her fork at him. “Please don’t wake her up. I was hoping to get a nap in after breakfast.”

Baby Jessica was sound asleep when Zach looked into the crib he’d helped Brian assemble a month or so ago. He took a deep breath and released it, glad things felt normal again.

He had no idea what the hell had happened to him at Hannah’s place last night. Maybe he was finally losing it. He could’ve sworn there’d been other people in the room with them, jabbering random things about food and going for a walk and the best windows with a view.

He’d had the crazy idea the cat had been talking to him.

Absurd.

The baby in the crib released a slight coo, and Zach reached in to tug the collar of her onesie up higher. Baby Jessica’s eyes slowly opened and met his, but the kid didn’t make a sound. She stared up at him with her big, blueish-gray eyes, so much like her father’s. Her mouth made an O shape.

He hadn’t been around a baby since his little brother Dylan, a helluva long time ago. Dylan. Did his brother have any kids yet? A bitter laugh escaped his control. Wouldn’t that be something, if he were already an uncle, a real one, and didn’t even know it.

“Hey, kiddo. Go back to sleep. Uncle Zach didn’t mean to wake you up,” he whispered.

A weird feeling gripped his gut.

It was quickly followed by the sensation of intense hunger, so strong it sent a bolt of pain through his belly.

The sound of Jessica’s cry shattered the silence. She flung her tiny, clenched fists to the side and then quickly brought them back to her middle again. Jenny appeared in the doorway and scooped the infant up. “Uh oh. Somebody’s hungry.” Turning around to face him, she added, “Some privacy, please?”

He shut the door behind him, and not even a minute later, the hunger chewing at his insides began to dissipate.

Nah, it couldn’t be.

He shook his head. No friggin’ way.

A chuckle shook his chest. He’d better watch himself. He was starting to buy his own con.

Chapter Six (#u9e813188-5101-5b8c-b31f-ec03fcbc530f)

It was official. This isolation was making Hannah nutso.

She’d had spent the past hour having a mostly one-sided conversation with her dog—in British. Well, with a British accent on her part. In her defense, she was pretty sure Costello had mumbled an uh-huh sound when she’d asked, “Aren’t these candles just the dog’s bollocks?”

She really needed to stop watching every version of Pride and Prejudice in her DVD collection when the classic film channel started showing weird stuff, which happened without fail every morning around two o’clock. And no more online streaming Doctor Who. It was making her wonky.

“Maybe I should have moved to London like Sarah suggested. What do you think, Costello? Would you like to live in England? I think you have some corgi in you, and we all know the Queen loves corgis.”

The dog made a whiney-growling sound, rolled onto his side and covered his eyes with one stubby leg. She’d take that as You’re a completely nutter, woman. Leave me alone.

Sighing, Hannah stepped away from the bookshelf and made sure the three baby blue candles she’d found in a box were positioned in a way that didn’t clutter the thing, but ah, who was she kidding? She didn’t own enough of anything to clutter a house of this size. It had been whimsical of her to buy this place in such a ridiculously wealthy neighborhood, but she’d wanted to start fresh somewhere memories couldn’t haunt her—without leaving the city she loved.

When she’d lived in a dorm at college, she’d had so little space and money, she’d never bothered to decorate with more than a few posters or torn pages from a magazine. Her first apartment had been shared with two roommates, and she’d spent so little time there, she’d never seen the point. With Eric, she—

No. Don’t go there. Don’t think about him.

She sighed and rerouted her thoughts. When she’d moved in as Ellie’s caretaker, she’d never felt right about trying to mix her own personal style with the older woman’s outdated décor.

She’d lived there, but it hadn’t been her home. She’d never really had a home, until now.

As soon as she’d seen this house—built in the 1930s and in need of a few repairs—she’d liked the idea of patching it up and making it hers. Maybe someday she’d have her own family, enough kids to fill the four bedrooms.

Hannah knelt beside one of the boxes filled with items from Ellie’s house she either needed to sell, donate or put away and discovered a bunch of knickknacks she didn’t remember packing. Ellie had owned a lot of knickknacks that seemed cruel to discard now without closer inspection. The older woman had spent almost ninety years collecting the things. The least Hannah could do was make sure they went to a home with someone who appreciated them.

She fingered a porcelain figurine of a white cat and shook her head. So far, she’d found at least one other box filled with similar figures. She felt the sting of tears behind her eyes. “Ellie did love animals, didn’t she?”

Hearing her voice, Costello picked up the chew toy he’d been playing with and wandered closer, plopping down a few feet away before returning his focus to mauling the fuzzy goat.

She missed the older woman so much. Hannah hadn’t realized how much she’d come to care for Ellie Parham until the woman had been gone. It was hard to believe her friend had been dead almost a year.

When Ellie’s dog Fairbanks had passed away a few weeks after Hannah had moved in with her, Ellie had said, “Let’s go save another life. This time the lucky critter will have two moms. Trust me. Whoever said money can’t buy happiness has never paid a shelter fee.”

They’d come home with not only a puppy, but a kitten, too. Hannah had always thought of Abbott and Costello as partially hers from that day forward. Even without the inheritance, Hannah would have taken care of the boys. Ellie had known that.

Blinking away the emotion that particular memory caused, Hannah closed the box and slid it toward the ones she’d marked “Garage.” She twisted and turned to inspect a bigger box, only to squeal when Abbott sprang out of nowhere and landed in it before she could look inside. Crazy cat. Hannah would have made a lot more progress unpacking if Abbott stopped jumping into and making a bed inside of every box she opened.

The sound of the doorbell startled all three of them. Hannah jumped. Costello clambered to his feet barking, and Abbott darted out of the box and under the nearby sofa for safety.

She glanced at the clock she’d recently sat on the mantle. Almost ten. Brian had said he would be changing shifts with Zach soon. The idea of seeing him again spawned a ridiculous flutter of butterflies in her stomach.

Pushing to her feet, she dusted her jeans off then tugged at her ponytail to straighten it. Lord, she probably looked atrocious.

She opened the door, but instead of the man who’d been occupying her thoughts more than he should have, a well-dressed, dark-haired, middle-aged woman stood there smiling and holding …a casserole dish?

Not far behind her, Brian stood propped against the hood of his car, watching. He nodded and gave a discreet two-fingered wave, which was the code they’d decided for “All clear.”

“I hope you don’t mind me intruding, but I wanted to come over and introduce myself.” The woman held out her hand. “I’m Carolyn Carter, from down the street.”

“Oh.” Hannah accepted the gesture. “Hannah Dawson. Nice to meet you.”

“Hannah.” The woman repeated her name as if it were the lyric of a song. “What a beautiful name.”

“Thank you.”

Carolyn cast a backward glance at Brian before beaming a friendly smile in Hannah’s direction again. “I know how hard it can be getting settled into a new neighborhood. I thought the least I could do was bring you over a casserole as a housewarming gift.”