“He’s the guy Emma ends up with inEmma. Or, put another way, he’s Paul Rudd’s character fromClueless.”
“Oh, okay. Well, hello, sir.”
The cat meowed in response.
“Anyway, I’m glad you’re here,” said Lauren. “Stick around for Paige’s presentation. I think it will impress you. And give that check to Monique before me worrying about you losing it gives me an aneurism.”
“I won’t lose it.” He pretended to lose his grip on the check but caught it before it fell.
“You’re a jerk.”
“You are.”
“Kids,” said Caleb, walking over. “Don’t make me turn this party around and go back home.”
Josh made a show of rolling his eyes and huffing like he felt put out and then carried the precious check over to Monique. Mr. Knightley the cat followed him, which was cute.
Five minutes later, Paige and Lauren stood on one side of the room. Caleb banged on a wine glass with a fork to get everyone’s attention. Josh snagged a beer from the bar and settled in an empty chair to watch Paige’s presentation. As soon as he sat, Mr. Knightley hopped up on his lap, so Josh pet the cat.
Paige really was in her element. She put two posters up on one of the walls with Evan’s help. She pointed to the one on the left first and explained that their first order of business in this fundraiser was to come up with the thirty thousand dollars the shelter needed to replace the roof on the building and fix the other structural damage incurred during a bad storm a few weeks before.
“All of the animals have been moved to the undamaged side of the building, but having a whole wing be essentially unusable means they have a significantly decreased capacity. We want to make sure there’s space for all the orphaned animals in this city, and we’re also hoping that some of the programming I have planned for the next few months will inspire more people to adopt cats. There’s certainly no shortage of shelter animals in Brooklyn. Our ultimate goal is to find these animals good forever homes.”
Paige turned to the other poster and launched into her explanation of the children’s programming. Josh wasn’t totally sold on Crafts with Cats, but then he’d never been very crafty himself. The literacy program was an amazing idea, though. He had a vague memory of reading an article about a similar program in another city a few years ago, and he’d been impressed by it at the time, too.
Paige’s voice projected across the room well. It had a soothing quality to it, and clearly everyone in the room held her in rapt attention. She wrapped up her presentation by explaining where the money raised for the youth programming would go—mostly toward materials like craft supplies and books, but also toward advertising and some administrative tasks—and she also said she was looking for volunteers to facilitate both programs and got a raised hand from a woman who introduced herself as a second-grade teacher who would love to get involved.
Paige never faltered. She never looked nervous. She spoke passionately about her program ideas. She even worked in a plug for the Cat Café, showing off some of the T-shirts and coffee cups that Evan had designed. And Lauren was right, Josh was impressed. When the presentation ended and Paige started working the room, Josh could see how Paige had been so good at her banking job. This fundraiser was probably similar to a lot of bank events, albeit with cheaper booze and a more casual dress code. She ran this whole show like it was the easiest thing in the world, and Josh knew full well it wasn’t.
She was everything he wanted in a woman. He definitely needed her in his life.
He started to stand before realizing that the orange cat was still on his lap. “Uh, excuse me, Mr. Knightley, but I can’t sit here all night.” Mr. Knightley dug his claws harder into Josh’s thigh.
Lauren appeared at his side. “So what did you think?”
Josh was a little preoccupied with trying to get this cat off his lap, but he said, “Paige’s presentation was great. I feel even better about talking my law firm out of a big chunk of change. Um. How does one extract a cat from one’s lap without losing something important?”
“One doesn’t.”
“Mr. Knightley seems nice, but he hasn’t left me alone.”
“I think he’s chosen you.”
“Chosen me?” Josh realized suddenly what she meant. “What? No. Oh, no. I can’t get a cat.”
“I don’t think you’re being given a choice.”
Mr. Knightley closed his eyes and started purring, while simultaneously sinking his claws more forcefully into Josh’s thigh. Josh hissed, as those tiny needle claws sank into his flesh. He tried to lift Mr. Knightley’s paws, hoping he hadn’t drawn blood.
“But I work a lot.” Josh addressed the cat more than Lauren.
“You also live alone. Having a companion would make being home even better. And cats are pretty self-sufficient.”
“This is what you do, isn’t it? You let unsuspecting people into the Café, where the cats can then choose some poor sap and charm them into taking the cat home.”
Lauren grinned, looking a little smug. “That is exactly what I do. So what do you say? Will you take home Mr. Knightley?”
Mr. Knightley looked up at Josh, and his big eyes seemed to say, “Pretty, pretty please!”
