“Sure. That Italian place across the street any good?”
“Yeah. A little pricey, but they make their own pasta and mozzarella in-house.”
Of course they did. Brooklyn was full of places like that. The owners were probably some Italian family from South Brooklyn with a marinara recipe they’d passed down for generations. Caleb salivated thinking about it.
Doug came back in then, carrying a whole sack of groceries.
“You moving in?” Caleb asked him as he unpacked the bag near the coffee maker in the waiting room.
“It’s the overnight shift. I need snacks. This is the city that never sleeps, but the only thing you can get delivered here at two in the morning is pizza.”
Caleb laughed. Around his old place in Boston, everything was closed by midnight, even some of the bars, and no food could be delivered after nine. New Yorkers didn’t know how to cope with the fact that things closed and not everyone wanted to work all night.
He caught sight of Lauren in his peripheral vision, her face inscrutable. Actually, it looked like she was trying really hard to look friendly and placid and utterly failing. She was still hot and bothered. Caleb wondered if he could keep that going through dinner.
“Well,” Caleb said. “If you don’t need anything else, I’m gonna head out.”
“Yeah, I’m good. Hello and goodbye, Lauren,” said Doug.
“I came by to get the kitten flyers,” Lauren said, patting her bag. “Are you coming by the big party next week?”
“If I’m not working, then yes.”
“We’re going to be fighting to the death to decide who has to work the overnight the night of your adoption party,” Caleb explained. “Or, you know, we’ll draw straws or something.”
“We heard there’d be free liquor,” said Doug. “It’s gotten contentious.”
“You’re liquoring people up to talk them into adopting cats, aren’t you?” said Caleb.
“I would never,” said Lauren with mock outrage. “I’m merely throwing a party. The aim is for people to adopt cats, yes, but we also want them to have a good time. Well, and Paige figured free booze would attract some of the local hipsters.” She rocked on her heels. “Can I see the kittens?”
“Oh. Yeah, I’ll take you back there.”
Lauren looked in on the kittens while Caleb went to the office to grab his stuff. When he popped back into the back room to fetch her, she was cooing and making baby noises to the kittens.
“They’re so cute with their little scrunchy faces.” Lauren’s voice got higher and squeakier as she spoke.
“They seem to be doing pretty well. I’ve been keeping an eye on Giant because he’s slow to eat sometimes, but he’s playing with the other cats and he seems very friendly.”
Lauren looked up. “Could he still be sick?”
“I think he may have a weak stomach, but he can live a full life if his eventual owners are careful with what they feed him. Or he’ll grow out of it. It’s hard to say with kittens this little.”
Lauren stroked Giant’s head, and he purred gently and pressed up against her hand. She cooed at him.
“We usually wait until they are about twelve weeks old to adopt them. They can eat regular kitten food by then. So they’re with us a few more weeks.” Caleb let out a breath. Her compassion was charming, but he didn’t want to spend all night squatting next to a kitten pen. “You read to go?”
“Yes. Bye, little kittens. See you soon!”
They left together a few minutes later after a lot of baby talk to the kittens. As they waited to cross the street, Caleb noted this felt suspiciously like a date.
But, no, they were just fueling up for the hot night they were about to have. They didn’t like each other much. This was not a relationship.
If he kept telling himself that, he might start to believe it.
Chapter 12
Dinner was…civil. There was a brief argument about whether to order red or white wine; Lauren won and they ordered a bottle of white. It was a draw about whether cat pheromone diffusers actually worked to help keep cats calm—she’d seen them in action, Caleb remained skeptical—and they’d agreed to disagree about something regarding raw food diets for cats. The final argument was over dessert—they agreed to split something until it became clear Lauren wanted tiramisu and Caleb wanted cheesecake and there would be no compromising. There were instead two half-eaten desserts.
