“Please stop looking at me like that.” She lifted a hand to shield her face and sank lower into her seat. “Come on, you know I’ve got work to do.”
Jewel blinked and tilted her head to the side.
Charlotte stopped typing and sighed. “All right, fine. Five minutes of love, but after that, I really do have to work. Unless you want to prepare my lesson plans for me.”
Jewel meowed.
Charlotte threw her hands up. “All right, all right. There’s no need to take that tone with me. Come on.”
When she held her hand out, Jewel sniffed it and then rubbed her head against Charlotte’s outstretched palm. Charlotte scratched Jewel behind her ears, and she made a low purring sound. She smiled when Jewel shifted and jumped into her lap. After kneading with her paws, Jewel curled into a ball and sat there, purring contentedly.
“Who needs lesson planning anyway?” Charlotte ran her hands along Jewel’s fur and used her free hand to rub her face. “Not me. No, siree. I’d much rather be here patting you, little cutie.”
Jewel meowed again, louder this time.
Charlotte continued to stroke her fur. “Tell me about it. Lesson plans rarely work out in real life, you know. Because the kids always have their own ideas. But it’s policy, so here we are.”
And here she was, talking to a cat on a Friday night.
A part of her knew she should be somewhere, grabbing a few drinks with Addison. She even imagined the two of them in a crowded movie theater, sharing a large tub of popcorn.
With a sigh, she realized the image of Addison had been replaced with one of Patrick, using one hand to stuff popcorn into his face and using the other to hold her hand.
Why couldn’t she stop thinking about him?
They’d been friends for years, and that moment in the hallway was nothing. Not only was she reading too much into it, but she also knew Patrick had no interest in her as anything other than a friend and a colleague. In all of the years since she’d known him, he’d never once shown the slightest bit of romantic interest in her.
And he couldn’t possibly be changing his mind now when she was on the precipice of a big decision. A life-changing decision.
What was he thinking?
What wasshethinking?
Jewel made a low protesting noise when Charlotte stopped petting her. She stretched her arms over her head as she absentmindedly rummaged through the fridge, when the doorbell rang.
Sighing, she slammed the fridge shut and went to the door. After a quick glance through the peephole revealed a frazzled-looking Savannah, Charlotte undid the latch. Immediately, Savannah came into the apartment and glanced around, skipping over the pile of laundry on the couch and the plastic plants lined up on the windowsill.
She finally swung her gaze back to Charlotte and cleared her throat. “I need your help.”
“Sure, what’s up?”
Savannah blinked and used the sleeve of her sweater to push her hair away. “I didn’t think you were actually going to be here. It’s a Friday night.”
Charlotte raised an eyebrow. “What’s your point?”
Savannah fished her phone out of her pocket and scrolled through it. “Right, yeah. I forgot that you don’t really go out.”
“Other than my social life—”
“Or lack thereof,” Savannah interrupted without preamble.
“—was there another reason you stopped by?”
Savannah glanced back up. “I have an assignment I need you to proofread. I just emailed it to you.”
“You want me to go over it now?”
Savannah shoved her phone back into her pocket and straightened her back. “Do you have something better to do?”
