“Sore, but fine. I did something to my arm. Maybe I overworked it last night.”
Leo choked on his coffee.
I rolled my shoulder and stretched my right arm across my body. I’d pushed hard on my last few frames.
I walked over to the living room cat tree and scratched General Ledger’s ears. It was too bad she didn’t like Leo, but I secretly didn’t hate being General Ledger’s person. It made me feel special, and Leo didn’t seem to mind that she ignored him. The cat had been the constant in my life since finishing my accounting degree a decade ago. Fortunately, my ex had never bonded with her, so General Ledger hadn’t been one of the “assets” we’d squabbled over in the divorce.
“Thanks for the water and pills.”
Leo wiped the coffee off his chin. “No prob. You’d do it for me.”
He was right. I would do anything for him.
“Hungry? I’m gonna fix something before my class.” I turned to the kitchen.
“Already ate, thanks.”
I’d figured that out when I spotted his dirty dishes in the sink.
He seemed off. Catching a cold? I should swing by the store after class and get stuff to make chicken soup in case he was coming down with something, and then I would keep my ass in my bedroom to avoid catching it. If we both got sick, the house would fall into disrepair. Dishes would pile in the sink, empty food cartons all over, the litter box… I shuddered at the thought.
As my oatmeal cooked, I walked over to where we stored our reusable grocery bags and noticed an odd celestial patterned fabric sticking out of one. I pulled it out and realized it was a little wizard hat that looked like it would fit General Ledger. I hadn’t seen it before, and I certainly hadn’t been drunk enough last night to order something. Even if I had, not even Amazon delivered that quickly to Dahlia Springs. General Ledger hated wearing clothes, which was a shame because she would look so cute. But ever since I’d forced the elf costume on her during our first Christmas and she used my slipper as a litter box in retaliation, I’d never dared to try again.
I carried it over to Leo. “Have you seen this before?”
His eyes widened when he looked at the hat, but he quickly returned his attention to the television. “Someone at work brought it in and thought Led—General Ledger might look cute in it.”
“That was nice of them.” A flutter raced through my stomach. He talked about my cat at work? That meant he probably talked about me too. I turned away and smiled to myself. I talked about Leo all the time at my job, to the point where people made jokes about it. But I didn’t think it was weird because I spent all my time with him. I didn’t have a bunch of friends like Leo did. If it wasn’t for the forced socialization during bowling, Leo would be the start and end of my social life.
Despite it making sense for me to talk about him, for whatever reason, I never would’ve thought he did the same. Leo had so many friends and people clamoring for his time. Sure, I lived with him, but I had no expectations that him being my best friend meant I was his.
The hum of some news show was the background for my thoughts as I sat at our dining table and ate breakfast. Leo should have a girlfriend to talk to his coworkers about instead of having to use boring me for conversation. Like Ollie had said last night, it was time for Leo to get out there. I pushed my oatmeal away. I wasn’t hungry anymore.
Leo had been with his ex-wife since high school. He must be struggling with being all alone. Heck, the guy could barely tolerate flying solo for a weekend when I went to a ceramics workshop out of town. All the time he spent with me was probably filler. I was a convenient person to spend time with, but I wouldn’t get in his way of finding true happiness.
My thoughts continued to race as I got ready for class.
“Hey, Leo?” I called from my bathroom while I tried and failed, yet again, to fix my unruly curls.
“Yeah?” he called back as the volume on the TV lowered.
“I meant what I said last night about bringing someone around here. I don’t want to get in the way, so if you’re ready to date, go for it.”
Silence stretched. “Okay.”
Okay? Did that mean he would start dating or more of a “thanks for the green light?” Or “okay,” he already had someone in mind, and I should figure out how to make myself scarce some evenings to give him privacy?
It was fine. I was okay with it.
A braver person would’ve had the conversation face-to-face, but Leo could always tell when I was lying.
CHAPTER 5
LEO
“I can’t believe your daddy found your hat.” I adjusted the ring light and angled the wizard hat on General Ledger’s head slightly to the left. Nearly perfect. After quickly adjusting the small broom I’d picked up at the Dollar Store, I straightened the green fabric I used as a cheap green screen.
“Your fans are going to love this. Cutest little kitty wizard.” Ledgie’s lips and nose scrunched as I scratched under her chin.
