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She stood in the middle of the backyard and yelled at the top of her voice, “Mittens!”

Nothing.

Her first thought was to call Arden to see if Mittens had any usual hiding places, but she didn’t want Arden to start panicking, too. There was nothing she could do to help from Seattle; she would only worry.

Her next thought was to drive up to Tina and Wanda’s house and ask them for help, but she assumed they would look at her like she was crazy. They had fed her breakfast, but that didn’t mean they would want to drop everything to help her look for a cat.

And so she went with idea number three. She called Jonathan.

Chapter 30

Arden

When the lights came up for intermission, Arden’s hand was still clasped in Sam’s. She couldn’t bring herself to turn her head to look at him. It had been magical sitting through the first half of The Nutcracker, knowing he was there, his thumb occasionally stroking the back of her hand, butterflies swooping through her stomach at the uncertainty of what would happen next.

And now the lights were on and they had to look at each other eventually, right?

Arden slid her eyes toward him. He was already turned toward her, a patient smile in his eyes.

“Hi,” Sam said.

“Hi.”

“What was up with that giant rat?”

“The Rat King,” Arden corrected automatically.

“I wish there were subtitles. Apparently, I’m not great at interpreting the language of ballet.”

Arden laughed, her hair falling forward. She extracted her hand from his and pushed her hair back, looking up at him. She couldn’t help the grin that overtook her entire face.

“What are you doing here, Sam?”

“A little birdie told me that we may have gotten our wires crossed.”

“Was her name Phoebe?”

“Yep.” Sam hesitated. “Is she a trustworthy source?”

“Considering that she texted me directly, I would say so.”

“But…” Sam shifted in his seat, looking like he had a lot to say. “Should we get up and stretch our legs while we can?”

Arden followed him down the aisle and out into the lobby. He beckoned her toward a window seat overlooking the dark city streets, half hidden behind a cardboard photo backdrop of a Christmas tree. They perched side by side on the window-seat cushion.

“But what you said earlier—when you came over to my place—I got the sense you weren’t interested.”

“That’s because I thought you weren’t interested.”

“What did I do to give you that impression?”

“When we were at the museum and we ran into your coworkers, you didn’t introduce me.”

“Oh.” Sam looked baffled, then shook his head. “Maybe it’s because you’re not from Seattle. Social norms here are, um…” He paused to find the words. “We tend to hold people at arm’s length. I wouldn’t introduce those guys to my girlfriend until—” He blushed crimson. “That’s not to say that you are my girlfriend, but, I mean, I wouldn’t introduce them to a woman I’m dating unless we were, like, practically engaged.”

“Really?” Arden was surprised at the amount of relief that spread through her body like a warm breeze. Tinged with some confusion and disbelief. “That’s so odd. My coworkers and I share everything. We’re really open with each other.”

Sam shrugged. “I can see why you were hurt by that, and I’m sorry.”