“Please tell me you were exaggerating when you said the kitten-rampage stage would last a year.”
I snorted. “At least.”
Winter made a whining sound. “Lord.” Then he sighed and made an effort to compose himself. “It’s fine. It’s what I signed up for, so no complaining.” Then his eyes went wide as if he’d just thought of something. “We should totally take a pic.” He pulled out his phone, and coming to stand next to me, we each held a kitten and he took a selfie. I didn’t love having my photo taken, but then Winter showed me the picture. I didn’t look at me. I looked at him, at his smile, at the two kittens, and I was glad he’d taken it. “It’s cute! I’ll send it to you.”
He thumbed the screen, and a second later, my phone beeped.
And now, just like that, I had a photo of him.
Of us.
More customers came in and Winter greeted them, still holding Bright. It was a woman with two young teens who were quite enamored with Bright, and then they realized there was a Merry as well. One of the kids came over to me, patting Merry as I held him.
“Are they for sale?” the young girl asked.
“No, no,” Winter said. “They’re my babies. They’re too young to be at home by themselves so we have a bring-your-kids-to-work day most days.”
The mother didn’t seem to mind because it allowed her to look around the store. Winter held Bright as he helped the kids find the books they were after, and I put Merry back in the baby carrier and entered the stock inventory into the computer.
I enjoyed this kind of work. It was a methodical system and I liked the process steps of completing tasks. I was surprised at how busy the bookstore was for a Thursday evening. I knew most of the customers, by face if not name. They seemed to know me, anyway. Which was fine. Helpful, even, if it gave people something to say. Conversations with a variation of “Oh, you’re working here now?” to which I replied, “No, just helping” almost every time someone saw me.
I didn’t mind though.
It was unsurprising that people recognized me. I’d grown up here, worked here, we had the veterinary clinic. And people were mostly nice to me. I liked that.
When Winter closed and locked the door, I was surprised that it was nine o’clock already.
The time had gone so fast.
“Oh wow, that was a long day,” Winter said with a sigh. He pulled the blind down over the door and gave me a smile. “I’m so thankful you were here to help.”
“It was busy,” I allowed. “All the new inventory is done.”
“You are a superstar.” He came over and peered into the baby carrier I was still wearing. “Still asleep,” he whispered.
I rubbed the carrier. “I almost forgot I was wearing it.”
Winter chuckled. “I know, right? I get used to it too.” Then he took out his phone again. “Let me take a photo.”
“Oh.” I was about to protest but he snapped a photo and showed me the screen. “You’re so cute.”
I stared at the photo. Of me wearing the baby carrier, with a bump. “I’m not cute. I look... pregnant,” I mumbled. “That’s not good.”
He chuckled. “No, you look like the cutest cat dad ever.”
“A cat dad?”
He nodded, but then his eyes met mine. “I’ll delete it if you’d prefer.”
Ugh. I wasn’t sure... He thought it was cute, he thought I was cute, and he’d delete it if I asked him to. I liked that he considered my feelings, so I shook my head. “No, it’s fine. Though I would insist you don’t show it to anyone.”
He grinned. “Absolutely no one will see this but me. But hang on,” he added, thumbing the screen again, and then my phone beeped. “And you have it now too. Look over it later, and if you want me to delete it forever, I will.”
“Thank you.”
Then he clapped his hands together. “Okay, let me balance the register and close everything down, then we can leave.”
“Okay.”
