Page 84 of Ruff and Tumble

Cole couldn’t help but be intrigued by those words. He pulled out of his mother’s grasp and glanced at his father, who sat regally on his throne, petting his fast-sleeping puppy. “Do youhaveadvice about women?” he asked.

His dad snorted his indignation. “I’ve been married to the love of my life for thirty-five years. I might be an old, doddering fool whose only son betrayed him, but if there’s one thing I know, it’s that.”

Chapter 20

Hailey had never been so nervous in her life. The Puppy Cup was set to air any minute, the huge screen at the front of the restaurant switched away from the halftime show to the much-less-expensive cable channel they aired on. The entire crew and their respective families were sitting with her and waiting for it to start.

They’d all seen it about twelve times already, the edited footage completed and packaged days ago, but that didn’t seem to lessen the excitement any. It helped that this particular restaurant had been more than happy to open the doors to both humans and canines, so in addition to the Puppy Cup production team, which was rapidly becoming drunk, there were several puppies and adult dogs running around underfoot. Hailey had been so confident in Bess and her pack of babies that even they were in attendance, albeit in a quiet corner where they could rest and nurse, should the need arise.

So far, resting was all they’d had an opportunity to do, since Philip stood guard over the pack. Rufus was finally starting to gain enough strength to hold his own against his brothers and sisters, and Philip was determined to see that he got his fair share.

“Okay, everyone, quiet down,” Hailey called, raising her hand to try to stem the enthusiasm long enough to get a speech in. Against all odds and the devastating news that Cole Bennett wouldn’t be playing in the Kickoff Cup, the Lumberjacks were up by seven points. Everyone was understandably elated—especially since there were so many Lumberjack ties to the Puppy Cup. If their luck held, there was a good chance that every puppy in the country would be adopted after this.

“It’ll never work.” Penny sidled up next to Hailey and passed over a glass of sparkling wine. Their doubled budget had allowed them to throw this party, but real champagne was still out of the question. “Everyone is already drunk. You’ll have to flip on the karaoke machine and sing if you want to get anyone’s attention.”

“I’m not that desperate.”

“I was afraid of that.” Penny put a finger in either side of her mouth and released an ear-splitting whistle. Almost immediately, the movements and conversations in the room stilled. Even the puppies seemed to sense that quiet was called for. “There you go. The crowd is yours.”

Hailey swallowed. Public speaking had never been her forte for obvious reasons. Even if she wrote everything out ahead of time and practiced it painstakingly in front of the mirror, she would inevitably stammer and blush the moment all eyes were turned her way.

In this instance, she hadn’t written or practiced anything. The past week and a half had been a blur of puppies and filming and long hours at the editors’ desks. She’d gone to bed exhausted every night and woke far too early every morning, determined that work, at least, would go well.

Her personal life might be a disaster, but that wasn’t anything new. She also didn’t have any family here to support her big day, and no one would be waiting for her when she got home, but that wasn’t new, either.

She’d come into this world alone and would probably leave it that way, too. Some people were born lucky, and some weren’t. That was just the way the world worked, and if she’d thought for a few brief Cole-Bennett-fueled minutes that things could be different, that was on her.

“Um, first of all, I want to thank everyone for all their hard work these past few months,” she said, her voice sounding small even with the hush in the room. “I know it’s been—”

The doors to the restaurant whooshed open. She didn’t want to hope andreallydidn’t want to look, but the low murmur of surprise made it impossible for her to resist.

He’s here. He came. He…sent his mother?

“Oops, sorry.” Paula Bennett, decked out from head to toe in Lumberjacks teal, entered the room with all the confidence of a six-foot woman who had never felt the urge to make herself smaller. She waved a hand at Hailey, half in greeting and half in an effort to apologize. “Hello, dear. Ignore us. We’ll slide in the back. Pretend we’re not here.”

The request was a ridiculous one considering how much noise Paula’s arrival elicited. If she’d come alone, she might have gotten away with a discreet entrance, but she’d brought her entire family with her.

Well, most of her family.

Cole’s dad was beside her, wearing funereal black instead of his usual Lumberjacks jersey. Regina was there, too, doing her best to balance Mia and Nala at the same time. Hailey’s jaw dropped as she also recognized Cole’s grandmother tottering toward the open bar, the Wegmores, and even Sam and her wife with their two kids in tow. It was the entirety of Cole’s family, all of them large and noisy and beaming at her.

But not Cole.

“Go on, then,” Paula said when Hailey made no move to speak. “Get on with the speech. You won’t hear another peep out of us.”

“Peep!” Mia called as she managed to get out of her mother’s arms and make a mad dash toward the puppies in the corner.

I’m sorry, Regina mouthed.We’re the worst.

It was that last unspoken bit that finally dislodged Hailey from her stupor. These people weren’t the worst—not even close. They were noisy and unapologetically themselves. They lived and loved large. And for reasons she couldn’t even begin to understand, they were here to support her in her moment of glory.

Her heart, as soft and vulnerable and exposed as always, swelled.

This time, she let it.

“Now that we’re all here, I’d like to take a moment to thank everyone for all their hard work these past few months,” she said. Her voice started out wavering, her suddenly blurred eyes making it difficult to see more than a few feet in front of her face, but the Puppy Cup logo flashed on the screen, forcing her to focus. “Oops… It looks like I’m going to have to make this fast, so I will. Six years ago, I came on this project as a production assistant in hopes that I might make a small difference in the lives of a few puppies. Thanks to Cole Bennett, Jasmine Jones, and the entire Lumberjacks team, we’re expecting twenty million viewers this year. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the fruits of your hard work,” she called and, unable to help herself, “Go Lumberjacks!”

Everyone toasted to that, and Hailey found her glass filled several times as she pushed through the crowd to where Cole’s family had found an empty table. She’d had very little to eat for the past week, so she was understandably tipsy by the time she arrived. Her head swam, and she was vaguely aware of the vision of her and Cole squaring off over their puppies on the screen overhead, but that didn’t stop her.