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I laughed. “My dad may be super laid back, but my mom would never allow me to sleep at some boy’s house all the time. We’re getting you a pet.” I patted his thigh.

“Aphrodite. No pets. I don’t need anything else to take care of.”

I stared at him. I thought about his messy room and car. He was right, in a way. He could barely take care of himself. But I’d help with the pet. And he’d love it, I knew he would. I’d pick out a really cute one.

“Swear you’re not going to get me a gerbil or fish or something,” he said. “Please.”

“I swear.” I wasn’t going to get him a gerbil or a fish. I was leaning toward the cat idea. After all, there was only one cat in my life. Vladimir the cat dictator. And he was very low maintenance. I’d only ever seen him in this apartment once. Taking care of a cat like that would be easy.

Adonis exhaled slowly. “Good.”

I smiled.

Scarlett smiled too, because she knew exactly what I was up to. And she was definitely going to come with me to the pet store. Scarlett and I used to love going to the pet store when we were little. Our dads didn’t grow up with a pet and were adamant about not wanting one now either. I was pretty sure they were both scared of furry little creatures. Which was hilarious.

And honestly, Adonis should count himself lucky. My dad had a whole bunch of slimy frogs hidden somewhere. I could have just gotten a few of them for him. This was going to be so much better.

Chapter 37 – Larry

Sunday

Scarlett lifted the sleeping kitten out of the cage. It didn’t even open its eyes. She pulled it to her chest and it gently nuzzled against her.

“This is the one,” Scarlett said. “I’m obsessed. He’s so docile.”

I reached out and petted his furry little head. He was definitely a docile little guy. “I’m not really sure docile is what we’re going for.”

“Then what are we looking for exactly?”

“I’m not sure. But I know we haven’t found it yet.” This was the third pet store we’d been to, and none of the cute kitties screamed Adonis to me. I needed to find one that he’d really like so he wouldn’t make me return it. Picturing Adonis in that big house alone all the time made my chest hurt.

I knew he didn’t want one. But if I picked the perfect one, he’d love it. I just knew it.

“Look. He’s such a sweetheart.” Scarlett lifted the kitten to my face.

“He is adorable,” I said.

“And so snuggly.”

“Yeah. But I can’t exactly picture Adonis wanting to snuggle with a cat.”

Scarlett laughed. “Then why are we looking at kittens? You know what he’d probably like? One of those handsy little monkeys from our Christmas Adam party.”

I laughed. “I actually did think of that.”

“Should we call Mr. Tanner?”

“Absolutely not. I’m still not sure if he knows that we accidentally set them loose in the city.”

She laughed.

“But also...capuchin monkeys are terrible pets. Which is a shame, because a handsy monkey kind of screams Adonis to me. And he could have probably used a little butler to help him clean his room.”

Scarlett looked up from the kitten. “A butler?”

“Yeah, they’re nature’s butlers.”

She laughed. “They actually clean?”