“I somehow doubt Lauren wanted you to date her friends,” she said.
“Well, maybe not. But…maybe we should try not to let Lauren get between us. Especially since I’m guessing she has no idea you’re here right now.”
“As far as she knows, you and I are two people who met while volunteering and are friendly and that’s it. I told her I was going home after work tonight when she asked.” She picked up her fork and poked at a stray ravioli. “I’d like to keep this quiet for now.”
“Sure, all right. Also, let me just say, nothing kills the mood faster than talking about my sister.”
Paige laughed despite feeling nervous about stepping forward into something with Josh. Then again, if it scared her, maybe it was exactly the right thing to do.
“I don’t want to kill the mood,” she said, leaning forward a little.
Josh lowered his eyelids. “No?”
“We came very close to kissing the other day when you picked up George from the Cat Café. Laur—er, no one is here now to stop us.”
“I mean, my luck, some paralegal will—”
“Josh? Kiss me.”
He grinned. “With pleasure.”
The way they were seated, with the corner of the desk separating them, made kissing a little awkward, and Josh tasted like garlic, and still Paige wouldn’t have changed anything. The kiss was sweet and romantic and held the promise of something greater in the future.
Paige supposed every relationship had risks. People overcame obstacles greater than meddling siblings all the time. Maybe it was time for Paige to take a risk.
So she said, as she pulled away from Josh, “I do still expect you to call me this weekend to set up another date.”
“Now that, I can definitely do.”
Chapter 11
Paige was sitting in the cat room of the café, browsing children’s books on her laptop to try to decide which she should try to buy from Stories, when Monique stuck her head in and said, “There’s a guy here who asked for you.”
“Who?”
“Dunno.”
Paige wondered if it was Josh, which seemed impossible in the middle of the afternoon on a Monday, and besides Monique knew who Josh was. He had called her the day before, though, and they were scheduled to go out next Sunday, which she felt good about. Maybe nothing would come of it, but it was fun for now.
She got up and walked to the front of the café. The space was divided into three sections. There was a foyer in front where Lauren sometimes parked an employee to put potential customers on a wait list. There couldn’t really be more than ten or twelve people in the cat room or the cats started freaking out and hiding under the furniture, which was sort of beside the point of a cat café. The foyer also acted as a second line of defense against any cats escaping. The middle section was the café. There was a counter that sold a wide array of pastries, all brought in from local bakeries and bagel shops until Lauren could persuade Diane to let a pastry chef make use of the full kitchen in the back. So the only place to get coffee within a few blocks was the Cat Café. And then the cat room, the largest part of the café, was in the rear. There were several rooms behind the cat room—Lauren’s office, an employee break room, a room with litter boxes, and a storage closet full of cat food and litter. Lauren kept cat kennels in back, too, in case the cats had to be separated. And then there was that kitchen, because the space had been an Italian restaurant before Diane had come up with the idea for the Cat Café and hired Lauren to run it.
In the café section, Paige looked around. Monique walked back behind the counter and spoke to a man who faced away from Paige. He turned and looked at her. Paige recognized the mustache as belonging to Trevor, the guy she’d gone on a date with…god, when had that been? A month ago?
But ever the professional, she said, “Hi, Trevor.”
“Paige! So good to see you. I had some time to kill this afternoon, so I decided to take you up on your offer to see the café.”
She hadn’t remembered offering that. “Oh. Well, after you get your coffee, come on back and I’ll introduce you to some of the cats.”
“I didn’t order anything.”
Of course.
Lauren and Caleb came in then, each carrying a huge bag of cat food. Once Lauren and Caleb were through the Café door and it closed with a click, Paige ran over to the cat room door and opened it for them. Once they were through, Paige said to Trevor, “Well, come on back then.”
Paige was genuinely confused by Trevor’s presence.
He walked into the cat room and looked around, his eyes wide with wonder. “Wow, what a cool space. Oh, hi there, kitty.” He reached down to pet Mr. Willoughby, who was cautiously sniffing Trevor’s shoes.
