“It’s a workshop.”
“Like your workbench.”
“I call it my Barbie Dream Workshop. All the shelving. All the space.”
“This is so… you.”
“Thank you.”
“Dream workshop, huh?”
“In an ideal world.”
“What about this one?”
“That’s the set ofInto the Woods.”
“Ah.”
“You even know what that is?”
“A musical?”
“Good guess.”
“You’re into musicals.”
She snorts. “Into them is minimizing the way my family relates to Broadway shows. But yes.”
“You sing?”
“Never, if I can help it.”
Smiling, I bend and pet the animal. It’s so soft. It bumps my hand when I start to back away, so I scratch it behind the ear, and then its front paws cling to my legs, so I bend and pick it up. I stroke the cat’s chin, and it pushes back. Moving on to the ears, I marvel at the deep, calming vibrations from its body. I look up from the warm, furry armful, faced with an irritable Rae, hair down now, arms akimbo.
“Are you kidding me?”
Both Pepe and I stare at her. “You want me to go?”
“No!” Sighing, she folds her arms and looks us over. “It’s just… This never happens.”
“Sorry. Should I put him down or…?”
“Not now, you can’t. You’d better sit.”
I look around and opt to sink into the big armchair.
Pepe snuggles deep, filling the cracks of my lap like warm liquid.
“He’s never done that with anyone but me. He hates all people.”
“Really.” A deep scratch behind the ear makes the cat’s green eyes disappear under heavy lids. “Huh.”
“Do you even like cats?”
“No.” He squirms and rolls and finally settles with his face in the palm of my hand. “I don’t know, actually.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
