“That’s what I told him too,” Annie said. “While I was getting the burrs out of his paws.”
“You’re a naughty boy,” I said, stroking Poe’s stomach.
I got to my feet. We would need to leave for Seraphina’s in fifteen minutes, and I wanted to change into shorts and a tank before we left.
“I’ll be ready in a few minutes,” I said.
“Great. Can I drive?” Annie asked.
I swallowed a sigh. Teaching a teen to drive must be one of the circles of hell. “You bet.”
Poe followed me into my room and kept watch as I changed clothes and put my hair up, sitting on the end of my bed with his head in his paws.
“What’s up?” I asked him.
He blinked.
I sat next to him on the bed. “Do you miss the bookstore?”
Nothing.
“Do you want to go back there?”
He lifted his head, nudging me with his cheek. I’m not sure what that meant. For now, I would assume he wanted to stay with me. The two of us seemed to belong together. I’d been right all along. I was destined to be a bitter old lady with a cat for a partner.
“You and me, huh?”
In answer, he placed his chin on my hand. And that did it. I burst into tears, crying silently so that Annie didn’t hear me. This went on for a few minutes. By the time I was done, sadness had turned to anger.
“I believed, for a bit, that he was the one for me,” I whispered to Poe. “And I was wrong. It was only me who thought that, not him. But at least I got you out of it, right?”
He jumped from the bed and headed into my bathroom, leapt on to the closed toilet and directed his gaze at my vanity.
“Time to fix my face?”
A small nod. So I did what he asked and then joined my daughter for the drive to Seraphina’s.
Everyone was alreadyat Seraphina’s by the time we arrived. Down at the far end of the patio, the men had colonized the outdoor sofas with cigars and a bottle of something amber, their voices an easy low rumble punctuated by occasional laughter. The kids had waited for Annie before heading down to the beach. They now evaporated in a noisy clot down the trail to the beach.
My girlfriends were at the long table under the canopy. Wine had been poured. Cheese and crackers had been spread out on a board. Soleil slept in her carrier at Esme’s feet, fists up by her ears like tiny prizefighters. Leo presided from his bouncer beside Gillian, awake and babbling.
“Come sit with us,” Lila said, already pouring me a glass of wine.
I took the empty chair next to Esme. She patted my hand. “You look tired.”
“Long day,” I said.
“You’ve gone silent on us the last few days,” Seraphina said. “What’s going on?”
“Your talk with Dorian must not have gone well, or he’d be here,” Gillian said softly. “Tell us all about it.”
“He said he wasn’t sure how he felt and that he was worried about Annie getting too attached. He didn’t want to be responsible for her feelings, so suggested we slow down. Whatever that means. So I ended it. Better this way. I don’t want to be strung along, only to have it end anyway.”
“Oh, honey,” Esme said. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine. I’m fine,” I said. “And Annie’s good too, so we just move along without looking back.”
“I really thought you two had something special,” Seraphina said. “I’m surprised by all this. Dorian always seems so steady.”
