“Look what I’ve got,” Andrew said, waving a plastic bag in front of Kat as he stepped into her apartment the next evening.
Spying the words ‘Taste of Tuscany’ printed on the bag, Kat’s salivary glands kicked into gear. “Tell me there’s an order of eggplant parmigiana in there with my name on it.”
“There sure is. And I snagged you a slice of their cheesecake, too.”
Kat closed the door. “What’s the occasion?”
“It’s not every day my girlfriend has an article written about her in the paper.” He grabbed Kat in a hug and planted a kiss on her forehead.
Tom, who had followed Kat to the door, set his front paws on Andrew’s leg and meowed.
“Hey, look, it’s one of my two favorite felines.” Andrew handed the bag to Kat and crouched down to rub the cat.
Tom didn’t waste any time rolling over onto his back. Andrew scratched his stomach, and Tom’s eyes slipped shut, a rumbling purr emanating from his chest.
“While you’re doing that, I’ll start in on this food,” Kat said, heading for the dining table.
Andrew jumped to his feet. “Oh, no, you don’t.”
Tom flipped over, his tail swishing back and forth. Kat had to laugh when she caught the longing look on his face as he watched his favorite belly scratcher retreat.
She set down the bag. Summoned by the sound of crinkling plastic, Matty appeared from out of nowhere and hopped onto the table to see what was going on.
“That’s human food,” Kat told her, rubbing the tortoiseshell’s head.
“Yeah, and if Kat had her way she’d eat it all by herself,” Andrew said.
Kat stuck her tongue out at him before fetching two forks from the kitchen.
Andrew sat down and began unpacking the bag. Not one to be left out, Tom jumped up to join them. Both he and Matty inspected each package as Andrew placed it on the table.
“So, tell me how this article turned out,” Andrew said.
Kat took the chair across from him. “You didn’t read it this morning?”
He shook his head. “Thanks to you, I’ve spent the past twenty-four hours working on a murder case.”
“Yeah, sorry about that. But at least you got to close the case as soon as you opened it, right?”
He smirked. “That was one positive.”
Kat opened her to-go container. The smell of hot mozzarella drew both cats toward her, noses twitching.
“Sorry, guys,” she said, nudging them aside. “This isn’t for you.”
Matty’s reply was to sit down and stare at Kat, her tail twitching in displeasure. Tom decided a more direct approach was warranted. He sauntered over to Andrew and reached into his container with one paw. Andrew laughed before pinching off a piece of chicken and holding it up for the feline.
“You’re only going to encourage him,” Kat cautioned.
“Eh, life’s too short to worry about the small stuff.”
Kat thought about Aaron Moskowitz. She couldn’t deny that he would probably still be alive if he had let more of the small stuff go. And although it was unfair to blame him for his fate, she did have to question whether he had been truly happy in the end. She doubted it. She had a feeling all those hateful restaurant reviews reflected an internal misery he was all too willing to spread around.
Andrew stabbed a piece of his chicken with his fork. “I’m still waiting to hear more about this article. Did you get to put in a good word for 4F?”
“Kind of. It ended up being more of an inside look into animal-rescue-slash-crime-fighting.”
“Sounds intriguing.”
“Why don’t I read it to you?” Kat suggested.
“All right.”
With a growl of protest from her stomach, Kat closed her to-go container. Matty gave her the stink eye before relocating to Andrew’s side of the table, where she was promptly rewarded with a morsel of steaming chicken.
Kat tipped her chair back and grabbed today’s edition of the Cherry Hills Courant off the kitchen counter. She began reading.
“‘Between chasing down stray cats and hunting down killers, nobody can argue that Katherine Harper stays busy as treasurer of local nonprofit Furry Friends Foster Families. This weekend was no exception. The Cherry Hills resident found herself in quite the adventure when the Courant’s own Aaron Moskowitz was murdered at popular local restaurant Jessie’s Diner. But with the help of a courageous orange tabby cat, Kat narrowly avoided becoming a victim herself.’”
Kat kept reading. The article went on to detail the clues that had led them to Aaron’s killer and how she and Tiffany had found themselves at Bill’s mercy until the orange tabby had come to their rescue.
Luckily, the cat had escaped the encounter with only a fractured leg. After it healed and he finished off the antibiotics the vet had prescribed to help him fight the respiratory infection he’d caught sometime during his time outside, he was expected to be good as new.
When Kat finished reading, Andrew leaned back in his seat. “Impressive. When do I get to meet this crime-fighting feline?”
Kat put the newspaper down. “That’s up to Hero’s foster mother.”
“Hero?”
“That’s what Tiffany named him—right after she volunteered to foster him. And if nobody responds to the Courant’s plea for Hero’s owner to come forward, she plans to adopt him permanently.”
Andrew’s eyes sparkled. “Why do I think you had a hand in convincing her to take pity on this cat?”
“I just pointed out that every good crime reporter needs a sidekick.” Kat shrugged. “Besides, I could tell from the way Hero took to her during his vet visit that it was a match made in heaven.”
“Kind of like you with these two,” Andrew said, using his fork to point between Matty and Tom.
Kat grinned. “Right now they seem more smitten with you than me.”
“It’s the chicken.”
Their eyes connected, and Kat’s stomach executed a little flutter that she was pretty sure had nothing to do with the food spread out before them.
Andrew pushed his meal aside and reached across the table for her hand. “You know, cats aren’t the only ones who sometimes find their soul mate.”
The huskiness in his voice caused Kat’s heart rate to accelerate. Was this going to be it? Was this when Andrew would finally say he loved her?
“Oh, man,” he said.
Kat was so lost in her own head that it took her a second to realize Andrew had pulled back to his side of the table. Evidently Matty and Tom had decided to take advantage of his distraction by attacking his chicken. Both cats had their heads inside the to-go container, their little mouths working to furiously devour what they could before either of the humans noticed.
A laugh bubbled up Kat’s throat. “I guess we were both wrong about Matty and Tom’s soul mate. Right now, it looks like that chicken is leading.”
Andrew flashed her a smile, the dimples she loved so much appearing on his cheeks. “You’ll just have to share your eggplant with me.”
Kat pulled her food closer. “No way. I warned you not to encourage them.”
“I’ve learned my lesson.” Andrew tried to nudge the cats away, to no avail. “Next time you tell me something, I’m going to listen.”
Kat dragged her upper lip between her teeth, the words ‘I love you’ on the tip of her tongue. But Andrew wasn’t paying her any attention. He was busy attempting to wrestle what was left of his meal away from the cats.
She sighed. She supposed there was really no rush to confess her love. After all, she knew in her heart how she felt, and saying the words aloud wouldn’t change that.
Besides, thanks to Hero, there was always tomorrow.