Page 34 of In a Pickle

“Kelsey!” James was horrified. “You let Liana clean up cat diarrhea?!”

“What?” Kelsey shrugged. “She was already mostly done cleaning it when I came into the room. I tried to help, but she said she had it handled.”

“Oh my god,” James cried. “I can’t believe you let my girlfriend clean up after our cat. You are the worst roommate ever. I —”

“Wait!” Kelsey held her hand up. “Did you just say girlfriend?”

James internally winced and berated himself for using the g-word before they’d had that discussion, but then his mind turned back to the matter at hand. “Thatis what you took from what I just said? Are you being serious right now?”

“It’s okay,” Liana jumped in. “I did tell Kelsey I would take care of the mess.”

James noticed Liana hadn’t commented on the girlfriend part. At least she hadn’t unequivocally denied it, which was something, he supposed.

“Kels, I won’t have Liana cleaning up after us. I won’t have her acting like my maid.”

“It was an emergency,” Liana soothed. “I didn’t want to sit here uselessly while you were dealing with the cat. But I really do appreciate the sentiment, about me not being your maid.”

He couldn’t stop the rush of love he felt. Love? No, it couldn’t be. It was too soon.

“I have to take the cat to the vet,” said Kels.

“I’ll go with you,” James said.

Kels shook her head quickly. James realized she was trying to get out of the apartment and away from James, probably because she knew she’d messed up by not helping Liana clean. “There’s no need for both of us to sit in that waiting room,” Kels said. “I’ll run now, before the vet’s office closes.” She ran to her room, returning a second later with her wallet, keys, and cat carrier. She took a still-sleeping Harry from James’ arms and settled him into the carrier, then ran to the door.

“I’m going to assume your kind offer to let me drive your car has not ended yet. We’ll be going in the Beemer. Toodles!” She shut the door, leaving James to stew.

“You’d better not get diarrhea in my car!” he yelled after the closed door.

Liana laughed. “I’ve got to hand it to her. You’re normally a pretty unflappable guy, but she really knows how to get under your skin.”

James forced himself to release the tension from his shoulders. “Yeah. I love her, but she makes me want to strangle her sometimes. I seriously can’t apologize enough for leaving you to clean up Harry’s mess.”

“It’s all good,” she said, and by God, he adored this woman. He drew her into his arms, but before he could pick up where they’d left off at the courts, his stomach growled loudly.

He glanced at his watch; it was almost seven. He knew Liana had to eat small meals every few hours and mentally chided himself for not thinking through a dinner plan in advance. They definitely needed to eat soon, and it seemed like Liana was prepared to let his “girlfriend” comment go. They could talk about that another time. Preferably soon.

“All that stress has made me hungry,” he said. “Should we order in? Sushi? I know a place around the corner that delivers fast.”

“Perfect.”

Chapter 21: James

A little less than an hour later, a freshly showered James sat close to Liana at the kitchen table, enjoying the last of their dinner. Finally, a text came through from Kels: Harry was fine, with no signs of infection or anything else serious. The veterinarian suspected he simply had a virus or had eaten something that didn’t agree with him.

James hadn’t realized how worried he had been about Harry until he got the news. He and Kels had adopted Harry together a few months ago after passing a county-sponsored adoption fair at the park one day. They’d talked vaguely about getting a pet, but they weren’t close to making concrete plans to do so until Kelsey had bounded excitedly up to the cats. She immediately gravitated toward Harry — who had some other inane name at the time; James couldn’t remember it — and had pleaded with big puppy-dog eyes to James to take the cat home.

James had fully intended on saying no; he wasn’t big on making big life changes spontaneously. But one look at the little gray rescue cat with fuzzy ears, and James found he couldn’t resist. He blamed his recent breakup, but his emotions were running higher than usual, and the thought of having someone in his life who wouldn’t reject him seemed immensely appealing.

James and Kelsey had signed up for the foster-to-adopt program, but after seeing how well Harry fit into their lives after just a couple of weeks, they signed the adoption paperwork.James hadn’t once regretted the decision. He loved Harry, and it felt like he’d always been a part of his life.

Luckily, Harry hadn’t been sick much in the past few months; he was in relatively good health when they got him, and the shelter had brought him up to date on his vaccinations. James hadn’t realized how stressful it would be to see Harry sick. Now that he knew Harry was fine, he could relax and fully enjoy the rest of the night with Liana.

Liana had been amazing throughout the entire ordeal. After she cleaned the living room — James felt a pang of self-loathing every time he thought of that — Liana had engaged James in a conversation about pickleball, helping to keep his mind off of his cat. She kept giving him little soothing touches during dinner, subtly letting him know she was there for him.

“Kels just texted to say that the cat is okay, and it’s probably just a virus,” he told Liana. “Want to watch a movie?” As badly as he still wanted Liana, he didn’t want to start something if Kels was about to burst in any second, probably wanting to tell them about the visit to the vet.

“Sure,” Liana said, “but, just in case, maybe we should still avoid the couch?”

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