why do you think people come to you for dog walking? Because of you.” Glenys patted her arm. “Because everyone in Manhattan with a brain and a dog knows that Harriet Knight is the person they want. Customer service. Individual attention. Caring. That’s what it’s about. That’s why the Bark Rangers is a success. You are to dog walking what Tiffany’s is to jewelers. You are diamond and white gold. The best.”
Harriet was touched and ridiculously flattered. “What do you know about Tiffany’s?”
“I was young once. I used to stand outside that store dreaming, like so many women before me. And then Charlie made my dreams come true. And he didn’t do it by walking into Tiffany’s and spending all his money. Love isn’t a diamond. You can’t buy what we had, and that’s what you want too. Love. Nothing wrong with that, honey. You show me the person who doesn’t want love in their life, and I’ll show you a liar.” Glenys started walking again, Harvey trotting by her side.
“What makes you so wise?”
“Age and experience.”
After two blocks Harriet insisted they turn round, afraid that Glenys might overdo it.
“It’s enough for one day. I don’t want to tire you out, and I have another dog to walk before I go home.”
“Are you sure you should be doing this much walking?”
“I’m doing a favor for a client who has had a family emergency. She has left Madi, her dog, with her brother and I promised to walk him. This was fun. We’ll do it again tomorrow.”
“If my joints haven’t seized up. So what are you doing for the holidays, pumpkin? Have you decided?”
Harriet kept her eyes straight ahead. “You’re coming. I’m already planning the menu.”
Glenys gave her a keen look. “You’re not staying with Fliss?”
“She’s invited me, but I don’t know Seth’s family and it’s their first Christmas all together and I know Fliss is a little nervous—”
“All the more reason to have you there.”
“No.” Harriet shook her head. “She doesn’t need her twin, she needs Seth. She has a new family now.”
“You don’t throw out your old family just because you have a new one. You blend them together, like that cookie mixture you’re so good at.”
“For some things, yes, but not always and at Christmas it feels like an intrusion. And it will be good for me to spend Christmas without my family. I’m way too dependent on them. I’ll probably watch back-to-back Christmas movies and gorge myself on unhealthy food. I’m hoping you’ll join me.”
“What about your grandmother? Can’t you stay with her?”
“I’m staying right here. I’ll still be walking dogs if people need me. Providing the snow isn’t too bad.” She glanced up at the sky. “Do you think they’ll be right this time? Will it be a big fall?”
“Maybe. It’s the holidays, Harriet. At your age you should be out partying.”
“I can hurt my ankle when I’m not partying. Imagine the damage I could do if I started partying. Never been much of a party person, Glenys. You’re talking to the woman who can’t even walk confidently in high heels.”
“I worry about you coming out here alone at night. It isn’t safe.”
“That’s good. I’m trying to be less safe. Stepping out of my comfort zone. Is Darren coming to see you at all over the holidays?”
“Not this year. He’s going to visit Karen’s parents in Arizona. They’ll probably cook the turkey by leaving it out in the sun for half an hour.” They’d reached Glenys’s apartment block and the doorman smiled and held the door open.
“Please come to me.” Harriet gave her a quick hug. “It will be so much fun. Bring Harvey.”
“You’re a kind girl, Harriet Knight, but you don’t want to spend your holidays with a creaky old bird like me.”
“I do. And if you can’t come to me, I’ll bring the turkey to you. One creaky old bird to another.”
“You’re a soft touch.”
“I don’t think so.”
“I know—” Glenys nudged her “—we could both slip on the ice and spend Christmas Day in the emergency room with that sexy doctor of yours. It’s warm, and we’d have plenty of good company.”
“He’s not my sexy doctor, and I don’t think he’d be amused to see me twice in the same month.”
But if Santa wanted to drop a man like him down her chimney, that really would make for a perfect Christmas.
THE SNOW CONTINUED to fall.
In the emergency room, Ethan was busier than ever.
Before he’d left for work, his sister had arrived at his apartment with Madi. He’d been surprised by how calm and well behaved the dog was. Over Thanksgiving her behavior had been close to manic but his sister assured him she’d been overexcited because of the number of people in the house.
It was certainly true that today she seemed like a different dog.
If she carried on like this, they just might make it through.
“So the dog walker—”
“Her name is Harriet, Ethan. Why are you so bad with names?”
“Because people move through my department so quickly I don’t need to remember them. I don’t care about their names or their ambitions. I fix them. That’s it. So Harriet—” Harriet, Harriet, he repeated to himself “—will be coming twice a day? What about snow? Is that going to keep her away?”
“She has never let me down in two years. She’ll be here. I stopped by her apartment on the way here and gave her your key.”
“You gave my key to a stranger. Thanks.”
“She’s not a stranger. She’s a lifesaver—yours. Make sure you’re home to meet her later.”
Satisfied that Madi’s needs were going to be met by someone, if not by him, Ethan focused on his work.
His first patient was a forty-five-year-old male who had suffered chest pains while shoveling snow.
The first responders at the scene had already transmitted the twelve-lead EKG. Someone showed it to Ethan and he instructed them to page the on-call interventional cardiologist.
Moments later the man arrived in the department.
“I was clearing the snow from the steps and I started to feel
