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Yup, she’s all yours now.
Ginny
Thank you. I can’t wait to bring her home.
Gavin
You’re welcome.
* * *
After her texts with Gavin, Ginny considered going right then to pick up Copper, but she knew better than to bring home a kitten without all the necessary things like bedding and food and toys. So she did her research and bought everything that they said a young cat would need. She made sure to kitten proof her house as well, just in case Copper didn’t like it there and tried to escape within minutes of arriving. She swung by the shelter during her lunch break the next day and sorted through the paperwork with Bronte, spent some time with Copper so she would get used to her and made plans to return the next day.
Weirdly enough, Ginny felt a twinge of disappointment that Gavin wasn’t there. For the sake of more fantastic banter, obviously.
The plan for the weekend was mostly to sort through everything they needed to make and design for the event itself, so while Copper snoozed in her lap, Ginny and Bronte went through their checklist for the event. They had a long list of people to invite—some by phone, others by physical invitations delivered to their front doors—and large information cards to design and print out. Ginny already had the right people for that, so it wouldn’t take too long, but with how little time they had left for the event, everything needed to happen quickly.
With Bronte’s help, Ginny also managed to take all the necessary photographs and fell in love with every single dog she met. She liked that Bronte and Gavin had chosen a mixture of older and younger dogs to put up for adoption, because she could see just how loving the older ones were. Afterwards, they had lunch together and then Bronte helped Ginny get Copper into her carrier so she could take her home.
The minute she was released from her carrier, Copper found the softest and warmest spot in the house and stretched herself out there. The only really expensive and valuable things in her house was the room full of photography equipment and the art on her walls, so Ginny knew that as Copper explored and ran around, there was no chance of her damaging or breaking anything.
For the first time in a long time, Ginny didn’t feel restless not doing anything. There was something so soothing about watching Copper explore the house and when the kitten crawled into Ginny’s lap for a snooze, she was happy to sit there on the couch and not move for hours. It was only the sound of her phone buzzing that startled Ginny to the fact that she’d fallen asleep as well, head tipped back and mouth wide open while Copper napped in her lap.
Carefully setting Copper on a cushion, Ginny made herself a cup of coffee and sat down in her home office. While a two-bedroom house was always a good thing, Ginny converted the second room into her office. It was also where she did most of her photoshoots and the walls were covered in bulletin boards that had notes, ideas, letters, concepts and inspirations. Being an influencer wasn’t an easy job and the only way she could do it all was if she had the space to work.
That evening, she sat down to figure out her Instagram plan. With this event taking up all of her time for the next few weeks, she needed to plan and organize all of the content that she’d post in advance. So she scribbled down ideas and made it a combination of self-love, brand promotion, life update and some posts with codes to purchase products she loved.
A softmeowdrew Ginny’s attention to the little furball staring up at her from the floor. Smiling at the way she was being watched, Ginny scooped Copper into her arms and laughed as she crawled to sit on her shoulder.
“And here I thought you wanted a cuddle,” she said softly, smiling as Copper rubbed her head against Ginny’s cheek and meow’d again. Carefully lifting her phone, she flipped the camera so that Copper and a portion of Ginny’s face reflected on her screen, and then took a picture. Copper had her head tilted to the side curiously and the corner of Ginny’s mouth was tipped up in a smirk.
“Look at you, pretty girl.” Copper purred and then jumped into Ginny’s lap so she could flip onto her back for a belly rub. “So demanding already.”
But she obliged her kitten by scratching her exposed belly with one hand while opening up her text exchange with Gavin. Before she could overthink it, Ginny attached the picture and sent it to Gavin, with a text that read:
Say hello to my little friend.
CHAPTER12
Then
“You better not be cheating!”
Gavin laughed as he leaned forward, pushing the controls aggressively as he tried to win this fight. But Nia was clearly better at this than him, even though he had taught her how to playandwas using Kung Lao who had some of the best moves in the whole game. When the final blow was delivered and Kung Lao was knocked onto his ass, Gavin groaned and stepped away from the machine as it announced,“Brutality! Mileena wins!”
“Something tells meyouwere cheating,” he said as Nia bounced around, doing her silly victory dance.
“Don’t be bitter, Little Rhodes, we both know I’m better at this than you.”
He snorted and held up two more tokens, arching an eyebrow. “One last round and we’ll really know who is better.”
“You’re on.”
She took the token and slipped it into the machine, then Gavin did the same and they picked their usual characters and started their fight. That whole summer, they’d been spending loads of time at the arcade trying to beat each other at every game they knew how to play. Gavin and his friends had been visiting the arcade since he was allowed to wander around Tybee without adult supervision. Then when he and Nia started dating, he brought her there after his shift at The Crab Shack. It wasn’t the most exciting or elaborate date, but they always had fun and somehow that was far more important to Gavin than anything else.
They were still sneaking around, keeping things a secret from their families and Spencer. The only person who knew about Nia was his oldest brother, Noah. But Noah was too busy with his girlfriend to really get involved in what Gavin and Nia were doing. Which was why this was fun. Tybee wasn’t a big place, but they could get away with being at the arcade and walking along the promenade without getting caught. Nia liked reminding him that she did not want to get caught. Gavin had asked her why she was so worried, but when she said that it wasn’t important, he never brought it up again.
“Finish him!”
