Paige snuck into the backroom and found the plastic tub full of cat treats she knew Lauren kept there. She grabbed a handful and went back to the cat room. She wedged herself between Josh, Lauren, and the recalcitrant cat and tossed a few into the carrier. Then she made a little trail of treats from the cat to the carrier.
“Did you learn nothing from trapping the ferals?” Paige asked.
Josh looked at her with awe on his face. They all stood back and watched as Mr. Knightley ate the treats and then hopped into the carrier to finish off the rest. Paige swooped forward and closed the flap.
“Well, gee,” said Josh.
Mr. Knightley let out a mighty yowl as he realized he’d walked into a trap.
“You need help getting him home?” Lauren asked.
“You think that carrier is secure?”
Josh had bought a model that looked like a duffel bag. It was the sort of thing affluent women carried their purse dogs around in. Paige checked all the zippers and found them to be closed securely. “Yeah, he can’t get out of there.”
“Then I think I should be okay. I’m gonna call a cab, because I can’t imagine hauling ten pounds of angry cat all the way home will be easy, but then I should be fine.”
“Okay. I mean, Paige, you can close, right?”
Paige had wanted to volunteer to help Josh, but she didn’t want Lauren to ask questions. Maybe she was paranoid. But she said, “Sure, Monique and I can finish here.”
“Let me grab my bag,” said Lauren. “Then if you’re really nice, I’ll buy you dinner.”
While Lauren was in back closing down her office for the day, Paige said softly, “I’d help, but…”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll see you Thursday.”
Mr. Knightley yowled again.
“Uh, congratulations on your handful,” said Paige.
Josh didn’t seem to notice and was in fact staring at Paige intently.
“Do I have something on my face?”
Josh shook his head. “No. It’s just that you’re beautiful and I want to kiss you, but I really don’t want to get caught. That was like a whole debate that played out in my head in an instant.”
Phew. Paige couldn’t help herself and looked at Josh’s lips, which looked soft and kissable. Suddenly she really wanted to kiss Josh, too. But then she heard footsteps and said, “Hold that thought. Thursday.”
Josh nodded and leaned down to pick up the carrier. He took his phone out of his pocket to pull up a ride share app as Lauren walked out of the back.
“Paige, everything in back is set, but can I bother you to do one last litter box cleanup before you go?”
“Sure, no problem.”
“I hate to ask. It’s a gross job.”
“Lauren, it’s fine. Make sure Mr. Knightley settles in at his new home.”
“Okay. Well, let’s go.”
“I’ve got a car coming,” Josh said as he held up his phone.
Lauren said goodbye, and Paige tried to will away the inevitable awkward pause as Josh did the same, but Lauren didn’t seem to notice. Paige watched them leave, then went to the backroom to grab the vacuum so she could clean up the cat room.
Monique stuck her head in and said, “Front of house is clean. You need any help back here?”
“Yeah, sure. I’m going to vacuum. If you could put all the cat toys back in the bin, that would be a help.”
