He gives a quiet nod of approval. “That’s what I was hoping to hear.”
Cami folds her arms across her chest, just shy of defiance, as Dex gently scoops up Stripe. She edges closer to the table, eyes tracking every movement. “I guess I didn’t realize we’d be leaving them today.”
She’s spiraling.
The same woman who marched in here like a boss is now looking at Stripe as if he’s being sent to the gallows.
“They’ll be okay,” I promise, low enough for her ears only. “It’s just a few hours. Think of it like daycare. With needles.”
That gets me a side-eye and the tiniest smile. But she still hovers while Dex gently scoops up Shadow, whispering something only the kittens get to hear.
“Expect a call around five,” Dr. Ochoa tells me.
He turns to write more notes, but Cami doesn’t move until Dex and the kittens are fully out of sight. And even then, she lingers long enough for me to know she’s already too far in.
Maybe I am, too.
CHAPTER 11
Cami
I didn’t realize I’d grownthisattached.
But as I watch the door close behind Dex, it hits me as though letting go of their carrier means letting go of something more.
As we head down the hall and out to his car, Knox doesn’t speak. He simply walks beside me, palm lightly pressed to the small of my back, quiet support while I process.
Somehow, in the short time we’ve known each other, he seems to understand I need space to untangle my thoughts before I let anyone in.
Todd, my ex, never did.
With him, it always felt urgent.
Answers. Decisions. Expectations.
Space to breathe, space to justbe, felt like a rare act of forced courtesy instead of an organic act of kindness.
But Knox?
He makes me feel safe being me.
Thank you.
We fall into a comfortable silence as he pulls out of the lot, windows cracked, radio low.
Sunlight filters through the clouds, casting golden ribbons across Knox’s arm as he steers.
Watching him from the corner of my eye, I let myself imagine, for a second, that this could be something more than a borrowed season. That the guy beside me, maddeningly handsome, who makes my heart flutter, isn’t temporary.
I shouldn’t care what becomes of us because caring is not part of our summer-fling deal. But my chest tightens at the thought anyway. “What’s going to happen with the kittens? I mean, once summer ends…when we go our separate ways?”
Knox flicks his gaze to me, briefly, then back at the road.
“I’ve been trying not to think that far ahead.” He blows out a breath, shoulders dipping as he taps the turn signal. “But I’d be lying if I said the thought—you, me, the kittens—hasn’t crossed my mind.”
I shift my gaze out the window: the green-and-red blur of trees rushing by and the steady hum of tires—all of it fading beneath the echo of his answer in my head.
He’s thought about it, too. Stripe and Shadow.Us.
