Like Cats and Dogs, Kate McMurray [miss read books .TXT] 📗

And that was the kicker, wasn’t it? She’d sent him away, but she still wanted him.

She was sitting at a café table and staring into space when Sunday hopped up on the table and lifted a paw to get Lauren’s attention.

“Hi, little girl,” Lauren said, giving Sunday a few pets on the head. “Did you know I was sad? Did you come to cheer me up?”

Sunday rubbed her head against Lauren’s chin, so Lauren took that as a yes. Cats were intuitive, in her experience. When she was home and not feeling well, either physically or emotionally, Molly would come out of hiding to sit with her, or snooze on top of her as she lay on her couch. And now that Sunday was giving Lauren attention, Sadie must have felt left out, and she showed up to rub against Lauren’s legs.

“Thanks, ladies. I appreciate all the love.”

Lauren laughed as Caesar walked over, his whiskers twitching as he sniffed and tried to suss out the situation.

“You cats are not doing a very good job of keeping up your reputation for being snooty and rude.”

Paige walked over. “Did you bathe in tuna today?”

Lauren laughed. “You would think. Not sure what merited all this attention.”

Paige sat and reached over to pet Sunday. “Monique wanted me to pass on that we broke some kind of record this morning. A hundred and fifty more dollars than yesterday, plus we sold out of nearly every pastry.”

“Excellent. Not sure what we’re going to feed people this afternoon, but that’s very good news.” And it was. Lauren was buoyed somewhat by the business she ran doing well.

“I can run over to Little Red Bird and buy them out of some of their cookies or something.”

“Good plan.”

“You doing okay, boss? You’ve seemed a little down today.”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Okay. I’ll go see what Little Red Bird has.”

“Take some cash from the till. Maybe sixty bucks. Leave a note explaining how much you took and why so I remember when I’m counting it later.”

“No problem.”

When Paige was gone, Lauren sat with the cats. Sunday was purring hard as she rubbed against Lauren. Her thoughts, of course, drifted back toward Caleb.

She really liked him. Maybe issuing the ultimatum had been a mistake. They could have worked something out. Or if she’d given him the time he wanted, he might have come around. Because she felt happy when they were together, and there was always a little bit of magic in the air, and she wanted to spend more time with him, and…

Oh, shit, she was in love with him.

Well, okay, maybe it wasn’t love exactly, but she’d definitely developed stronger feelings than she’d been willing to acknowledge. She liked him. She really liked him.

She sighed. This was exactly what she had not wanted to happen. She was supposed to be focusing on herself, first of all, but the fact that she’d fallen in love or something like it with a grouchy veterinarian who wasn’t interested in a relationship seemed like exactly the wrong thing to do. And yet, she’d done it anyway, and then she’d told him to leave.

Because it was very likely he never would have come around. Because of some stupid ideas he had about commitment, he never would have wanted to be with her in any way except behind closed doors. And that was a good reason to break up with him, if “break up” was even the right term for ending something that hadn’t ever really started. They didn’t want the same things out of life, out of their relationship. They liked each other a lot, but Caleb didn’t care about her, not the way she cared about him. Otherwise, he would have fought for her. Right?

Or he didn’t think he was worthy of love, maybe. That moment a few nights ago when he’d mumbled he was fucked up, maybe that meant he’d taken the wrong lesson from his divorce. His ex-wife had hurt him. Maybe part of him thought he’d deserve that. But why?

Well, it wasn’t Lauren’s job to get to the bottom of that—a mental health professional would have been more qualified—but she also didn’t want to keep having the same fight. If he didn’t want to be with her, then fine. They wouldn’t be together.

Ugh, what a mess. Lauren leaned back in the chair a little and pet the cats that surrounded her, trying to take solace in the fact that many other things in her life were going very well.

But it was a truism of city life that the three most important things were career, housing, and love, and at any given time, one of those things would not work. Lauren couldn’t remember who had told her that—Evan, probably—but it had long been true for her. During the Derek years, she’d had a good apartment and a good boyfriend but a crappy job. And now, she had a job she loved and was good at and a great apartment she paid so little for it was practically a crime, but her love life was a mess. So this was all in order.

She grunted. Well, if things with Caleb wouldn’t work out, she could at least devote herself to the cats. She gently moved Sunday away and then stood up. “Which of you cats wants a treat?” As if they all understood English, they followed her like she was the pied piper toward the storage bin where the treats were kept.

Chapter 24

That Friday, Lauren, Evan, Paige, and Lindsay convened for end-of-the-week drinks at Pop.

“So,” said Lindsay, “a friend of mine is starting a website for Brooklyn pet owners and is trying to get me to work for her full time. Since you guys are the cat people, I figured I’d get your opinions.”

“Because web start-ups are always cash cows,” said Evan, “you’re of course going to turn her down.”

“I mean…yeah. I think so. But it might also be interesting. I