“I’m not picky. The only way Idon’tlike them is runny.” His eyes never left the news. A criminal lawyer would stay on top of the city’s happenings, and the news outlets were one way to accomplish that.
I left him on his own and threw together a breakfast of eggs, biscuits, and fresh strawberries. When the biscuits came out of the oven, I called him over to my small kitchen table.
“Thank you so much, Ellie, this is awesome. I would’ve had cereal or a pop-tart at home.” He shoveled eggs into his mouth with vigor.I guess he likes them.
“No problem. I’m an oatmeal and toast girl myself, but I figured I’d start your day off with something to stick to your ribs.” I shook pepper over my eggs. I began eating as Arch took his last bites. His table manners needed some work.
He finished long before I did and took his plate to the kitchen. The sounds of the dishwasher being loaded tickled me. He needed table manners, but he got extra brownie points for cleaning the kitchen.
Once I finished, I added my plate to the dishwasher and joined Arch on the couch. He jumped up as soon as I sat down, and I looked at him in question. “I’m going to check on my power.”
He came right back. “They’ve already turned it on. I don’t want to overstay my welcome.” He pointed to the notepad I kept on my desk in the corner. “I put my phone number there for you. If you ever need anything at all, text me.” He turned to leave. “Shoot me a text now so I’ll have your number, if you don’t mind me having it.”
I didn’t mind. “I’ll text you.” I smiled at him. “Any time you need anything, let me know, neighbor.” He gave me more warm fuzzies than a typical neighbor should. I sent the text off to him immediately.
He left, and I, of course, immediately called Todd to relay the hilarity of my morning. He enjoyed listening to Satan’s antics and laughed along with me at Arch’s embarrassment at his power outage dilemma.
“He should’ve knocked on the door when he realized his power was out. It might’ve woken you up before Satan did so you wouldn’t have had to call the cops!” I laughed along with him because he was right.
I spent the rest of the day with Todd and Rick. We planned a nice dinner at their place, but I didn’t want to leave Satan alone all evening. They came to my place instead. Unfortunately, my cupboards were bare. They brought all the food with them.
Sunday, I shopped. I stopped at the bulk warehouse store, the grocery store, the market, the pet store, and the drug store. By the time I made it home, it took four trips all the way upstairs to haul in my shopping.
After all the shopping, I rested. Reading time had been scarce the past several weeks. I curled up in my comfy window chair and lost myself in an epic fantasy novel. I jerked out of my fantasy world by the pinging of my phone.
Wes again. He sent me another picture of his Lemmy. After the picture, he asked when he could see me. I replied with a picture of Satan with a particularly evil expression and said, “I’ll be in your office next week, then the holiday. Let’s make plans later. I definitely want another date.”
We texted back and forth for a few minutes about trivial things before promising we’d make plans the next week.
On Monday, I got a surprise text from Gray.
Unknown Number: Ellie?
Ellie: Maybe. Who’s this?
Unknown Number: It’s Gray.
Ellie: Well, hey! What’s up? (and how’d you get my number?)
Gray: I snuck on Arch’s phone while he was showering.
Ellie: So what’s up?
Gray: I’ve had you on my mind since the party. Would you like to go listen to some music sometime?
Ellie: I’d love to! I’ll see you this week; I have an appointment at your office, Wednesday.
Gray: Awesome. Talk to you soon. :)
Wednesday couldn’t come fast enough. Excited to meet Wes again, I was also becoming intrigued by Gray. Arch, sneaky Arch, kept finding reasons to be in the hall or knock on my door—cup of sugar, cup of coffee. I knew he was making excuses to run into me when he knocked to ask if I knew the answer to his crossword puzzle clue.
“You could’ve texted me, Arch,” I teased. I wasn’t angry with him; it was kind of cute.
“I know, but then I wouldn’t have gotten to pet Satan.” As soon as Arch sat down on the couch, Satan jumped into his lap.
“You only like me for my cat, don’t you?” I laughed at Satan’s contented purr. He certainly liked Arch and Wes. I couldn’t wait to introduce him to Gray.
“You figured me out. I’m head over heels in love with your pretty kitty.”
