“How’s it going?” he asked.
“Hoo boy.”
“That well?”
Lauren grinned. “It’s crazy in the best way. Paige’s craft event was a huge hit. We got a better turnout than expected and all the kids seemed to love it.”
“That’s awesome.”
“The cats were a little afraid of the kids, but a few of them came out eventually. And we’ve got a lot of people who came to just check out what we’ve got going on here. Paige set up a newsletter and sent press releases to a bunch of local news websites, and now we’ve got bigger crowds than ever, which is awesome but overwhelming.”
Josh didn’t need Lauren to tell him Paige was good at her job, but he was still proud of Paige. They’d agreed they wouldn’t tell Lauren about their relationship yet and Josh didn’t want to give that away, so he said, “Who’s a guy gotta bribe to get a cup of coffee around here?”
Lauren stepped to the side and gestured toward the register. “Be nice to Monique at the counter and she’ll charge you $4.50 for a latte.”
Josh glanced at the menu written out on a chalkboard above the counter and saw that lattes cost $4.50. “Wow, such a bargain.”
“I aim to please.”
He got in the short line at the register and considered asking Lauren where Paige was, but even that seemed like the sort of thing someone who was interested in Paige would ask and… How paranoid was he? He instead busied himself with staring at the menu. Lauren moved alongside him and said, “Paige and Evan are sitting in the back basking in their triumph. Evan helped out with the crafts. I thought he was just a digital artist, but it turns out he’s pretty handy with crayons and a glue stick.”
Well, that answered his question. He stepped up to the register and ordered that latte. As he waited for it to be made, Lauren got distracted answering a question from a customer. It was a little strange to see her in work mode. She looked so pleasant and serious.
When he had his latte in hand, Lauren stepped away from the customer and said, “Go join Paige and Evan in the back. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Okay.”
The cat room was pretty full. Paige and Evan were seated at a table in the corner, but there was an empty chair, so Josh headed for it. He sat without waiting for them to acknowledge him.
“Hi,” said Paige, looking a little startled.
“Lauren told me to join you.”
“You did just get the last chair,” said Evan.
Josh put his cup on the table and looked around. There were no other free chairs in the whole cat room. Lauren hadn’t been kidding about business being good. He turned back and glanced at Paige, who had schooled her face into something that looked placid and fake.
“Sorry to ambush you,” said Josh. “I was a little bored at home, so I figured I’d walk over here and find out how the craft event went.”
“Really well,” said Paige. “I’m surprised you remembered.”
Josh almost blurted out that she’d talked about it a lot the previous weekend, but he pressed his lips together instead.
“It’s fine,” said Evan.
“What is?” Josh asked.
Paige sighed and whispered, “Evan knows about us.”
“Oh.” Josh didn’t know how to react to that.
“I had to tell someone. Sorry. I hope it’s okay.”
“It’s…kind of a relief, actually,” said Josh. He let out a breath. “But of course I remembered. You, in fact, told me you couldn’t see me this weekend because of this event. So I thought I’d come to see you.”
“Aw, thanks,” she said with a smile.
“That’s very cute,” said Evan.
