Page 11 of Cherry on Top


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“Accurate,” she said, pointing at him as he nuzzled Ellis.

“They think he’s around five years old, but that’s just an estimate. There’s no records before the foster family.”

Cherry reached out and touched the cat for the first time. “Wow. Heissoft.” His fur was like the softest blanket she’d ever touched. Light and velvety. He blinked his big yellow eyes at her as he watched her, purring the whole time, his head against Ellis’s chest. “Yeah, he hates you. Clearly.”

“Pretty sure this is my cat.” Ellis said it firmly and punctuated it with a cute little nod.

“Pretty sure you’re right.” She watched as Ellis and the cat had a silent conversation with body language. “I’ll get the woman for you.” She headed for the door, intent on finding Lisa. When she glanced back through the window, Ellis and the cat were nose to nose. Ellis’s lips were moving, and though she couldn’t hear what was being said, the sight alone moved her in a way she didn’t expect and couldn’t explain. In that moment, somehow, she just knew her life was about to change. For the better? For worse? She had no idea. Only that change was coming.

A hard swallow.

The question was, was she ready for it?

Chapter Six

Clouds had moved in by the time Ellis and Cherry stepped out of the Junebug Farms main building, but Ellis didn’t care. She felt light on her feet. Excited. Like she’d turned the page on a new chapter of life, clichéd as that sounded. She inhaled deeply through her nose and stretched her arms over her head as if she’d just woken up.

“Wow,” Cherry said from beside her. “That is a happy woman right there.”

“Very much so.” She turned and smiled at Cherry, taken again by just how gorgeous she was. Pulling her gaze away, she went over things in her head. Because how weird was it that they’d run into each other here? Ellis couldn’t believe it when she’d seen her. What were the odds? Seriously. And her staying the whole time she’d met Nugget? Totally unexpected. And awesome. She turned back to Cherry, and those dark eyes mesmerized her once more. Redheads were supposed to have blue eyes or green eyes, not these gorgeous, mysterious ones the deep, rich color of coffee grounds.

“So, are you off to the pet store?” Cherry’s smile was infectious, and Ellis was very aware of how much time her gaze spent on those full lips. How was she so beautiful? How was that fair to the rest of the world?

“Do you want to get something to eat?” Oh my God, did she say that out loud?Holy shit. Fix your face! Fix it into something that doesn’t look as shocked as you feel right now.

But Cherry didn’t frown. Or laugh at her. She didn’t run screaming. She didn’t narrow her eyes at her and squint in suspicion. Instead, hersmile grew and revealed very white teeth, and she said, “I would love that. I’m starving.”

And that’s how they ended up in The Flip at a small table for two by a window, eating the house specialty and the reason for the name, crepes that were to die for. To. Die. For.

“I think it’s interesting that you went savory, and I went sweet,” Cherry said with a soft smile. Her crepes were filled with bananas and Nutella. Ellis’s had potatoes, sausage, peppers, and onions. Cherry had taken photos of both plates before they dug in.

“That’s so we each get some of both.” She grimaced and glanced up at Cherry with her fork in midair, the presumption suddenly clear. “Do you share food?”

“Lucky for you, I want to taste your crepe more than I want to keep you from tasting mine.” Pausing only for a second or two to blink at the obvious euphemism, she watched as Cherry cleared her throat and picked up her fork. They reached across and took a bite from one another’s plates, ate in tandem, and then hummed in approval together. The laughter came next, and it curled its way right into Ellis, forged a trail around her heart, then headed south.

“So,” Ellis said. She met Cherry’s eyes as she chewed and had the sudden, overwhelming urge to know every single thing about this woman sitting across from her. Mentally talking herself into calming the hell down was harder than it should’ve been. “What do you do? I see you in the diner on your laptop, but I don’t think I know what you do.”

“I work for an insurance company. Claims adjuster. I visit clients who’ve had accidents, and I evaluate.” Cherry glanced down at her plate, cut another bite.

“You like it?”

She watched as Cherry tipped her head one way, then the other. “It’s okay. It’s a decent company. Decent pay. Benefits. I don’t have a degree, and they hired me without one, so I’m grateful for that.”

“Me neither,” Ellis said. She rolled her lips in and nibbled for a moment.

“You don’t have a degree?” Cherry’s surprise seemed genuine.

“I have half a business degree.”

“Ha. Me, too.” She lifted her glass of water. “Cheers to half degrees.” They touched glasses and smiled, and Cherry asked, “Areyou new at the diner? I don’t remember seeing you, and I’m there quite a bit.”

“I’m not actually a waitress,” Ellis said, and for a split second, her brain tossed her an image of Michaela’s freshly polished toenails. “I manage the place for the owner, who now lives in Florida. We had a couple of waitresses call out sick the day I waited on you, so I filled in. Not that Kitty couldn’t have handled things on her own.”

“Oh my God, that woman isamazing,” Cherry said, emphasizing the word.

“She really is. She’s become kind of a mother figure for me away from home.”

“You’re not from here?” Cherry put her elbows on the table and propped her chin in her hands, and Ellis could feel her attention. Actuallyfeelit, as if it could touch her, run fingertips along her spine.