Like Cats and Dogs Page 13

  She hopped off the table. “My bag is in the office. Come with me.”

  He followed her down a short hallway to an office. She pulled a purse from a drawer, produced a compact mirror and a couple of what looked like wet wipes. She tossed one at him. He saw it was an individually wrapped make-up wipe.

  “You’ve got my lipstick smudged on your face,” she said, gesturing around her own lips.

  He sighed and ran the wipe over his face as she fixed her lipstick. When she was done, she took the wipe from him, dabbed at a spot on his cheek, gave him a quick peck on the lips, and then ran her hands over his hair.

  “Do I look passable?” he asked.

  “You’ll do.” Lauren patted his shoulder. “All right. Let’s get back out there and pretend we still hate each other.”

  Caleb laughed. “Don’t we?”

  He couldn’t read her facial expression, but she managed to twist it into a smile. “Let’s go.”

  He trailed her back into the main room, where the party was still in full swing without them. The blond woman who worked as the event organizer glared at Caleb, which seemed about right. Evan bent his head to talk to Lauren out of Caleb’s earshot.

  He should probably just leave the party. Bow out before he gave anything away about what had just happened between him and Lauren in a closet. He did want to get to the bottom of whether or not Lauren was offended and dodging him or if she really didn’t care what he said. Maybe she actually liked it when he criticized her, which was kind of fucked up. Then again, he’d kind of started it with the whole fighting-with-you-turns-me-on thing.

  He could wait for Lauren and try to talk her upstairs or back to his place, but that felt an awful lot like something a boyfriend would do.

  He sought her out in the crowd. Now she was talking to someone Caleb didn’t know, laughing as if she’d just heard the funniest joke, and he knew she would be just fine here.

  He turned to leave. On the way out, he paused near the woman handling adoption paperwork, who he thought might be named Yvette or Monique or something French. He said, “I’m Caleb Fitch. I’m one of the vets from next door.”

  The woman smiled. “I know.” She pointed her pen at his T-shirt.

  “Right. I just wanted…to let Lauren know I had to leave, but I think this is a great event. I hope it ends up being as successful as it looks.”

  “We’ve found forever homes for four cats so far.”

  “That’s great! Just, um, tell Lauren I had to go. I’ll see her soon. Okay?”

  The woman gave him an odd look, but she said, “Okay. Have a good night. Dr. Fitch.”

  Chapter 14

  “I’m happy to report,” Paige said the next afternoon, “since it may have gotten lost in the alcoholic haze at the end of the party, that six cats were adopted. Trey from Pet Kind is bringing over five new cats this afternoon.”

  The Cat Café staff was sitting in the cat room for a staff meeting-slash-postmortem on the event. They’d raised nearly $1,000 for shelters as well. Brian Randolph had made quite a significant contribution, which Lauren found curious.

  Lauren nodded. “We did a great job, team. That was our best adoption event yet.”

  “It was the alcohol,” said Monique.

  “That’s cynical,” said Paige. “I mean, free drinks obviously got some people in the door, but it didn’t open their wallets or convince them to take a furry friend home.”

  “Do we know anything about the new cats?” Lauren asked.

  “Trey emailed me some stuff,” said Paige. “If I remember correctly, three are girls, two are boys. All are adults, but I don’t think any of them are older than four.”

  “Sounds good. All rescues?” asked Lauren.

  “Yeah. Trey always picks good cats for us.”

  Lauren tried to picture this Trey. Paige was much better at maintaining relationships with Brooklyn shelters and rescue organizations. Trey was a familiar name, but Lauren couldn’t remember what he looked like. Tall, skinny, bearded maybe. Probably. That described half the men in Brooklyn.

  “Does anyone else get sad when the cats leave?” asked Victor. “I miss Callie. It won’t be the same around here.”

  “I do miss the cats,” said Lauren. “But they’ve all gone to good forever homes. That’s the goal here. We can be sad that six cats have left, but also happy they will be well cared for.”

  “Anyway,” Paige said. “Huge success. People are already asking about the next one. I’ve got it penciled in for August. Maybe we can do some kind of summer theme.”

  “Great. If that’s all, I’m calling the staff meeting. Get back to work, everyone.” Lauren stood. She was pleased with the adoption event results, but she was feeling a little off her game.

  She should really stop telling herself that Caleb wasn’t the issue. Because he was on her mind and had been all day. Because they had once again argued, this time with plenty of witnesses, and then they’d had mind-blowing sex in a closet. Lauren wasn’t even mad about the fight—she suspected he’d picked it precisely so they would have sex somewhere nearby. That didn’t bother her. What bothered her was that Caleb could make her feel that amazing and then just…bail. Because not ten minutes after they’d reemerged from the back, he was gone. All he’d left was an incoherent message from Monique that became “he said to say hi” in the game of telephone her staff played.

  Why would he just leave?

  Well, probably because they weren’t actually dating and he didn’t actually owe her anything.

  “Boss? Hello? Earth to Lauren.”

  Lauren looked up. Paige was looking at her expectantly.

  “Sorry, I spaced out. Guess I didn’t sleep enough last night.”

  “Oh, really? Did someone at the party catch your interest?”

  “Not because of sexy reasons. Did you ask me a question?”

  “Yeah, I just… Well, I was talking to Lindsay last night, and she brought up again that if we have that kitchen on premises that is just a big empty space right now, we really should use it. I was wondering if we could revisit the plan to hire a pastry chef.”

  “Yes, I want to. Let me put some numbers together and have a talk with Diane. Who…wow. How is it that lately, I just have to say a person’s name aloud, and they appear?”

  “Unknown superpower?”

  Diane breezed over. “Hello, my girls. I heard the adoption event last night was a smashing success. Sorry I didn’t get to talk to you much. I fell into conversation with a fellow who wants to run for city council. I figured I’d offer him some encouraging words.”

  Lauren laughed. “Well, we found six cats new homes.”

  “That’s great news. The party was a delight. You girls do good work. And Victor does, too.” Diane fluttered into a chair. She had on a purple chiffon caftan over a white shirt and pants, her short hair perfectly coiffed. The fuchsia lipstick was a bold choice. “I had a wild idea. Tell me what you think.”

  Paige glance at Lauren, looking mildly alarmed. Every so often, Diane came to them with a crazy idea that often ran contrary to how Lauren would prefer to run the café. Since Diane owned the café, they had to either try to implement her odd ideas or tell her why they weren’t possible.

  Diane launched into her spiel. “I went to a fundraiser for a young lawmaker in Manhattan last week, where I met a woman who runs a writing program for kids, which got me to thinking about writers. Writers and cats specifically. I wonder if there are writers’ groups in the area who would like to use our space, maybe after regular hours, for meetings or to write together or that kind of thing.”

  “We can look into that,” said Lauren. It wasn’t a terrible idea. One of Diane’s previous wild hairs had been to make the café a space for students to study during certain hours, but the kids had been so loud it had bothered some of the cats. But older writers might be fine
. The only trick would be to talk staff into staying after hours. Or hiring new people. “We should schedule a meeting to talk personnel soon.”

  “Are you having an issue with someone?”

  “No, I need more someones, now that the morning rush has gotten so nutty.”

  Diane smiled. “Sure, we can discuss that. I have an appointment in a few, but I’ll let you know when I have time. How are things otherwise? How is Dr. Fitch?”

  “Lauren and Dr. Fitch still hate each other,” said Paige.

  “Aw, come on,” said Lauren. “Way to blow my cover.”

  “They had a huge fight in the middle of the party last night. Did you not see them argue? He was kind of a jerk. I think he stepped over the line.”

  Diane smiled. “I did catch part of that. He apologized, didn’t he?”

  Given that his apology had involved sex in the closet, Lauren pressed her lips together so as not to give anything away. She felt her face heating anyway. “He did,” she said, hoping she sounded noncommittal.

  “He’s really sweet with animals,” said Diane. “I guess that’s his type. Good with animals, terrible with humans.”

  “It’s not that, exactly,” said Lauren.

  Diane and Page both turned to look right at her.

  Lauren sighed. “He just rubs me the wrong way, is all.” Or he rubbed her in all the right ways, which was becoming more of an issue as time went on. Surely this enemies-with-benefits situation had an expiration date. In no way was it sustainable. And the minute Caleb met some woman he did actually like and want to spend time with, this whole thing was over.

  “You may yet make it work,” said Diane.

  “You and Evan are both crazy,” said Lauren.

  Diane smiled. “Love and hate are just different sides of the same coin. And it’s not hard at all to flip a coin over.”

  Lauren sighed. “Trust me, there’s no future for me and Caleb.”

  “They’re on a first-name basis,” Paige whisper-shouted to Diane.

  “I noticed.” But perhaps Diane recognized further pushing was futile, because her next question was, “And how are things with you, Paige?”

  Paige laughed. “Well, if it’s true a girl has to kiss a lot of frogs before finding her prince, I’m in luck, because all the dating apps are sending my way are frogs lately.” She held up her phone. “Maybe I’m too old for dating apps. I mean, fond as I am of these hipster boys who know a lot about craft beer and kinds of avocados but can’t balance a checkbook.”

  “There’s more than one kind of avocado?” asked Diane.

  Paige looked forlornly at her phone. “Aside from the internet, how do people even meet anymore?”

  “Well, in my day, people met in person and looked at their phones much less. Were there no eligible bachelors at the adoption party last night?”

  Paige frowned. “Not really, no.”

  “What about that Mitch fellow who runs the rescue organization?”

  “He’s nice, but not at all my type. Also, like, fifteen years older than I am.”

  “So dating is going well,” Lauren said.

  Paige laughed. “I’m not trying to be picky, I just haven’t met anyone worthy of a second date in a while. But my prince is out there somewhere.”

  “It’s good that you haven’t given up hope, dear.” Diane patted her knee.

  The unlike Lauren was implied.

  ***

  Olivia walked in with a cup of coffee and a grimace. Caleb sat at the front desk, updating charts while Rachel was at lunch, and he found Olivia’s expression alarming.

  “What’s going on?” he asked.

  “I saw Diane at the Cat Café.”

  “Diane…?”

  “She owns the building. So she’s our landlord, but she basically lets us operate without interference.”

  “Okay.”

  “She’s a nice woman, but she’s a bit of a busybody. She’s currently dishing with Lauren and Paige like she’s their mom. Well, more like a kooky aunt than a mom, I guess. She’ll probably come here next to tell you you’re too thin and she’s got just the woman to set you up with.”

  “That does sound like my mother.” Although, his mother hadn’t been pushing him to see other women yet. She understood he was still smarting from the divorce. She had, however, never been Kara’s biggest fan and didn’t seem particularly brokenhearted when the marriage had ended.

  “So brace yourself. Diane tries to mother everyone who works and lives in the building. It’s just her way.”

  “Seems unusual. I haven’t lived in New York that long, but it seems like more of a ‘keep your head down and get where you’re going’ kind of place. I don’t think I could even come up with the first name of the guy in the apartment next to mine if I tried really hard.”

  “And that is how it should be. I say hello to my neighbor when we pass in the hall, but otherwise, if I’m home, I just want people to be quiet and leave me alone. And at work, I only want to talk to people who work here and the patients.” Olivia sighed. “What’s up next today?”

  “You have a Pekingese with the sniffles coming in at two. Then I have a follow-up appointment with that dachshund from last week with the lump we removed. Let’s hope the blood tests continue to look good.”

  “Yeah, I hope so. The tumor was benign, right?”

  “It was, yes. I think the blood tests should be fine, but I want to do a full panel.”

  Olivia nodded. “Seems smart. Better to rule out something more sinister.” They’d discussed before that cancer in pets was particularly heinous. They had the capabilities to administer chemotherapy to small animals at the clinic, but it was such a tough call choosing whether to treat cancer aggressively in a way that might make the animal sick or to let the animal live out the rest of its life as comfortably as possible. And that was without accounting for costs. Those decisions often devastated the pet owners and were upsetting to watch as the doctor.

  An older woman with white hair breezed in then. Caleb remembered her vaguely; they’d met right after he’d started working here. “Hello, doctors. How are things today?”

  “Good,” said Olivia. “How are you, Diane?”

  “I’m fine, dear. Please don’t tell me you need to hire more help, though. Lauren wants to hire more people. Possibly also a pastry chef.”

  “A pastry chef?” asked Caleb. “To make pastries for cats?”

  Diane let out a belly laugh, as if that were the funniest thing she’d ever heard. “Maybe!” She gave Caleb a light punch on the shoulder. “Rumor has it you and Lauren haven’t been getting along.”

  Good to know that was common knowledge. “It’s not that we don’t get along…”

  “It’s that they don’t agree on anything,” said Olivia.

  Caleb tried to remember when Olivia had even been around for one of his arguments with Lauren, and he remembered suddenly that she’d been around a few days ago when they’d had quite a loud fight about proper kitten care in the back room, and then had quickly made up by making out on top of a stack of bags of cat food. Hopefully Olivia had only heard the first part.

  “Did you see them sparring last night?” Olivia said, reminding him she’d been at the adoption party, too. “I couldn’t tell if they wanted to tear each other up or tear each other’s clothes off.”

  “Hey, now,” said Caleb, embarrassed his boss had witnessed him arguing with Lauren more than once. “I try to get along with her. She just gets under my skin.”

  “Uh-huh,” said Diane.

  “She’s too much sunshine for Caleb the Grouch,” said Olivia.

  “Am I really that grouchy?”

  Olivia gave him a “please” look.

  And maybe he had been a little. He supposed this tendency to keep everything at arm’s length had infiltrated every part of his
life, spreading like a disease. At first, he was just trying to keep his heart safe from emotional entanglements, and he wanted to keep professional distance from his clients so when a dachshund with a tumor showed up, it didn’t break his heart. But maybe he’d been rude to everyone.

  When had he become this person? He didn’t like this person much.

  He sighed. “Well, anyway, I did apologize to Lauren after we argued last night and she…took it well. I don’t see us becoming friends or anything, but I will try not to argue with her in public anymore.”

  Diane laughed. “That’s delightful. I mean, don’t stop having public arguments on my account. It’s fun to have some gossip to speculate about. I’m an old retired lady, I need some fun sometimes.”

  Caleb wasn’t thrilled she was having fun at his expense, but if he remembered correctly, she was a widow who lived alone, and her only real job seemed to be running this building. So, fine. He could be the butt of the joke for a little bit.

  Although, as Diane and Olivia talked about the kittens and when they would be adopted, Caleb sat at the desk and thought about whether any of what was happening with Lauren was sustainable. How long until someone caught them or discovered what they were really up to? How long until Lauren got sick of him? How long until she met a guy she actually got along with?

  He didn’t want whatever was between them to end, but he recognized it had a short shelf life.

  “Maybe I should take those kittens off your hands.”

  Olivia plastered a smile on her face and said, “Five kittens is a lot of work. And we’ve already got some interest from the adoption event.”

  Diane nodded. “Oh, well. It just seems a shame to break up siblings. But consider this me expressing interest in at least one of the kittens. I’m all set up for cats upstairs. Thompson would like a younger sibling.”

  “Of course,” said Olivia. “I’ll make sure we set at least one aside for you.”

  “Lovely. A couple more weeks, you said?”

  “Yeah, we like to make sure they are big enough to eat on their own before we let anyone adopt them. We’re still bottle-feeding them some, but they should be weaned pretty soon. They’re eating some regular cat food, too. They’re a pretty scrappy bunch.”