She had a kennel full of Standard Poodles to care for, an article to finish writing for Poodle Variety, a litter of new puppies due after Christmas, and a big, wet, black dog lying on the grooming table in front of her waiting to be blown dry. What she didn’t have was time for needless interruptions. Unless they came from her husband, Max, whom she adored. “Eileen wants us to do what?” she asked. Turning off the switch on the freestanding dryer to silence its loud whine, she tilted the nozzle away and looked up. Peg was quite certain she’d heard Max right the first time. Still, she wanted to hear him say the words again. “Eileen and Michael have invited us to come for Christmas dinner,” Max repeated. Michael was Max’s older brother. Eileen was his wife. The couple had two children, a boy and a girl. Those children had barely been teenagers the last time she’d seen them, Peg realized. Busy with school and friends, and everything else that young people got up to, neither had been present on the infrequent occasions Peg had seen her in-laws recently.
