Page 22 of Snowed

“The Christmas card from last year,” Davis said. “You and Joy in Aruba.”

“Ah.” My eyes widened as I turned to her. Joy. At least I had her name now. I scratched my chin. “Right. How could I forget? Bermuda. Great trip. Good rum.”

Joy’s face reddened. “Aruba…”

I snapped my fingers. “Sorry, yeah.”

Davis looked between us. “Joy never actually told me how you two met…”

She smiled at me through gritted teeth as she said nothing. She wanted me to pull something out of my ass?

Okay.

“We were in one of those cat cafés,” I blurted. “You know, the ones in Tokyo? Where the cats roam the place and you can pet them?”

Joy’s fake smile faded.

Davis turned to her. “I never knew you went to Tokyo?”

Joy pushed a piece of hair behind her ear. “It was a last-minute thing.” She cleared her throat. “Got a good deal the summer before last. Remember when I took that random week off? I was in Tokyo, actually.”

“I’ll never forget the moment I first saw her.” I grinned, having a bit more fun with this as each second passed. “Do you remember that, babe?”

“Yeah.” She laughed nervously. “There were…so many…cats.”

I shook my head. “So many fucking cats. And they were all gravitating toward you.” I turned to Davis. “I could barely see her because she was buried under them.”

Davis’s brow furrowed. “That sounds quite terrifying, actually.”

“Turned out she was sitting on a pillow filled with catnip,” I added. “When Joy figured it out, she moved over to the seat next to me. And that’s when I became the luckiest man alive.”

Joy chuckled. “It was purrr-fect.”

I frowned at her. That was bad.

She shrugged.

Davis’s eyes veered to a corner of the room. “Well, you two have fun. I have to say hello to one of the guys from the office. Catch you in a bit.”

“Yeah…” I said, watching him walk away.

“Cats?” Joy nudged me with her elbow. “What the hell?”

“What? You’re surprised I made up a ridiculous story? Apparently, you’re the one with some explaining to do.” I looked around. “Actually, where’s the kitchen?”

“Why?” She followed me as I weaved through the crowd.

“I need to see this Christmas card he thinks I’m on.”

Sure enough, smack dab in the middle of their expensive, stainless-steel fridge was my smiling face. I remembered that day. That photo of me had been taken in Laguna Beach when I visited one of my college buddies. Except now I was standing next to a bikini-clad Joy in Aruba, evidently.

I removed the magnet and held the card up. “You even matched your bikini to my shorts. Are we one of those annoying couples who dress alike?”

Joy let out a long breath and looked down at her shoes. “I’m really sorry, Nolan. This is extremely embarrassing.”

Despite the nutty thing she’d done, I instinctually felt she wasn’t at all crazy. Maybe just…vulnerable or something. There had to be a damn good reason why she’d gone to such lengths.

I placed the card back on the refrigerator, my tone softening. “Wanna talk about it?”