The woman seemed to take it that way, though. “Nice to meet you, too. Apologies for interrupting your conversation.”
Lindsay snorted, and then regretted it because Brad slid her a sidelong glance that told her he knew what her reaction had been about.
He cleared his throat. “There’s another orange cat named Jefferson around here somewhere. He has a white belly. Absolutely adorable.”
Maggie laughed. “Hamilton and Jefferson, of course! I sawHamiltonlike everyone else did in this city. Are the names a reference to the musical?”
Brad tilted his head. “The cats are named after various Founding Fathers. There’s a Washington and a Franklin and a few others around. A girl cat named Betsy and another named Martha.”
“Sure, sure,” said the woman. “Well, I’ll go find Mr. Jefferson, then, won’t I?”
When she was gone, Lindsay let out a breath.
“You want to talk about how you tried to kill that nice woman with your eyes?” Brad asked.
Nope, she was not ceding any emotional ground. “Oh, Brad, not sure if you noticed, but you just claimed that cat. He issogoing home with you.”
“Uh-huh. I see what you’re doing there. But fine, I’ll bite. I just wanted him to stay at the café.”
“Nope, that’s not how this works. I’ve been around long enough to know that Sadie is the only permanent resident. She knows it, too. That’s why she’s sitting on the couch over there looking smug.”
Lindsay pointed and Brad followed her gaze. Sadie was sitting on the arm of the sofa with a satisfied cat look on her face, observing the scene like the other cats were suckers.
Brad frowned. “My apartment is not set up for a cat.”
“You’re just a litter box and a few cans of cat food short of being a cat owner, buddy.”
Brad sighed and looked down at Hamilton, who looked blissful as he rubbed his face against Brad’s leg.
“This is not what I signed on for.”
Lindsay laughed again.
***
Brad had been chatting amiably with Lindsay for five whole minutes. He wondered if she’d noticed.
She’d definitely noticed that another woman had come talk to him. The way Lindsay had tried to mentally murder Maggie had not escaped Brad’s attention, nor had her dodge at his question. That was very interesting.
Lauren wandered over, and before Brad could say anything, Lindsay said, “Brad’s adopting Hamilton.”
“I knew it!” said Lauren. “I’ve got cardboard carriers in back if you—”
“I’m not…” But Brad knew a losing argument when he saw it. He sighed. “Not tonight. My apartment’s not ready.”
Lauren winked. “Sure. I’ll just tell Monique not to let anyone adopt Hamilton.”
When she was gone again, Lindsay surprised the hell out of Brad. “Maybe we should just bury the hatchet. Now that you work for Lauren, it’s clear that I will be running into you regularly. I hate all the tension between us.”
“So youdon’thate me?”
“I mean, I do, but maybe we can find a way to be civil.”
Now it was Brad’s turn to laugh. “Look, I just want to talk to you in a place where we’re not surrounded by a lot of other people. I need to stay until the end of the party to make sure everyone has enough to eat, and then I have to clean out the kitchen, but do you want to stick around and then come home with me?”
Lindsay’s eyes practically popped right out of her head, she looked so surprised.
“Not for sex!” said Brad. “Just to talk. No hanky-panky, I promise. You can help me make a list of all the stuff I need to buy for Hamilton and then show me where to put it. You have a cat, right?”
