“I was going to order something from the place next door. They have really great hoagies. Pasta too, but I’m partial to the hoagies. I’ve got their menu.” She ducked behind the counter to grab it, scooting it across the bar toward Eve. “They’ll send someone over here with the food. We just have to eat in the back so my customers don’t get jealous.”
Eve stared at the menu, then at Josie, as if trying to think of a reason not to stay. “All right.”
“Cool.” She headed off to check on her customers again while Eve looked over the menu, but the crowd was thinning fast now that theDo Overcrew had left. There were two women at the bar and a couple at one of the tables along the back wall, although experience said she’d probably see a few more stragglers before the night was over.
If not, she’d close early again tonight. She was exhausted, more so than usual, probably from the stress and excitement of having the film crew around. It certainly wasn’t a good idea to encourage Eve to stay for dinner when Josie was already struggling not to kiss her. But then again, something told her Eve had enough willpower for the both of them.
She would never crack, so really, there was nothing for Josie to worry about.
7
Eve took a bite of her cheesesteak, her gaze sliding to the woman beside her. They were seated side by side in front of the desk in Josie’s office, so close their shoulders occasionally bumped as they ate. Not that Eve was complaining. In fact, she might have intentionally let her elbow brush against the soft fabric of Josie’s T-shirt as she reached for her beer.
“Long day,” Josie commented.
“Yes.” She needed to go home, to be in her own space so she could relax. Her shoulders ached from keeping herself so rigid all day, and her back, well…it was not happy with her. She needed sleep, dammit, but that wasn’t in the cards no matter how quickly she finished her food and headed out. Mental and physical exhaustion were taking a toll. Spending the day at Swanson’s had taken a toll, but at this exact moment, sitting in Josie’s office, a little harmless flirting sounded so much more appealing than her empty apartment and the long night ahead.
“I enjoyed seeing you in your element today,” Josie said.
“In my element?”
“You know, with the cameras rolling. You’re a natural. You make it look easy. I felt like a bumbling idiot every time the cameras were on me.” Josie’s dimples were entirely too adorable…and distracting.
Eve forced herself to look away. “You did fine.”
“So have you started thinking about what you want to change? Should I be scared? Or can you not even talk about it with me when the cameras aren’t rolling?”
“Nothing I’m ready to discuss with you yet, no,” Eve told her. “I’ll spend the rest of the week observing and doing market research.”
“And then can you give me a heads-up before we film it?” Josie sat, hands clasped in her lap, expression so earnest, Eve could hardly bear to look at her.
“I’m not supposed to.”
“But?” Josie pressed.
“No ‘but,’” Eve said, annoyed that Josie had heard her waver. “You signed up to be on a television show, so yes, you have to let us film your reactions. That’s how it works.”
“Don’t make me cry,” Josie said with a silly smile in an obvious attempt to lighten the mood between them.
“I never intend to make people cry.” Eve crumpled the empty sandwich wrapper in her fist as she stood. “I’ll be here the same time tomorrow. If you have any personal suggestions or requests for the relaunch, that would be a good time to let me know.”
“Okay.”
She paused in the doorway to look back at Josie, wanting to feel that zap in the pit of her stomach again before she left. Their eye contact was electric every single time. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
She went up the stairs to Josie’s apartment to retrieve the box of kittens. It was almost time to feed them, but to sit here in Josie’s living room this late at night felt entirely too intimate. They could wait until she got home. She requested an Uber because there was no way her back would tolerate hauling this box across town on the subway.
And speaking of her back, she swapped her heels for the simple black flats she kept in her briefcase. Then she picked up the box and carried it downstairs to the street. Thirty minutes later, she pushed through the door into her apartment. The black kitten meowed, waving its little head around as it sought its next meal.
“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered. She set the box on her kitchen counter and put a cup of water in the microwave. The whole process was second nature to her at this point. While the water heated, she went down the hall to change into her pajamas.
Exhaustion came crashing over her now that she was home. All she wanted was to fall face-first into bed, although maybe it was best that she couldn’t, because behind the fatigue, something else lurked, something much darker, memories and emotions stirred during the day that waited to haunt her dreams.
She returned to the kitchen and mixed a bottle of formula, setting it in the cup of hot water to warm. The black kitten was still moving around, so she lifted him first. He squinted at her through baby-blue eyes, mewling loudly for his dinner. The sound grated on her nerves, which were already raw from her day at Swanson’s. Quickly, she positioned him and offered him the bottle of formula.
And so she went, feeding the gray one, and then the gray-and-white one. She tended to feed the white one last because she was still the most difficult to wake. Maybe because this feeding was a little bit late, the white kitten woke easily and latched right on to the bottle. Her tiny paws kneaded Eve’s hand as she drank, suckling hungrily at the formula. Eve stroked her with her free hand, tracing her fingers down the kitten’s back. Her fur was impossibly soft and soothing beneath her fingers.
Surely Josie would find someone take them soon. Honestly, Eve couldn’t believe she’d managed to care for them even this long. Five days of bottle feeding and wiping butts. Every moment had been a struggle, but sometimes, in these quiet moments late at night, she felt something warm in her chest while she held one of the kittens in her hands.
