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“A keepsake?” He arched a questionable brow as he held up a palm full of dried, red paste.
“Yeah.” I scooped it from his hand until it was in my own. “To remember the best night ever.”
His expression filled with a mixture of hope, adoration, and disbelief.
Across the room, his sisters suddenly rose from their chairs in a unit.
“Well, I need to shove off,” Darcy announced a bit too loudly, breaking into Wick’s and my staring fest.
“Yeah, me too,” Izzy added as she helped Charlie gather all the plates from the table to carry them to the sink.
“Uh, okay,” Wick answered, sliding off the counter to frown as they scurried around to do a half-job of cleaning their mess.
Each sister stopped by to offer him a hug or kiss on the cheek, or both, then all three hugged me in turn. When they rushed from the kitchen after that, their brother glanced my way, quirking up a single eyebrow.
“Is it just me, or was that an oddly quick exit?”
I shrugged ruefully, wondering if the girls were trying to give us some alone time together.
“I’m beginning to expect the unexpected from your sisters,” I answered.
With a thoughtful nod, he said, “Good point.”
Chuckling, I glanced around at the state they’d left the kitchen in. “Looks like today’s going to be a cleaning day.”
Next to me, Wick sighed heavily. “Yep.”
It was time to return to the real world.
We split up duties, one person straightening the front room while the other took on KP duty. By noon, we had the apartment back in order. Except then, we both had homework and laundry, and Wick needed to tutor someone.
I was in my room, working on a lesson plan for my language development class when a knock came on my open door.
When I glanced up, I found Wick in the doorway, uneasily scratching the back of his neck and wincing.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, instantly alert to his distress.
“Uh…” He cleared his throat before admitting, “I just did a thing.”
“Okay.” Not sure if he was embarrassed, guilty, or ashamed, I set all my books and notebooks aside to slip off the bed. “What thing exactly did you just do?”
“Well.” He blew out a long breath. “Princess—you know, the building owner’s cat, Princess—she had babies a month or two ago, and Trisha—our landlady—just told me they were finally weaned and litter trained, and they needed homes, so…” Sucking his bottom lip in between his teeth, he confessed, “I took one.”
I stopped in my tracks. “Wait. You did what?”
He sent me a worried cringe. “We have a kitten now.”
“Oh my God!” I shrieked. “Really? Where?”
Streaking past him, I blew into the hallway, ready to race to the front room. But Wick turned, lifting something in his arms—something small, and soft, with incredibly fluffy gray, brown, and black fur full of darker tiger stripes.
“Oh my God. Look at it! Oh…” Rushing back to him, I instantly reached out to pet the bundle. “It’s so cute. And soft. Oh… Did you feel how soft it is?”
“Couldn’t help but notice,” he answered, his lips hitching up in amusement before he outright chuckled when he handed the kitten over because I was squeaking out a sound of excitement.
“Wow.” I snuggled the little fluff ball up to my face, and a tiny tongue licked my cheek. “This is the best kitten ever. What’s his name?” I glanced at Wick. “His name? Or her name?”
“Her is what Trisha told me. And…” He shrugged. “Her name is whatever you want it to be.”
