Page 16 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?!
“I have coveralls in my truck that should fit you,” Miles said as he reached into the backseat and passed over the clothes.
The coveralls had his Carry A Faerie logo on them, so I felt a little traitorous putting them on. But it wasn’t like there was a clause in my contract with Faerie Be Gone saying I couldn’t do side work or even work for another company. So… whatever. It’d be fine. The likelihood of one of my coworkers seeing me in these was so low I shouldn’t even take it into consideration. And it wasn’t like my boss would fire me for something so little. I was a good worker and his most reliable employee. I’d be fine.
Miles was already in his coveralls, so I figured I should throw mine on here rather than waiting until we arrived at the client’s house. So I took off my shoes, then stepped into them and set myself to rights before sliding my boots back on and offering Miles a big grin. “These will work great. Thanks.”
Once we were in the truck, I decided that I didn’t want it to get awkward, so I asked him, “Do you have any pets?”
“Yeah, I have a cat.”
“You do seem like a cat person.”
He glanced at me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just that you seem like the sort to have a cat.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Cats are prickly, so…” I left it at that, trying not to chuckle at his expression.
He rolled his eyes, but his lips twitched, so I figured he wasn’t actually annoyed with me.
I asked, “What’s your cat’s name?”
“Odin. He’s an orange tabby and only has one eye.”
“You have a one-eyed cat?”
“I do.” He sounded offended, like me asking that put him on the defensive.
“That’s cool. I bet he’s cute. What happened to his eye, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I rescued him, so he’d just finished recovering from surgery when I brought him home. They said that when they pulled him off the street, it was infected and too far gone to save it. They had to remove it.”
“Aww. That poor baby.”
“I know, right?” He sent me a sad smile. “I felt awful for him, but you’d never know he’s missing an eye. He runs around like a maniac and gets into so much trouble, just like any other cat.”
That made me chuckle. “Maybe I can meet him one day.”
“He’d like that.”
Hm. That wasn’t a no.Good start, Winter. I mentally patted myself on the back.
But then I couldn’t think of anything else to say for a few minutes, and when I finally did, it came out loud and in a rush, making me wince. “I rescued Goliath too!” Wow, I sounded insane. And hyper, but that was nothing new.
He eyed me for a few seconds before he responded at a normal volume, like a normal human being—sigh. “That’s good. I always rescue. There are too many animals in need of a good home.”
“Agreed.” I cleared my throat. “Goliath and I always do this fundraiser walk in the spring to raise money for the shelter. It’s a huge event with food and activities and all kinds of stuff. It’s really fun.”
“Is it that walk-a-thon for Sheltered Souls Animal Rescue?”
“Yeah. You know it?”
He shot me a small smile. “I’ve never participated, but I always get the emails. That’s where I adopted Odin from.”
That made me grin. “No way. That’s awesome. I got Goliath from there too. You should come with Goliath and me this year. It’s a ton of fun.”
He made a strange noise in his throat before clearing it and quietly saying, “That sounds fun.”
