Page 57 of Conspiracies and Chemistry

I hummed noncommittally. I’d known exactly what I was doing at the florist, yet I hadn’t been able to stop myself. She stared for a moment as that big brain of hers worked. Finally, she said, “Come on. I’ll introduce you to the girls.”

I rubbed at the ebbing ache in my chest. She was well enough to stand and walk. And she wasn’t sending me away.

We entered the house into a tiled entry. She led me to the left, and we passed a small table with a round tray that held pots of tall, blooming orchids.

The kitchen wasn’t as well laid out for cooking as mine, but it was spacious with a large island in the center. Savannah, whom I’d met a couple of times at Carly and Andrew’s, leaned a hip against it, her arms folded as she stared down an orange tabby who sat on the light-colored stone top, cleaning his ear with one white paw.

When she saw me, Savannah grinned. “Oliver! So nice of you to come check on Tessa.” She held out her arms.

“Hi, Savannah.” I walked into her embrace. She gave the best hugs, and she smelled like butter and vanilla. “Am I interrupting your visit?”

“No,” Tessa said. “Savannah lives here.”

“Temporarily,” Savannah said.

“As long as you need to. Forever if you like.”

Savannah’s nose twitched. She sniffed, then flicked her fingers at the cat. “Shoo, Hedy.”

Tessa scooped the cat off the counter and hugged it to her chest. “Are you two fighting again?”

“Cats don’t belong on counters.” Savannah tossed her short blond hair. “I don’t want to pick cat hair out of my dinner.”

“She lives here too.” Tessa kissed the cat’s striped forehead. “She’s curious. She’s not used to food being made here.”

“Oh.” Savannah’s smile faded. “I hate that I’m disrupting?—”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Tessa said. “She’ll get used to it. You’re not disrupting anything. And this house is plenty big for the five of us.”

Five? How many people lived here?

Like she could hear my brain exploding, Tessa turned to face me. “Oliver, meet Hedy Lamarr.”

The cat’s yellow eyes narrowed as I reached out a hand for her to sniff.

“Don’t worry,” Tessa said. “She’s suspicious of everyone.”

The cat wrinkled her nose, showing one sharp incisor, but, still bold from my adventure, I held my palm there, below her chin. When the cat didn’t bite me, I scratched her neck.

“Huh,” Tessa said.

The cat tipped up her chin so I could scratch the white spot on her throat. “Good girl,” I murmured.

Tessa shuddered, then set the cat on the floor. It twined around her legs, leaving a coating of white hairs on her black leggings.

“She loves you, Oliver,” Savannah crowed. “When I got here, it took her almost a whole day before she sat in my lap.” The cat trotted to her and rubbed her face against Savannah’s ankle. Despite their earlier argument, she bent and scratched Hedy from her shoulders to her tail. Then, her tail held high, the cat turned and stalked out of the room.

Savannah glanced at the clock on the stove. “It’s almost time for your medicine.”

“Thank god,” Tessa said. “Gimme.”

Savannah reached into a cabinet and pulled out a prescription bottle. She opened it, tapped out a tablet, and put it in Tessa’s palm. Tessa swallowed it dry.

“Why don’t you go lie down?” her friend asked. “You’re so pale.”

She was right. Tessa’s freckles seemed darker against her white face. A guilty chill washed through my stomach. “I’m sorry I made you get up. Why don’t we go to bed?” I choked.

“I mean, I’ll take you to bed.” Fuck, that still wasn’t right.

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