“And he brought me flowers again,” Thea said, turning her attention to the bouquet sitting on the table.
Nathaniel paused, waiting for her reaction.He’d never asked what she truly felt about the bouquets he brought for the café.He’d always assumed she would tell him to stop if she didn’t like them.
“I do love flowers,” Thea said quietly as she looked at them.
But then her expression changed.
“I don’t know how to tell him he should give up on me,” she said.“Do you have any suggestions?”
She looked at him, almost hopefully, and Nathaniel let out a growl.He didn’t want Thea to give up on him.
“No, I suppose you wouldn’t,” she said, with an amused smile.“You’re a cat, after all.One of these days, I suppose I will figure it out.And until then, I shall have to be content with him continuing to bring me flowers—even when I would rather him not.”
But then she sighed.
“Even if I can’t admit to myself that I’m lying about that.”
Triumph rushed through Nathaniel at the admission.She was changing her mind just as he had suspected, whether she knew it or not.And if he ever became a human again, he would find a way to prove it to her.Prove that he had changed, and whatever he had done to her in the past to make her hate him, he would never do again.
Thea yawned and stood, stretching her arms.“I’m off to bed.Are you coming with us, or would you rather stay down here?”she asked him.
He let out a meow and settled deeper into his position.
It wouldn’t be proper for him to go with her, even if he was a cat.
No matter how much he wanted to.
***
Nathaniel’s nose itched.He reached up and scratched it, the itch turning into a fire.
He sneezed, and the sound was loud enough to echo through the whole café.
Café.
He opened his eyes wide and took in his surroundings.He was in the café.Why was he in the café?Why was he curled up in a ball on the floor next to the fireplace?Memories began to filter through—being turned into a cat, spending the evening with Thea and Ginger, falling asleep on a rug by himself.
But it was light out.Thea should’ve woken him with her noise when she came down to prepare for the day.Either he’d slept through it, or she wasn’t here.
He stretched and his eyes opened wide when he realized he was stretching his human arms out.
Human!
He was human again.
He scrambled to his feet, patting his chest, relieved that his clothes had stuck with him through the transformation.
Had he scared her off?Had she come downstairs to find a man asleep on her rug and gone back up?Or had she not come down yet?
It was light out, and the café was empty, which was concerning.Where was she?
There was a knock on the door and someone called, “Thea, are you in there?”
Nathaniel’s eyes widened.Was Thea not here?Had something happened?He looked at the stairs leading to her apartment.Should he go up and look?He hadn’t gone upstairs since she had moved in.It had never felt right—like he would be invading her privacy.
But in all the years he had known her, he’d never known her to not open her store.What if something was wrong?
What if she was sick?
