Cat Trick

Beside me, Roma stretched out one arm and then the other. “Your push hands are getting better,” she said. “We should practice sometime.”

I nodded. “Please. I could use some extra practice.”

She frowned. “Maybe this weekend. I’ll look at my schedule and let you know tomorrow night.” We started for the door. “Could I bring anything?”

“Just yourself,” I said.

“I have some samples of a new all-natural cat food,” Roma said, running a hand back through her dark brown hair. “I thought I’d bring them along for Hercules and Owen to try.”

“I’m sure they’d love to be your taste testers.”

“I’m not trying to bribe them into liking me.” She raised her eyebrows. “Well, maybe a little.”

Since Roma wasn’t one of the cats’ favorite people, a visit to her vet clinic always involved treats, subterfuge on my part, a fair amount of yowling and a Kevlar glove. But when Roma had been dealing with the death of her birth father, it almost seemed as though Owen and Hercules had tried to be nice to her.

“Don’t underestimate the power of a good bribe,” I said with a laugh. “Owen’s affections can be swayed—at least temporarily—although with Maggie in the room, he might just eat and ignore you.”

“In other words, it’ll be just like my dating life before Eddie,” she said, with a glint in her brown eyes.

“How is Eddie?” I asked as I stepped out of my tai chi shoes.

The sound of his name made her face light up. “Wonderful,” she said. “I’m going to see him next weekend.” She searched my face. “How’s Marcus?”

I put my shoes in my tote bag. “Annoying. Cute . . . Did I say annoying?”

Roma laughed.

“He made me dinner. He gave me a box of Batman comic books. Then he turns into Robocop.”

Roma bent down to tie her red canvas sneakers. “Have you kissed him?” she asked.

I hesitated just a second too long. She snapped upright like the top half of her body was attached to a spring. “You did!” she said, a grin spreading across her face.

I felt my own cheeks burning. “No comment,” I said.

She glanced at her watch. “You’re off the hook for now because I have somewhere I have to be, but I will be expecting details tomorrow night.” She grabbed her bag and headed down the stairs. “Lots of details,” she said over her shoulder.

Halfway down, she stopped and turned to look at me. “That means you have twenty-four hours to do any additional research you might need. There will be questions about technique and style.”

I leaned over the railing. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” I hissed.

“Let me see . . .” She scrunched up her face in a mock frown. “Yes, I think I am.” She was down the last few steps and out the door before I could say anything else.

I pulled the elastic off my ponytail and combed my fingers through my hair while I made a mental change to the menu for supper Friday night. Brownies. I was definitely going to need brownies.

The only person who was going to get more delight than Roma out of Marcus and me sharing a kiss was Maggie. She would be bouncing with happiness over this “proof” that Marcus and I were oh so right for each other, and I was going to require more than one brownie to get through all the insistence on details.

14

Marcus was waiting at Wisteria Hill when I pulled up in the morning, leaning against his SUV. Roma’s comment about doing more research into his kissing technique flashed through my mind.

Stop that, I told myself sternly.

The water jugs were on the hood of his car. He grabbed them and walked over to meet me. “Good morning.”

I smiled. “Good morning.”

We started for the carriage house. Marcus looked around. “Roma isn’t going to need all of us once she moves out here, you know,” he said. “We’ll have to stop meeting like this.” He smiled at me.

“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done before she can move in,” I said, inclining my head in the direction of the old farmhouse. “I think it’s going to be a while.” I didn’t add that I’d miss feeding the cats with Marcus. Our friendship had developed in the old carriage house, watching Lucy and the others.

We put out the cats’ food and water and then retreated, as usual, back by the side door to wait for them to come out to eat. I stood close to the wall. Marcus leaned his arm against the weathered gray boards over my head. He was so close, I could smell his aftershave and what I guessed was cinnamon-flavored gum.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get over to the library yesterday afternoon,” he whispered.