Page 60 of A Love Like Pumpkin Spice
“Wherever I go, she follows. When I leave or close the door on her, she voices her displeasure. Loudly. Preferably right into my earin the middle of the night when she has somehow managed to pry the door to my bedroom open. I’m sure a certain cheeky ghost cat is more than happy to assist her with that. I’m only thankful I wasn’t blessed with two cats that have the pipes of Adele. Little Cinnamon’s voice here is more of a Billie Eilish, her meow's are a lot softer, but higher-pitched.”
The three of them have turned into a mischievous trio that keeps me on my toes. “The other day, I’m 90 percent sure Chaos opened the door to the cat food container for them. I found them munching away on it in the kitchen.”
“She wants to be close because she loves you!” Lauren leans over to give Cinnamon a kiss on her head. “Such a cute little admirer. Not quite as cute as the human one, though.”
“Right,” I say, sensing my face turn red.
“Oh, there’s a story there.” Lauren immediately gets into Sherlock Holmes mode. Her stare burns into my skin while I do my best to keep my eyes forward with the best poker face I can muster. “Oh my God, you did it!”
“What?” I try to sound surprised, but internally, I’m panicking. Oh my God, what gave it away? Do I have “freshly fucked” written on my forehead? Because I feel like I do.
“Don’t try to lie—you’ve got a hickey on your neck.” Instinctively, I lift my hand to hide it, but Lauren bursts into laughter. “Relax. You don’t. I just wanted confirmation.”
“You’re … evil. And a genius.” I narrow my eyes at her.
“You may call me Einstein.”
“I’ll call you ‘Dr. Drakken,’ though your skin is a healthier color,” I say with an eye roll and nudge her with my elbow. “Let’s go to the town square park. Maybe Cinnamon will walk on her leash in the grass there.”
The town has become extinct, even though it’s a few minutes after noon. There are no humans on the streets, no cars driving by. Hell, I can’t even see anyone through any shop windows.
“Where is everyone?” I ask and glance around curiously. The antique shop and flower store have their big closed signs out, indicating their lunch break, but this is giving me zombie apocalypse vibes. I’m not surprised though; Amanda appreciates her lunch time. According to her, card readings on an empty stomach lead to erroneous results.
“Probably still at Caleb’s,” Lauren says overly nonchalantly, and I suddenly stop, narrowing my eyes at her.
“You’ve got a crush on the town grump!” I don’t know why I haven’t voiced it yet, but the way she said it, with a tinge of sadness and apprehension, tells me there’s something going on.
“I do, captain obvious.” She giggles and averts her eyes, an unreadable expression flickering before she schools her face.
“What are you going to do about it?”
She rolls her eyes. “I’m going to—ALARM!”
Suddenly, she grabs my arm and pulls me after her, ducking and motioning for me to do the same. We hurry past the gazebo and hide behind a bunch of bushes.
“What the fuck, Lauren?” I ask, but she puts her finger over her lips and shushes.
“What’s going on?” I ask more quietly, voice barely above a whisper.
“Enemy approaching,” she says cryptically, stretching her neck to peek over the shrubbery. “I swear I saw Jay and Marissa.”
My blood runs cold, and my heart beats into my throat. “What? Are you serious?”
“They just got out of the car.” She gets back into a crouch and gives me a strange look. “Maybe we should have them admitted to a mental health facility. That level of delusion can’t be healthy if they still think they can get anything out of you.”
“Please. They are hopeless. Jail would be better,” I whisper back and shake my head. “Fuck. What do I do, Lauren?”
“Run at them, bat swinging?”
“Where would I get a bat from?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugs and takes another peek at what’s going on. “Can you launch Cinnamon at them like a Pokémon?”
“What’cha doing down there?” Both of us startle when a voice suddenly appears behind us. Lauren throws her hand over my mouth before I can squeal in surprise.
“Get down here,” she hisses at Kieran and when he doesn’t react, she reaches for his shirt and abruptly pulls him down to our eye level.
“Why are you two hiding? And, Nic, why are you glowing? You’re radiating. I saw it from all the way over there.” He points somewhere behind us, and I shoot him a stare that’s supposed to conveyreally?
