Page 80 of Harvest Heat

As consciousness returned, he realized he was lying on the floor. Where the hell was he? Very cautiously, he opened his eyes again and saw a woman lying on the couch near him. Oh God, Marianne.

Bits and pieces of the night before flashed in his mind. Kissing Rhys at Frost + Foam, Tessa walking in. Marianne rescuing him with vodka. The empty bottle sat by the side of the couch. The light from his phone seemed to stab into his eyes, but he made himself read the time.

Apparently, he hadn’t snoozed his alarm in his sleep. He wasn’t going to be late to open Cloud Nine, assuming he was capable of walking there. He wasn’t entirely sure about that.

When he sat up, his stomach lurched, but he made it to Marianne’s bathroom before expelling some of last night’s excess. At least now he felt slightly better. He found a pad of paper in the kitchen and wrote Marianne a note, letting her know he was okay and thanking her. At least he hoped he’d actually written words and not illegible hieroglyphics. He’d text her later if he could still see.

Somehow, he made it to Cloud Nine and only saw one other person who was out that early. A guy who worked at the hardware store had passed him on his morning run. Caleb managed to grunt good morning.

It took him a moment to remember how his key worked, but he succeeded in letting himself into the shop. Then he dragged himself up the stairs. He wasn’t sure he could have climbed the stairs if he hadn’t needed to check on Mallow. He’d stopped by to see her before going to Marianne’s, and he knew she’d been living on the streets just days ago, but he hadn’t intended to leave her for so long.

As soon as he opened his door, she came running, meowing loudly like she was scolding him. She followed him into the kitchen and climbed up his leg as he tried to get her wet food into her bowl. He scooped her up and set her on his shoulder as he got the last bit from the can, then he sat the bowl and Mallow on the floor, and she began eating like she’d been about to faint from hunger.

He refilled her water bowl, then, feeling queasy from the smell of cat food, he left her and went to the bathroom, where he shuddered through a cold shower that did less than expected to wake him up. Once he was dressed, he made himself a cup of coffee. He had to sip it very slowly for a few moments before he could find the willpower to walk back downstairs. Mallow followed him to the door and meowed at him loudly, so he scooped her up and placed her in the pocket of his apron. She could at least stay with him while he got the shop ready for the day.

A few hours later, Caleb was fighting nausea and a throbbing headache as he did his best to help with the morning rush. Mallow was back upstairs, but every time he stepped into the back of the shop, he could hear her protesting her fate loudly at the door. After he had to remake two drinks in a row, Natalie, his most reliable employee, pulled him aside.

“Go upstairs, take care of your kitten, and get some sleep.”

“I can’t⁠—”

“We’ve got this.”

He glanced out front. The line was starting to shorten. “Okay. Call me if you need anything.”

“I will. Now, go.”

When he stepped into the apartment, he scooped Mallow up and brought her to bed with him. She curled up next to his head on the pillow, and they both slept away the morning.

He woke to a rough little tongue swiping his cheek. When he cracked open his eyes, he couldn’t help but smile at the tiny face right next to his.

“Meow,” Mallow said.

“Hungry?” She leapt off the bed and ran to the kitchen.

As he stood and stretched, he realized he was starving as badly as Mallow pretended she was. He fed her, then made himself some eggs, bacon, and toast.

She jumped on his lap and then onto the table to see if she could also get some of his food.

He felt a little better with each bite, and he found himself starting to tell his whole sad story to the kitten. When he’d told her he thought he was in love with Rhys, but he didn’t know if they had any chance of being together, she rubbed her little face against his arm like she was trying to comfort him. Then she fell asleep right there next to his plate.

He watched her for several minutes before cleaning up. Before he went back down to the shop, he made sure his chair was positioned where Mallow could jump to it and then to the floor. She wasn’t quite ready for the full table-to-floor jump yet, but he knew she would be before long.

Caleb returned to the shop for the rest of the afternoon, needing to distract himself with work. But once all his closing chores were done and he headed back upstairs, his mantra of “Everything is going to be okay” had long since stopped working.

Nothing about the situation with Rhys was okay, and he had no idea if it ever would be. He’d was rehashing everything he and Rhys had said the night before while pretending to watch a show when he got a request for a video call with his sister.

“What’s wrong?” she asked as soon as he’d said hello.

He wanted to tell her everything was fine. He didn’t want to worry her, but he couldn’t hold up his easygoing front, not after the night he’d had. “I’m fucking miserable.”

“Oh my God, what happened? Is Mallow okay?” He’d texted Kate as soon as he’d taken Mallow to the vet because he knew she’d understand how much it meant to him to find a stray that he could keep.

“Yes, she’s fine. She’s right here.” He turned the phone to show Kate that Mallow was curled up and sleeping at the end of the bed.

“She’s so adorable. I can’t wait for a chance to pet her, but back to you. What’s going on?”

He sighed. Where did he even begin? “So… um… things have developed between me and Rhys.”