She ushered us into a room filled with cat towers and wide windows facing the street. Now, it wasn’t only the cats on display for every passerby—so were we.
The orange cat, Mr. Hissy, immediately retreated to the back corner of the room and glared at us for having the audacity to infiltrate his space. A gray kitten approached first, unfazed as he rubbed against Reid’s shoe before falling over and playfully pawing at his shoelaces.
“Hi there,” Reid cooed, dropping to his knees to pet the little guy.
“Huh,” I said as I watched him grow more and more infatuated with the kitten.
“What?” Reid asked, not willing to take his eyes off the purring bundle of fluff to look up at me.
“All this time I thought you were helping me out of the goodness of your heart, but really, you’re a secret cat person.”
He stroked the kitten’s back before it flopped over again. “I mean, they’re cute,” he said. “I always wanted a pet growing up, but my parents were very anti-pet. They let me have a fish once, but even then complained it was too much work. And it didn’t fill the void, anyway. You can’t cuddle a fish.”
“Way inferior,” I agreed. “But they are pretty low maintenance.”
“Spoken like someone who has no idea about the proper protocol for tank care.”
I grimaced. “This is probably a bad time to tell you that Gran and I had a fish once. We kept it in an old vodka bottle.”
His gaze met mine, eyes narrowed.
“Emptied and cleaned out, obviously,” I added.
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”
I chuckled, dropping to my knees to pet the brown cat that had joined our impromptu meet-and-greet. “In our defense, we had no clue what we were doing. And Gran had no idea how to use Google.”
“You could have asked the pet store worker you got it from,” he said, not willing to give me an inch of grace.
“Oh, the sixteen-year-old making minimum wage who was probably high while on the job? Great idea. We should have thought of that.”
The smile that lingered on Reid’s face as he gazed at the kitten—soft, genuine, a little crooked—made my heart completely melt. This guy really was a big softie.
“Why don’t you have a cat if you love them so much?” Iasked, the brown cat now aggressively purring as he pressed his head against my ankles. My heart ached that he was here, until I saw the small “On Hold” tag around his neck.Phew. I could not handle adopting another cat right now.
Reid’s smile faltered. “I always wanted to. But my ex was resistant to the idea.”
“Allergic?” I asked.
“Just not a cat person,” he said. “Or a pet person, really. She always used to cross the street anytime we passed someone walking their dog.”
“A sin,” I said.
He chuckled. “She wasn’t the warmest and fuzziest of people.”
“Why didn’t you get one after?” I meant ‘after the divorce,’ but didn’t quite get the words out. I still had a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that he’d been married before. Had already had this whole other life he thought would be forever. It wasn’t like I didn’t have a past; I had lived with Paul for nearly two years. But marriage hadnevercrossed my mind. We were young and had bickered constantly toward the end. I think I felt a strange sense of loyalty toward him for wanting to be with me. For picking me. I realized how absurd that was, now. Someone wanting me was the bare minimum. Below the bare minimum, even.
“I thought about getting one when I got my own place, but I never did. I think I always saw it as a step I wanted to take in a relationship. You move in together, adopt a pet, get married, have kids. You know. Not that life is some inflexible checklist of things I need to tick off,” he added hurriedly. “I just thought it sounded nice. Going with someone to adopt your pet together…that probably sounds dumb.” He shot me a self-deprecating smile. I forced my arms to remain at my sides, because that look made me want to wrap him up in a hug.
“That doesn’t sound dumb at all, Reid.” My heart ached for him. I wanted to ask more about the divorce, but I didn’twant to pry. Was he over her? He said it was over a year ago, but how long had they been together? He must have really loved her to get married. Suddenly flashes of Reid in a tux waiting at the end of the aisle infiltrated my mind.
“You should get one now,” I said.
He shot his gaze toward me, then back at the two kittens now swarming his shoes. “I’m not ready.”
I laughed. “What do you mean? Like, you don’t have the stuff? We can pick it up.”
“I haven’t done the proper research.” He frowned. “I-I don’t like to be unprepared for things.”
