Page 79 of S.O.S. Billboard

Billboard, too, thought it unusual. He hadn’t witnessed that level of mewing from Zoe when she’d been at his house.

The gray cat headed right up to them, little Cheeto at her heels, but instead of wrapping herself around his legs in greeting as she normally would, she sat down and cried some more.

“What is it, Zoe?” Billboard asked, squatting to pat the agitated cat.

She meowed again, then took off down the hall toward O’Shea’s room.

“I think she wants you to follow her,” Ethan said, scooping up Cheeto and giving him a hug.

Billboard scoffed. “Seriously? I think you’ve watched too many movies, kid.”

But Zoe wasn’t letting up. She went halfway down the hall, turned around, and with a new approach, head-butted Billboard’s shins before running back toward O’Shea’s room again.

Ethan raised his brows.

“Okay. Fine. I’ll see what she wants,” Billboard huffed.

He’d rather be out, driving the roads and looking for a turquoise Bronco, but this would only take a minute.

He strode down the hall, pushed into O’Shea’s bedroom, and…

The first thing he saw were her dirty clothes spilling out from a wicker hamper in the corner.

So, not laundry.

What the hell was O’Shea up to?

Zoe jumped up onto O’Shea’s desk, and sat, agitatedly, on her open laptop, blinking her large yellow eyes.

“You want me to look at something on O’Shea’s computer?” he asked the feline, then shook his head. “NowI’mgoing nuts, talking to a cat.”

But Zoe meowed, and pushed her nose against the blank screen.

“Okay. Okay. But don’t tell the guys that I was listening to you,” he huffed, walking toward the desk. Luckily, Ethan had stayed out in the living room, so he wasn’t witness to Billboard’s momentary insanity.

Billboard gently set Zoe aside, and wiggled the computer’s mouse.

It came to life, and the last page O’Shea looked at was displayed.

Billboard squinted.

“Town meeting tonight. At seven thirty.” It named a location. He glanced at his watch. It was closing in on eight. “And this is pertinent, why?” he mumbled.

Yeah.Why would O’Shea want to go to a gathering that had nothing to do with her; that should matter only to the town’s residents? It wasn’t as if—even if O’Shea decided to stay in Massachusetts—that she’d be living anywhere but with him, in Cambridge.

Billboard gave a convulsive swallow at where his thoughts had gone, and…fuck. No takesies-backsies. HewantedO’Shea to live with him. Hopefully, not just as a temporary thing, but as in…permanent. He’d come to love having her in his space, in his bed, and he was beginning to think that O’Shea being part of his world might have a chance at becoming a reality,ifhe didn’t continue to be so chicken-shit.

He shook offthatdilemma, because right now…

Town meeting?

He quickly scanned through the minutes that were listed, and only one thing gave off silent alarms.

The name, Jakes.

Billboard’s fingers flew on the keyboard as he opened up a new window and researched the guy.

Yup.Barnie Jakes was Anna’s ex and Ethan’s father.

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