“I know.” She frowned. “That really must have been awful.”
I nodded. “And this is just dinner. Even if nothing further ever eventuates between Deacon and me, romantically, I’d still like to be friends with him.” I held up my phone. “He quotes poetry to me, Ro. Po-et-tree. Do you know how amazing that is? How utterly perfect that is?”
Just then, a tiny white and orange blur ran out of the stockroom. I gasped and ran to collect Bright before he disappeared under the shelves. “Hey, little mister,” I said, holding him to my chest. “How did you get out?”
I had their play pen set up in the corner; the heater was on. They had food and their bed with blankets and toys, and small litter tray. I had the baby carrier in case they needed cuddles.
I was prepared!
I was not prepared for Bright climbing out and escaping.
“We’re not doing this, little wannabee Steve MacQueen,” I told him. He meowed back at me, angry and defiant.
Well, as angry and defiant as a one-pound fluffball could be.
“You have been fed,” I replied. “You have food, and a warm bed. What else could you possibly need?”
Then Merry meowed from the pen. With a big sigh, I scooped him up too and held them both. They were so much happier being held. I wasn’t sure if it was a comfort thing, a body heat thing, or if they thought I’d left them.
“I thought I’d at least get something done today before we had to do this,” I griped as I put them into the baby carrier and clipped us all into it.
Ro laughed. “You’re a sucker.”
“No. I’m a softy and a wonderful cat dad.” I walked over so she could peek down into the baby carrier. “Look at how cute they are.”
Two sets of little eyes peered back at us. Merry meowed.
Then the delivery lady appeared at the door with boxes of books and whatnot, and we got busy with that, and before we knew it, it was time to open the doors.
Gunter gave me a wave and came over, his breath steamy plumes. “Morning,” he said cheerfully. “How has your first week been? There’s been a steady stream of customers every day, and your opening weekend was huge.”
“Oh, it was wonderful,” I said. “Better than anything we could have hoped for. And I do expect it to quiet down now. Some slow and steady normalcy would be great.”
Then Bright poked his head up to say hello.
“Oh,” Gunter said with a laugh. “Why, hello there.” He gave him a gentle pat, then grinned at me. “I see you’ve adopted Evie’s baby carrier idea.”
“Well, this little tyrant escaped his playpen today,” I explained, then of course Bright decided he was climbing out and up my sweater to my neck. “Stop stepping on your brother—” I looked at Gunter. “It’s going to be a long day.”
He laughed. “He’s cute though.”
“I need to gremlin-proof their playpen.”
He smiled at that. “So, how are things with Deacon? We saw you walking off together the other night.”
Oh, at the Christmas light thing.
“Things are going well,” I said, trying to play it cool. I didn’t want to give too much away and feed into his Christmas Cupid theory. “Things are going slow and steady, which is good for us. He’s... he’s such a great guy.”
“He sends him poetry quotes,” Ro said, piping up out of nowhere. “There is much swooning.”
“I don’t swoon,” I replied, even though I absolutely did swoon, every single time. “Well, maybe a little bit. Anyway, it’s worthy of swooning. Swooning is merited.”
Ro grinned. “It’s just the cutest thing.”
I rolled my eyes. “Anyway, yes, things are going well. Slow but well.”
Gunter grinned at me. “I’m glad to hear that. So, a few of us guys are gonna get together for a pizza one night next week, probably Tuesday or Wednesday. Just at the pizzeria, nothing fancy. And not too late because we’re all kinda busy these days, but we try to make the effort to catch up. You’re more than welcome to join us. Deacon too, if you want?”
