“Oh, so Dial’s just catching strays.”
“Yeah, cause she was mean to me yesterday.”
Edison was the easy choice and until this minute, that never interested me. But in his rooster themed kitchen, with his shirt off and his easy, humble demeanor, it sort of made sense. I’d traveled the world searching for meaning and acceptance, and Edison embodied that without even trying. I appreciated him in this moment the same way he appreciated me. Same feeling at the exact same time.
Turning my attention to my plate, I shoveled food into my mouth like Edison wasn’t sitting next to me. A forkful of egg, a tear of bacon, a bit of toast.
“You know in some cultures people chew their food,” he teased.
“I’m chewing,” I said around a mouthful of toast and tea. A black and white cat rubbed up against my leg with a meow. “Well hello pretty kitty. How’d you get in here?” I scratched the top of her head and was celebrated in a wash of purrs.
“That’s Katt with two T’s.”
“You have a cat?”
“She’s not mine. I mean I didn’t adopt her. One day she just showed up and I offered her a bowl of milk. Next day she showedup again, I give her some milk and scraps of food. The third day … you guessed it, she shows up. But this time the milk and food are waiting for her. She let me pet her and we’ve been friends ever since.”
“And you named her Katt?”
“It didn’t feel right picking a name for her. She likes to roam. Sometimes she’s gone days at a time and sometimes she’ll cop a squat for a while.”
“She’s just so beautiful. Yes, you are.” Katt meowed one last time before taking a bit of deli meat from Edison’s outstretched hand.
“My mom told me your parents are talking about retirement.” I continued to clear my plate.
“They’re looking for a new adventure. My mom’s in remission so I guess it’s as good a time as any for a pivot.”
My face dropped as I recalled a few years back my mother telling me Mrs. Birch had been diagnosed with cancer. “I meant to call. I just didn’t know what to say.” Resting my hand on his knee, I offered up a lame excuse.
“Nah it’s okay. No one knows what to say when shit like that happens. But it would have been nice to hear your voice.”
“It’s not okay. But thank you for not thinking less of me.” Not calling was selfish of me. If the shoe were on the other foot, Edison would’ve dropped everything to show his support. I was a bad friend. I’d been a bad friend to him for quite some time now. When Darla and I left I tried to keep in contact. Every Thursday night we had a standing agreement to call each other even if we could only chat for a few minutes. But life got so busy I’d have plans with my new friends, or he’d need to study for an exam. The calls became less frequent and eventually stopped all together.
“They’re thinking about moving to Gainsborough .”
“How would that work with running Figs and Twine?”
“They say Dial and I can handle it.” He laced his finger with mine.
“That’s pretty major. Do you want all that responsibility?”
“I’m torn. Of course, I don’t want my folks to sell the house and leave, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have ideas I was itching to implement.”
“Like?”
He slowly circled the pad of his thumb over my palm. “Like gardening classes on the weekends.”
“Gardening classes?”
“Yeah, people think just because you live in the country, you’re born with a green thumb. But that shit isn’t ingrained in our DNA. You have to learn somehow. We could teach the basics and new innovative gardening techniques.”
“That’s actually brilliant. Parents are always looking for something to do with their kids. Mom circles interested in a day to themselves, or individuals looking to learn some new tricks from professionals.”
“I’m not a professional.”
“You have a degree and the greenest thumb I’ve ever seen.”
“I also thought about opening a cozy coffee shop?—”
