Cats… or How to Ditch a Date
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Pal swallowed the last of his beer. “So do you want to go dancing or anything?”
No, she did not want to go dancing with Pal Wainright. As far as she was concerned, this date was over.
“Actually Pal, I have a little bit of a headache. Would you mind just taking me home?”
“Sure thing. It’s all the smoke in here from the grills. If it was me, I’d install better vent fans. I’ll go and pay the bill and then we can take off.” He opened his wallet and leafed through it. “You mind leaving the tip?”
She’d thought saying she had a headache would make him drop her off and go away, but when they reached her house, he followed her onto the porch.
“You mind if I use your bathroom?”
She showed him where it was and returned to the living room. Maybe if she waited by the door he’d get the hint. After a few moments he returned and sat down on her couch, clearly ready for more conversation. By then her head really did ache. She thought of Lilly’s suggestion of telling him to get out of town, but she couldn’t bring herself to be that rude.
“Would you like a cup of coffee?” she asked.
“Sure.”
She made the coffee, carried it to the living room, and handed it to him. He was flipping through her meager collection of CDs. “Matchbox Twenty, huh?”
“Do you like them?”
“Not so much.” He shrugged. “Candy used to love them. I took her to see Rob Thomas once. He was okay. If it was me, I’d have played a little longer though and given people their money’s worth.”
“Of course you would have,” she murmured.
She heard a soft mewling behind the guest room door and jumped up. “Oh gosh, I’d better check on my boys.”
His coffee cup stopped halfway to his lips. “Boys?”
She opened the door and Nutmeg bolted out with Pepper close on his heels.
“You’ve got cats?” Pal squealed.
Before she could grab them, they scrambled up his pant legs and hopped onto his shoulders. He swatted at them, spilling his coffee in his lap. “I didn’t know you had cats!”
His look of absolute horror made her want to giggle and she bit the inside of her cheek. “Just these two, for now. But I’m going to be starting up a cat rescue soon, so I’ll have at least five or six more.” It was only an idea she toyed with, nothing she actually intended to do, and she was amazed at how smoothly the words slid from her lips.
“A-Choo! I’m allergic to cats.”
“Oh, dear.”
Pepper climbed back up his leg.
“A-Choo!” He slapped his coffee cup down on the end table, grabbed the kitten and all but threw it at her. “I’ve got to go.”
He jumped to his feet and bolted out the door without another word. She stared after him, openmouthed, as the door slammed behind him. The kittens also stared after him, as if they, too, were unsure what had just happened.
“You naughty boys,” she said softly. She scooped them up in her arms and hugged them. “Oh, you dear, sweet, naughty little boys!”
The giggles broke free then, and for the second time in seven months, she laughed until she cried.
Excerpt from Frankie’s Heart
Coming Next Month
From Black Lyon Publishing!
