“We went out to dinner,” he told her, “but I brought her back safe and sound.”
Ginger meowed at him.
“Are you going to start talking to my cat all the time now?”Thea asked him.
“Only when I think she’s mad at me,” Nathaniel teased.“You were mad at me for long enough that I’m sure she already has a terrible opinion of me.”
“I’m sure you’re exaggerating.”
“I am,” he admitted.“She likes me.She likes the way I pet her, and she likes that I took care of you when you were sick.”
“I liked that, too,” Thea admitted.“I wasn’t expecting it.”
“I’m glad that I was able to be there for you,” Nat said.
Ginger began to meow again.
“She’s fine.She’s coming,” he said.“Quit being impatient.”
Thea laughed and took a step toward the door.Nathaniel reached out to grab her hand and tugged her back for one more kiss.
“Good night,” he whispered, resting his forehead against hers.
“Good night, Nat,” she responded before pulling away and closing the door behind herself.
Nathaniel sighed and began to walk home.Dinner had gone well, so hopefully going home to go to bed would also go well, and he and his brother would get along.
But then his nose began to twitch, and he sneezed—and in the space of a moment, he turned into Baker the cat.
Nathaniel yowled, the sound echoing through the street.
Well, now he couldn’t go home, because in all his confusion about dinner going well, he’d forgotten to bring up the fact that both he and Roan had been cursed.So, his brother had no reason to let an orange cat into the house if he showed up at the doorstep.
He groaned in frustration and made his way back toward the tavern.If he was lucky, he could jump over the back fence and sleep in the garden and stay out of Beastie’s way.
If he wasn’t lucky…he wouldn’t make it over the fence.
Or Beastie would wake up.
Chapter seventeen
Thea
Theaunlockedthedoorand was about to head back to the kitchen when she heard something scratching.
Oh no.
There was only one reason for something to be scratching at the door of the café this early in the morning.She sighed and opened the door, looking down as Nathaniel slunk in.
“Again?”she asked.
He let out a pitiful whine, and she tried not to smile at how cute it was.He wouldn’t appreciate that.
“You want some milk?”she asked.
He let out a disgruntled meow, and Thea couldn’t hide her grin.
“I don’t know what that means,” she said, “so I’ll get you some.And if you don’t want it, Ginger will drink it.”
