"The cat?"
"Yeah, Brody. The cat."
"Cat."
Luke stopped loadin' up the box.
I gave him my most threatening glare. "You gonna finish or what?"
He finished, lips pressed together like my glare had done absolutely fuckin' nothin' to put the fear of God in him. He folded and tucked the flaps of the box with the unhurried precision of a man exercisin' every last ounce of self-control he possessed.
Handed it across the counter.
I took it and headed for the door.
"Brody."
I stopped. Didn't turn around.
"You named her Cat."
"I didn't name her anything. She just—" I cleared my throat. "She lives in the house. She needed a name. It's a practical name."
"And thePrincessbowl?"
I pushed through the door.
The bell gave its half-hearted jingle behind me.
Luke's laughter seeped through the door as it drifted shut, the sound of a man absolutely losin' it.
Cat was sittin'in the middle of the kitchen floor like she'd been expectin' me. Which, for fuck's sake, maybe she had. I was startin' to think this animal was runnin' things.
I set the box down and crouched, pullin' everything out and pilin' it up on the floor. The bed came out last. Cushion so thick I'd prodded it right there in the aisle like an idiot. I set it on the floor in front of her.
Cat approached. Sniffed the left side. Sniffed the right. Sniffed the silver tag I'd already threaded onto the collar—Caton one side, my number on the other. Picked that little addition up at the hardware store from the fancy new engraving machine they'd just announced in the town paper. She considered both the collar and the bed for a long, thoughtful moment.
Then she walked into the empty cardboard box everything came in, turned twice, and sat down.
I stared at her.
She stared back.
"You're doin' that on purpose."
She blinked, slow and unbothered, and tucked her paws under her chest.
I became aware of someone in the doorway.
Calvin. Arms crossed, leanin' against the frame. She had a look on her face I hadn't seen before—not the armor, not the smirk, somethin' softer and sweeter.
I held up thePrincessbowl.
She looked at the bowl. The pink bed. The collar. Cat, sitting with great dignity inside a cardboard box.
I shrugged.
She crossed the room and kissed me.
