When she’d ushered us out of her office, I followed Lee out onto the sidewalk. A cool fall breeze whipped under my collar as we headed for his car and I shivered.
“Well, good news, bad news, I guess,” Lee said, popping the locks.
I got in and turned to him, trying to speak softly. “I’m sorry. You told me Rocktoberfest was a bad idea.”
He shrugged. “Yeah, but you know, if it gets you to surgery faster? Not the worst thing in the world. And she thinks it’s benign. I’m going to hang onto that.”
Me too.“Is that you working on an optimism reset?”
“Yep. Don’t expect too much, though. I’m still going to make you keep your voice down as much as possible for the next two weeks.”
I took a deep breath and lowered my volume further. “What do you want to do now?”
“We both have the afternoon off.”
“Shows even Zhukov thinks you’re essential.” The bastard had kicked up a fuss about “all the time Robertson is taking off” but when Lee threatened to quit, he’d backed down fast.
“Right. How about the cat café?”
“Great idea.” I would never say no to a purring cat on my lap in times of stress. I might’ve visited Lee’s Mom an extra time last week, just to have Willow de-stress me.
We arrived before the after-work crowd and found a table near the back. Lee picked up tea and cupcakes for us at the counter, stuffing the price in the donation jar. Since the concert, the owner hadn’t let us pay for anything, but he couldn’t stop us giving the cats our money. Lee passed over my cup, saying, “Honey lemon,” and sat next to me, inhaling the fragrant steam from his own.
A short-haired black cat wandered our way and peered up at me, giving a tiny squeaky meow.
“Hey, sweetheart,” I murmured.
The server called, “Don’t encourage her,” a moment too late as the cat made a graceful leap to the tabletop and took a big lick of icing off my cupcake. “I’m so sorry.” The woman hustled over and lifted the cat down. “We might have to stop bringing her. She’s practically addicted to vanilla.”
The cat met my eyes and smugly licked icing off her whiskers.
“I’ll bring you a fresh cupcake,” the server offered.
“Just a knife. I’ll trim that bit.” I eyed the cat. “What’s her name?”
“Cinder.” The server frowned down at her. “Should be Trouble. She’s super sweet but gets into everything. She’ll be hard to place, too.”
“Why?” Cinder was now butting against my ankles, stroking her cheeks on my jeans. I scooped more icing with my finger, since I’d be trimming it off anyway, and held the treat down to her. She ate daintily, her barbed tongue rasping on my calluses.
“She’s old. She may not look it, but she’s almost fifteen. No real health problems, but that’s still elderly for a cat. We have lots of younger ones.” The woman gestured around the café atthe cats lounging in climbers and sitting in the big windowsill and batting toys around the floor.
“Fifteen’s not that old,” I protested. “Not if she’s healthy. And there’s nothing wrong with being old.”
Lee set a hand on mine. “Soft voice, hon.” He told the server, “He’s not supposed to strain his throat. But he’s right, health matters more than age in figuring out how long you’ll live. Age is just a number.”
As if she heard him, Cinderprrrped, paced to his feet, and began headbutting, anointing the hems of his scrubs with his share of black hairs.
Lee leaned down and stroked her. “You are a silky black beauty, aren’t you?”
I was struck once again with how gorgeous he was, with the soft look in his eyes and the smile on his lips. Maybe he didn’t have the classic cut-glass beauty of Pete Lebraun or Quinn’s babyfaced appeal, but Lee was big and strong and yet kind and warm. That red hair and beard framed his generous mouth and stunning gray eyes. His capable hands moved over the cat’s fur, his scrubs outlining the arms that held me almost every night now.Perfect for me.
Someday, when his mom was ready, I’d ask him to move in with me and wake up to that sight every morning.
“Um, here?”
I startled and turned to find the server holding out a knife to me, handle first.
“Oh, thanks.” I trimmed off the cat-licked icing and eyed the remnant. “How terrible would it be to let Cinder eat this?”
