Page 63 of Hold the Pickle

And how am I going to get out?

I lie there a while longer, taking in the situation. It’s nice. The whole mixed-up family, all together in one bed.

I remember our conversation over apple pie, before the cats arrived. Both of us felt a spark. She wanted to know what it meant.

It’s grown. I can feel it. Can she feel it, too? It’s a glow, maybe even a flame.

And she’s right here in bed with me.

Of course, so are the cats.

She must have been too tired to blow up the mattress. I peer beyond her to the floor. No, it’s there, her blue ruffled comforter on top.

Huh. Now I’m really curious.

My side of the bed is against the wall, the window directly above. I can wriggle to the end of it, where there is a small amount of space before you get to the dresser.

But the moment I start moving downward, I realize I’m trapped beneath the sheet. The cats are lying on it, and so is Nadia.

I glance at the clock. An hour until my shift starts. Not much time to dally.

I reach behind me to find the edge of the sheet. I need to pull it off me, get my legs out, and then I can scoot down the bed.

But the minute I tug on it, Mama Cat stirs. And once she moves, the kittens squirm toward her. I can’t let them nurse long. We need to supplement until Mama is better.

I lift the first kitten to take her away to feed her and try to inch my way off the bed using my elbows.

But now more kittens are up, and the mewling begins.

Too late.

Nadia stirs. “Hey,” she says.

I pause in my reverse Army crawl off the bed. “Hey.”

“Sorry if I crowded you,” she says. “The kittens kept squirming off the bed and almost falling. I moved them all to thecrate after I fed them, but Cattarina brought them back up here. It was a losing battle.” She yawns into her hand.

“Yeah, I gave up, too. So you came up here to keep them from falling off?”

She nods. “I wasn’t getting any sleep on the air mattress, worried about them.”

“I’m glad you came up here.”

Her gaze meets mine. We lock for a second, the intimacy of the moment like a ribbon winding around us.

Yeah, something is definitely happening.

“Dalton?”

Is she going to admit it, too?

My throat is thick as I say, “Yeah?”

“Do you think we’ll have to keep sleeping like this?” She scrunches her nose like it’s not a good idea.

Disappointment washes over me. “Maybe we could roll up a blanket to keep them from wriggling off.”

But her frown deepens. Did I read this wrong? Does shewantto be in the bed with all of us?

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