“There’s only twelve,” he says. “You can’t remember twelve names?”
Reid hassles Andi for another minute, until she’s laughing, and I put up with it for a few minutes while I watch the battery on the iPad dwindle.
“Okay, okay,” I say, attempting to regain control. “Wrap it up. What do you need?”
“Critter heaters,” Reid reminds me, and I roll my eyes.
But Reid is bound and determined to show two wild animals all the comforts of home, so after a few minutes I give up and instruct him on microwaving a few heating pads and bringing them along with some blankets into the animals’ cages without anyone ripping his hand off. Andi wanders off, probably because this is boring.
Luckily, Victoria and Fluffy—R-85 and C-347—are used to him and uninterested in making a fuss.
He’s still got me on video chat when he goes back into the house, and as soon as the door slams, there’s a demanding meow.
“Yes, your majesty,” Reid deadpans. “I think she smells blood,” he says to me, since he just got finished bribing the outdoor critters.
“How’s she doing?” I ask, though Reid’s already flipping the camera around to show a giant off-white cat sitting neatly by a food bowl, looking imperious. “Is Reid treating you right?” I ask her.
Behind me, there’s a gasp.
“Is that Dolly?” Andi asks, coming back to sit next to me. “Hello. Goodness, you’re regal.”
“Don’t inflate her ego,” Reid mutters.
“You bossing Reid around?” I ask Dolly, who blinks.
“Yes,” he says, and Dolly yawns. There’s a toothsome display. “She wants to know when you’re coming back so she can biteyouat five thirty in the morning.”
“Dolly, you wouldn’t,” Andi says. She’s leaning on the table, her chin in one hand, gazing at my enormous cat. I think she’s about two seconds from reaching out and petting the screen.
“She would and does,” Reid mutters. “It’s like living with a panther or something. You’re gonna come home and she’ll be feasting on my body that she’s dragged to the top of a bookcase.”
“Thatfluffster?” Andi says. “She would never.”
Reid and I snort in unison, and Andi cracks up.
“Even Gideon knows his princess cupcake would eat a person if her dinner was a few hours late,” Reid says, flipping the camera back around so we can see him.
“Princess cupcake?” I ask, incredulous.
“You think I don’t hear the things you call her?”
“I’ve never in my life called Dolly a—”
“Oh, mygod, it was a metaphor or something,” Reid says, rolling his eyes so hard I’m afraid they might get stuck that way. I take a deep breath and remind myself that human brains don’t finish maturing until a person’s mid-twenties and that at twenty, Reid is basically still a teenager.
“That’s not what a metaphor is,” Andi points out.
“Both of you.”
“We’re running the battery on the iPad down,” I announce, because I’m suddenly unsure that I’d like Andi and Reid getting along too well just yet. Seems like a situation where I could be easily outnumbered. “We’ll talk in the morning if you need to.”
“I’ll keep you updated on Vicky and Fluffy,” he says, and now he’s making histrying to look serious and failingface. “Stay warm up there. Share body heat if you need to.”
My face instantly goes hot.
“Okay. Thanks,” I mutter, reaching for theend callbutton.
“Make safe choices!” Reid shouts, just as it disconnects. I sigh, face still burning, even though I canfeelAndi laughing silently next to me.
