But this was no laughing matter.“I’m Nathaniel,” he reminded her, getting to his feet and putting distance between them.
“No, you’re not,” Ginger said, attempting to follow him.“Thea named you Baker.She asked me if we should keep you and I told her yes.”
“You’re not keeping me,” Nathaniel said.“I’m leaving.”
Because hopefully he was going to turn into a human again at some point, and Ginger was only interested in his cat form, not his human form.
Though he was planning on sticking around in his human form, too.
“I’m going to take a nap,” he said.
Ginger curled up next to him, reaching over to lick the fur at the nape of his neck.
Nathaniel growled, but it was of no use.She was determined and only snuggled closer.
She was entirely too close for his liking.
“You really need to move on,” he told her, but she was already blissfully asleep.
Nathaniel grumbled and looked over at Thea, who was smirking at him.
Of course she was no help.If only he could transform into a human at will, so he could get away from Ginger—and kiss Thea.
When he opened his eyes again, it was nearing nighttime, which surprised him.How long had he been asleep?He hadn’t thought it was that long, yet he couldn’t see outside anymore.Thea was bustling around, cleaning up, and he grimaced at the fact that he had been a cat all day, leaving her to do all the work.
It wasn’t fair.He didn’t want to be a cat in the first place.He wanted to help Thea, but he couldn’t—not in this form.
Frustrated, he slunk over to her as she settled into her chair and gave him a glance.“Do you want to sit with me?”she asked.
Nathaniel’s heart leaped at the invitation, and he quickly jumped onto the chair next to Thea.He curled up beside her—it was more than he could have asked for to be able to stay with her—and he was grateful for the opportunity, even if he knew that leaving her side would be harder than ever.But he couldn’t resist the urge to snuggle close while he could.
“Now I know why you were so oddly helpful the other night,” Thea teased.“You were Nathaniel all along.I wonder what Ginger thinks of you.I’m assuming you can understand her, but perhaps you can’t.You’ll have to tell me when you turn back.Do you think it will be soon?”She looked at him and he did his best to nod his head.He didn’t know…but he hoped so.
“I’m glad to hear it.I would hate to find out you were forced to remain a cat for the rest of your life.I’m sure you would, too.”
Nathaniel let out a laugh, which ended up sounding more like a cough.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Thea said with a grin.“This is rather amusing, you know.”
Nathaniel glared at her, and she simply laughed again.She could think it was funny all she wanted, but he couldn’t.It would probably be more amusing if he knew when he would change back, but as it was, he was afraid that he wouldn’t for quite some time—and he didn’t know what to do with that.
They sat in comfortable silence while Thea worked on her crocheting, occasionally pausing to pet Nathaniel, almost as if it was habit.The first time she did it, she paused and looked at him, as if to gauge his reaction.But when he started purring, she relaxed and reached over to pet him again.
Nathaniel was ecstatic, even if it felt a little odd to have Thea petting behind his ears.But apparently, his cat reflexes were stronger than his human sensibilities, because he couldn’t resist leaning into it.
Sitting here, next to her, was the most comfortable he’d ever been.
But all too soon, Thea sighed and got to her feet.“I’m off to bed,” she said.“You’re going to stay down here.”
Nathaniel let out something between a meow and a growl.
As if he would do anything different.
“I won’t be sick in the morning, so there’s no need to come and check on me.”
He let out another noise.The only reason he had gone into her room was because she hadn’t come down, and it had been long past sunrise.It wasn’t his fault she had gotten sick and he happened to be close.
She smiled and scratched him under the chin, and he leaned into it, stretching out his jaw.“Oh, you like that, don’t you?”she teased.
