Page 15 of Cat Sloan is Swirling

Cat chuckled. “I know you did. It wouldn’t be the same if you didn’t come in every day. What would I do?”

“Uh, sell books to your other customers.”

“But I wouldn’t get to talk about them with you.”

“Coming here is the best part of my day,” Elena said with a smile, “and it’s not just because of the books.”

Cat smiled and Elena followed her gaze as she kept looking at her hair. “What is it? Do you not like my hair?”

“No, no. I love it,” Cat said, meeting Elena’s eyes. “I didn’t mean to stare.”

“I came by this morning to see if you have to close tonight,” Elena said.

“I do not. It’s Jessica’s night.”

“When you get off, would you like to walk over to Cory’s happy hour bar with me? I’ve wanted to try it out.”

“Yeah, that would be fun,” Cat replied.

“Okay, I’ll be back around 5:00,” Elena said.

“You’re not going to have a cup of coffee now?” Cat asked.

“I know I’m not your only customer and you have things to do,” Elena said, putting one hand on her hip.

“I have all day to get things done. Besides, I wanted to talk to you for a minute.”

“All right. Let’s have that cup of coffee.” Elena followed Cat to the reading nook and began preparing her cup. “Aren’t you having any?”

“Maybe in a minute,” Cat said, sitting in one of the comfy chairs.

Elena sat down next to her and furrowed her brow. “Are you all right?”

Cat nodded and smiled. “I’m a little…” She hesitated, seeming to search for the right words.

Elena sipped her coffee and waited. She knew that Cat was thoughtful and sometimes paused before she spoke.

“The other day when we were in the back room, I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable talking about sex. I’m not usually like that,” Cat explained.

Elena smiled. “You didn’t make me uncomfortable.”

“I got to thinking about it and…” Cat rolled her eyes, shook her head, and sighed. “You must think I’m some kind of?—”

“Do you believe in fate?” Elena asked, interrupting Cat's obvious distress.

“I’m not sure. Maybe.”

“You said I was easy to talk to, right?”

Cat nodded. “You are.”

“So are you. I’ve never told a soul anything about my sex life with Dean. But there I was talking to you about it. I think we were put into each other’s lives so we have someone to talk to. Someone to say those things we can’t say to anyone else.”

A slow smile grew on Cat’s face.

“Honestly, it made me feel better to say it aloud to someone who’d been through it. Well, we may not have experienced the same thing, but you knew what I meant.” Elena paused and took a breath. “I hope you know that you can tell me anything, especially the things you don’t want to tell your sisters, but need to say. Don’t ever feel embarrassed around me, Cat. I’m your friend.”

Cat sighed then smiled. “Thank God. I’m your friend, too. I’m the person you can talk to about anything.”

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