Lauren sat in her office, staring at a computer monitor and trying to balance the account books to put together a report for Diane. She wasn’t ready to let go of the idea of possibly hiring a pastry chef, even though actually using the kitchen to prepare food was probably asking for Randolph and Newton to try to shut them down again. Still, a girl could dream.
Paige stuck her head in the door. “There’s someone here who is interested in adopting a cat. I thought you might want to talk to him.”
“You can’t handle it?” Lauren slid away from her desk and opened a drawer. She pulled out a manila envelope. “All the forms are in here.”
“You aren’t curious about which cat he’s interested in?”
“I mean, I am, but my numbers aren’t adding up right for some reason. I think I mistyped a digit somewhere. It’s only off by a few dollars, but…”
“Lauren? Boss lady? Please take a break. I think you’ll want to talk to this customer.”
Paige smiled in a way that made the dimple on her left cheek prominent, which made Lauren think she was up to something. Was the customer a celebrity? That had happened a couple of times. There were a few pretty big actors who lived in the neighborhood, and sometimes they popped in to check out the Cat Café. Lauren had seen the hot young star of a popular HBO show on the street a number of times in the last couple of weeks, and it was plausible he wanted a cat.
“Yeah, all right. Give me one second.”
Lauren scanned the column of numbers again, finally found where she’d made a mistake, and fixed the error. When the formula recalculated the numbers, the balance came out correctly. She let out a breath.
“We’re still in the black for this month,” she said to Paige.
“I’m glad. Come on.”
Lauren followed Paige out to the cat room. On the way, she tried to remember all of the famous people who lived in the neighborhood to narrow down who this might be. Maybe it was the mayor. Or a popular writer; there were a few of those in the neighborhood, too.
But, Lauren saw when she arrived in the cat room, it was actually Caleb.
Paige stepped away. Lauren looked around the room and noticed Lindsay and Evan were there, too, standing off to the side and grinning.
“What is happening?” Lauren asked. “There’s no way on earth Caleb is going to adopt a cat, and the way you all are smiling makes me think I’ve been betrayed.”
Monique walked over. “Dr. Fitch has filled out the paperwork for cat adoption,” she said, handing over a form.
“Et tu, Monique?” Lauren took the form and scanned it.
The top part contained Caleb’s name, address, and contact information. But in the box underWhy are you interested in adopting a cat?, he’d written,Because I made a terrible mistake and I want Lauren to know I’m sorry and I want her back.
“Are you kidding me with this?” she asked, holding up the form. It felt like a cruel joke. She’d been trying so hard for the last week to push Caleb from her mind, because it was clear nothing would happen between them, and here he was with some jokey cat adoption form.
Caleb frowned. “All right, you got me, I’m not really here to adopt a cat.”
Lauren cursed and crumpled up the form. She tossed it at a trash can. Caleb watched the ball of paper sail through the air. Then he turned his attention back to Lauren.
“Did you read it? I meant what I wrote.”
“So, wait, I’m supposed to believe you, a man who told me just a couple of weeks ago that he couldn’t give me what I wanted, who has told me more than once he couldn’t be in a relationship with me, who has decided to come to my place of business and pretend to adopt a cat as a way to win me back?”
The smile that had been playing across Caleb’s lips fell. He glanced toward Evan, who moved his hand in a circularkeep goinggesture.
Caleb sighed. “This was supposed to be my big romantic gesture. See, isn’t it cute? Caleb’s adopting a cat. But he’d never adopt a cat because he’s a dog person. Ha, ha.”
Lauren rolled her eyes. Her stomach churned. She felt like she was the butt of some April Fools’ joke. “How gullible do you think I am?”
“No, I…” Caleb frowned and rubbed his forehead. “I’m fucking this up. This was supposed to be a cute gesture where I get you to laugh long enough for me to tell you I made a huge mistake. You were right, I put up walls and didn’t give us a chance to see where things could go. I thought I didn’t want to be in a relationship, and I still think relationships are scary and risky generally, but I want to be with you enough that I’m willing to take the risk. I’ve missed you like crazy since we ended things.”
Wasn’t this what Lauren had wanted to hear? Hadn’t she fantasized about the moment Caleb realized he was stupid to let her go and came groveling back? Well, here he was. He was telling her he’d made a mistake and he wanted to be with her. But something still wasn’t right.
“How do I trust this?” she asked. “How do I know you won’t change your mind in a week and send me packing again?”
“Well, speaking of packing, I thought this could help.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a keychain with two keys on it. The tag was shaped like an old-fashioned suitcase. He handed it to Lauren.
