Of all the places he had expected to see her, it was not walking several dogs in the park. A nosy dalmatian, two terriers of indeterminate origin and a fat spaniel cavorted around her as she strode through the weeds. At some point, she sat on a bench and looked through her phone, stroked the spaniel as it sat and chewed grass. Max approached her in what he hoped was a jocular fashion.
She looked up, startled by his greeting. She had recognised him but was wary in her replies. He had expected nothing less, he had made the mistake of bouncing up to her too enthusiastically one too many times and being rebuffed for being too intrusive. They made polite conversation and he'd said goodbye when he could see that she meant to leave.
The next time, there was a cuddly golden retriever, a whippet with an extremely wet nose and a pug, snortling and bumbling along like a chain smoking opa. He knew the whippet had a wet nose because he'd been on the receiving end of it when she had poked it into his crotch, alerting Miranda that the dog was otherwise occupied. She apologised and then clammed up once she saw who it was.
'It's nice to see you again' he said, tickling the whippet, who was gazing up adoringly at him. Miranda rolled her eyes at the dog. Max made a fuss of each of the dogs in turn.
'There's a shop around the corner that does great doughnuts, do you want to get some?'
She declined. They kept on with the small talk and he broached the subject of the office.
'Any idea when you will be back? Otherwise we're stuck with the entertaining one to tell us more bedtime stories about the civil war.'
That drew a reluctant smile from Miranda. He prattled on, being careful not to mention anything about their boss. Miranda had obviously been offended by him. She was in a lot of trouble.
'I'm on leave' she said, surprising him. 'As you were dying to ask me.'
'Well I wasn't going to mention it until you did.'
She rolled her eyes.
'Unless.'
'No. Until. I was going to find out either way.' He shrugged in a particularly irritating way. Miranda could smack him. She threw a tennis ball at him and the retriever jumped up and knocked him to the ground. That shut him up for a moment. Miranda smiled smugly. There was a benefit to this lifestyle after all.
'Why dog walking?' Asked Max as he got up and brushed himself down.
Miranda shrugged.
'It's more profitable than cat walking.'
It was, he realised, her idea of making a joke. He was pleased to know that she was capable of making a joke.