Page 32 of Burn With Me

He puts his hands on my shoulders and turns me to face my door. “Sweetness, that means you have to walk back into your house.” He chuckles.

“Oh yeah, right,” I say. Taking a step, I look back over my shoulder. “Bye, Luke.”

“See you soon, Amelia,” he says before walking back to his truck.

He sits there with his truck running, and I realize he’s waiting for me to shut and lock the door. After closing the door and throwing the lock in place, I walk to my couch and fall face-first onto it.

Turning my head to look at Penny, I reach out and pet her as she licks my face. “Holy shit balls, my girl. I’m fucked.”

I get up and go through my nighttime routine, let Penny out one more time, and give the little kitten a quick bath. She gives me a death glare as I dry her off, and I burst into laughter at the look on her face.

I set her down, and her legs shake as she walks. I notice the reddish hair mixed with the blond, and I call her the first name that comes to mind.

“I think I’m going to call you Ginny.”

Why is that the first name that came to my head? Maybe because I just finished rewatching Harry Potter, but it feels right.

With a clean, semi-dry kitten and a dog who won’t leave the bathroom door, I walk to my room and crawl into bed. I check my email one last time, as well as my calendar, to make sure I haven’t missed anything. Thankfully I didn’t set any meetings for the morning. The last thing I remember before falling asleep is getting a text from Luke that he made it home, and that makes me smile.

Thirteen

Amelia

What the fuck is that noise?

Peeling my eyes open, I groan when I realize it’s my phone. Sliding my hand over my nightstand, I wrap my fingers around it and lock it to shut it off. Without fail, it starts back up again, and I realize it’s a call.

Dammit.

Only one person would call me this early in the morning. Without opening my eyes, I grab my phone and answer.

“Why are you calling me so early?” I say.

“Because you didn’t call or text me last night!” Pam yells. “Your location shows you’re at home. So are you not alone? Is that why you didn’t call? Did he dust those cobwebs out of your vajeen?”

Cracking my eyes open, I see Penny staring at me by the door. I throw the covers off and get up to let her out.

“No, I’m alone, but I’m sorry I didn’t text you. The evening was . . . interesting,” I say as I walk toward the spare bathroom to check on Ginny, who’s making it known she’s not happy there alone.

“Is he a walking red flag? Could he not get it up? If so, that’s a him problem and not a you problem. I saw what you were wearing last night. You looked like a bombshell. Wait. What’s that noise? Why do I hear a cat meowing?”

I laugh as she rapidly fires questions at me.

“No, not a walking red flag, the opposite, in fact, and that alone makes me nervous. And yes, you heard a cat. We found a stray hanging out by his truck as we were leaving. You know I couldn’t leave her there, so we went to the pet store and brought her back here. She’s in the bathroom until I take her to the vet, which I’m hoping will be today because I don’t think I can keep Penny from her much longer,” I say as I scoop the litter, refill her water, and sit on the ground to give her some scratches.

There’s a long pause on the other end, so long that I pull my phone away to make sure we’re still connected.

“So let me get this straight.” She pauses. “Without being overly pushy, he tries for weeks to get you to go out with him. You finally say yes. He plans a date that’s low pressure,andyou find a kitten, and you just decide you’re going to take it home, and he just went along with it? Why does it not surprise me that your first date in the five years since you left dick nugget went that way?”

I laugh. “Yeah, that’s about right.”

“Send me pictures of her right now!” she squeals because while she doesn’t have pets of her own yet, she loves animals just as much as I do.

I snap a couple of pictures and send them as I go back to let Penny in and feed her.

“Penny is already in love, not that I was worried about it. She loves everyone and everything.”

“Oh my god, look at how precious she is! And I’m not shocked about Penny. I always think it’s funny that you got the most social dog when you’re such an introvert.” She laughs.

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