“Yogurt, tea, cat food. You know, the usual,” Anya winked, then returned to ordering food. Ordering food while you were starving was the equivalent of going grocery shopping while hungry. By the time Anya was done, she had ordered more than fifty bucks’ worth of food.
“There’s an olive on my pizza.”
Anya’s eyes widened comically. “Oh no!” She reached over and plucked the offending olive off of Jaime’s piece of pizza and popped it into her mouth. “Mmm, you don’t know what you’re missing.”
Jaime watched as Anya’s pink tongue poked out to lick the corners of her mouth. “I, uh…” She cleared her throat. “Maybe I should try them again. They look pretty tasty.”
Anya grinned, noting Jaime’s evident appreciation. “They are.” Derek’s paw crept toward Anya’s plate, and Anya casuallyslid it away. “Ah, ah, no olives for you, young man. The last time you had olives, I was cleaning up after you for a week.”
“Meow.”
“Mmhmm, I know you like them, but your stomach doesn’t.”
“Mow, meow, meow.”
“Sorry, bud.” Anya tore off a small piece from her crust and put it in front of Derek. “There. Take that wherever you take it and do whatever you do.”
Jaime watched with amusement as Derek picked up the piece of crust, jumped off the counter, and trotted off. Oddly enough, she didn’t find having a cat on the counter with them while they ate strange or gross. One of the main reasons Taylor didn’t want pets in the house was because she had always thought animals were unsanitary. It was something Jaime never fully agreed with, but since her work schedule meant Taylor would spend more time taking care of whatever pet they got, she accepted Taylor’s position on it.
“How did you and Derek meet?”
Anya swallowed the bite she had just taken and wiped her mouth with her napkin. “Cat distribution system,” she answered. As she took a sip of water, she thought back with fondness to that time when she had met Derek for the first time. “I had just moved here, and this place was being built. I stopped by to check on the progress one day and heard this soft mewing out in the backyard. When I went out to investigate, this little ball of fluff came out of nowhere and began rubbing himself all over my leg, rolling around, meowing like he was telling me his life story. Which shouldn’t have been that long since he was such a tiny little kitten, but he was certainly selling it.”
Jaime chuckled. “I guess he talked his way into your life.”
Anya nodded. “He did. I looked for his momma or siblings, but couldn’t find any. I even asked around to see if he belonged to anyone, but no one claimed him.” Anya recalled how scaredshe had been taking in such a tiny kitten. If the thing had died on her watch—especially after everything she’d been through and why she’d moved in the first place—Anya didn’t know if she would have recovered from it. But she didn’t know Jaime well enough to getthatdeep. So, Anya would give Jaime an abridged version. “I’d never had a pet before, and I’m pretty sure he’d never had a human before, so we learned together.”
“No pets growing up?”
Anya shook her head. “Military brat,” she explained vaguely. “It never made sense to have pets when you never knew when or where you’d be.” She took a bite of pizza, hoping Jaime wouldn’t ask her to expand on that.
It didn’t take Jaime years of detective skills to determine that Anya didn’t want to elaborate on her past any further once she had started stuffing her face. That was understandable, though. They barely knew each other. Wasn’t this the awkward stage of figuring out how much to say and when to say it?
Awkward stage?That rattled around uncomfortably in Jaime’s brain for a minute. What the hell did she think this was?Confusing as hell is what it is, Jaime answered silently. Still, she found herself wanting to learn more about this intriguing woman.
“Why Derek?”
“Sorry?”
“The cat. Why did you name him Derek?”
“Meow?”
“She wasn’t calling you, silly. Don’t come over here begging for more scraps because you aren’t getting any!” Anya leaned forward and lowered her voice. “He’s totally getting more, but don’t tell him that. He’ll be insufferable.” She offered Jaime another slice of pizza.
“No, thank you. Four is my limit,” Jaime said as she patted her tummy.
Anya closed the pizza box and set it aside. “I named him Derek after my favorite player on the Yankees.”
“You’re a Yankees fan?” For some reason, that information surprised Jaime. Anya was the exact opposite of everything Taylor was.
“Don’t tell me you’re a Dodgers fan.”
Jaime laughed and shook her head. “I don’t watch much baseball, actually.”
Surprising. Anya stood and motioned for Jaime to follow her to the living room, where they settled on the couch again. “I would have figured you for a sports fan,” she said, curling her legs up under her and pulling the blanket over her. This was one of her favorite routines. Once she was done feeding herself and Derek, she would sit on the couch, bundle up under a blanket—despite the weather outside—pull her phone out, doomscroll on various social media sites, and watch or listen to the TV. It was a good way of unwinding on her nights off when she couldn’t sleep due to her erratic sleep schedule.
Jaime slid a coaster closer to her and placed her half-drunk beer down before positioning herself in the corner of the couch. One arm was draped over the back, one leg lay across the cushion of the couch, while the other sat firmly on the floor.
