“You’re so full of shit,” said Lindsay. “The world doesn’t work that way.”
“All right. I want ten bucks from you when I’m right, too.”
Paige rolled her eyes. “How are you doing?” she asked Lauren, putting a comforting hand on Lauren’s arm.
“I’m all right. Sad that it’s over. More time to focus on the café, though.”
“It’s not over,” said Evan.
“We’re definitely going to need more drinks,” said Lindsay as she flagged down a waitress.
***
Caleb’s thoughts unraveled in the shower.
He did his best thinking there, probably because there weren’t many distractions and he could autopilot through the process.
So after his morning run, he stood under the spray and let his mind wander. At first, he was just planning his day. His shift today would end at five, and after that, maybe he could grab Lauren and get dinner somewhere…
Well, no, he couldn’t do that.
And he was doing the overnight the following day, so he should probably just come home and rest in preparation.
Why did he want to see Lauren so much anyway? They weren’t together anymore. He’d made the right decision to end things because he couldn’t do a commitment.
Maybe there was someone else he could go out for drinks with tonight. Maybe Rachel would want to…or whichever other vet was working today…
But he hadn’t really reached out to this community much, had he? Because the block of Whitman Street that held the vet clinic was its own ecosystem, in a way. Most of the vets seemed to know everyone on the block. The Cat Café was doing collaborative events with the yarn store and the bookstore. Lauren did her laundry at the big laundromat up the block and he’d spotted Paige going in and out of the high-end thrift store quite a bit. Caleb got lunch at the corner bodega all the time because the deli counter made a pretty solid sandwich.
He was friendly with the other vets, but they didn’t socialize much outside of work. He could probably invite Doug or Olivia for a post-work drink as an overture—Lauren liked that bar Pop, right?—and he could develop those friendships.
But the person he most wanted to spend more time with was Lauren.
He sighed and shampooed his hair.
He had some regrets. Lauren really hadn’t been asking him for more than just the opportunity to explore where their relationship went. He didn’t trust his own judgment where romance was concerned, but he did really like Lauren. She was beautiful and passionate and she cared a lot about all those cats.
What did his gut tell him?
As he got out of the shower, he realized he wanted Lauren. He could fall in love with Lauren.
And wasn’t that a kick in the teeth? All these weeks of trying to keep her at arm’s length, and at some point, she’d worked her way under his skin, to the point where he couldn’t stop thinking about her, couldn’t stop imagining what their next encounter might be like. She was on his brain all through his morning run, through the shower, and now as he got dressed. She was always on his mind.
He was an idiot.
As he walked to work that morning with Hank, he tried to think of what to do. Let her go? Take the fact that he’d been so reluctant to sayyesas a sign he wasn’t ready for a relationship and he’d made the right decision? Or should he try to fight for her?
He knew better than to think he could just walk up to her and say he’d changed his mind, though. Or could he?
She was, in fact, standing outside the Cat Café when he got to Whitman Street. She didn’t see him at first because she was intently focused on her phone. But Hank started barking as soon as he saw her, and she looked up.
“Oh. Hi,” she said.
“Hi. How are you?”
“I’ve been better.” She focused back on her phone and tapped at it angrily a couple of times.
“So, uh…” he tried.
