Page 48 of Only and Forever
“I have a buddy, Wesley, who rescued a cat last month.” I drain my beer, needing to wet my throat. “Turns out, Wesley’s rescue cat was pregnant, which now means he has a litter of rescue kittens, too.”
She peers my way, eyebrow arched. “And?”
“And I was, uh...” I scratch at the back of my neck. “I was going to adopt all of them.”
Her eyes widen. “Allof them?”
“Well, there are only five.”
“Five!” she yells, leaning forward.
“Five,” I confirm. “They’re weaned, eating food, using a litterbox; they won’t be high-maintenance to own.”
She snorts into her glass. “Oh, sure. Just what you need. A handful of ‘not-high-maintenance’ kittens on top of a brand-new bookstore you have to singlehandedly run.”
“I’m not running it singlehandedly,” I remind her, smiling. “I have you, too.”
She sighs. “Was there a point to this feline anecdote?”
“There was. I wanted to make sure you aren’t allergic before I brought them home.”
Tallulah peers at me, eyes narrowed, biting her lip.
My smile widens. “You’re seriously considering lying about an allergy so I won’t get them, aren’t you?”
“Maybe,” she admits. “But we called a truce. This probably applies.”
“Definitely applies.”
“Well then, if that applies, say I buy more IKEA furniture, the truce applies to letting me pay to have it assembled.”
I make a pained noise in the back of my throat. “Damn, you drive a hard bargain. Fine.”
“Five cats,” she mutters into her whiskey glass. “To be clear, babysitting those little needle-clawed furballs is not part of the work I’ve agreed to. And so help me God, if they get their paws on my wardrobe.”
I know I’m practically beaming at her, but I can’t help it. Tallulah clearly hasn’t had much exposure to kittens, because they melt even the frostiest of hearts. I can’t wait to see her fall head over heels for them.
“Great. Good.” I crack open a new beer, then take a swig. “So, next order of business. Just confirming, you haven’t developed a dog allergy since Gertrude Stein the sheepdog?”
Her eyes widen to saucers. “Seriously? You’re getting a dog?”
“Just two,” I reason.
“Oh,hellno.”
“C’mon, Lu, be honest. Dog allergy?”
She sighs. “No. I don’t have a dog allergy. But you cannot really think adopting two dogs in addition to five kittens is a good idea right now.”
“They’re old sweeties. They just need a quiet corner to sleep in, a couple walks a day, and some food and water. I can’t leave them at the shelter anymore. If you took one look at them, you wouldn’t be able to either.”
Tallulah stares up at the ceiling and sighs again. “This is going to be a freaking animal menagerie.”
“Isn’t it the best?”
“The best,” she says dryly.
I stare at her, dying sun and candlelight bathing her in soft, dwindling light. Everything about her glows, and in her blue tank and skintight faded jeans, she looks so fucking gorgeous, I can’t help but drink her in.