Both animals looked up at her, their tails wagging. Duchess was wearing a sweater that Mrs. Davenport, one of the residents there, had knitted and donated to the shelter and Barkley had on a bow tie. She tried to dress all the shelter animals in cute clothes, and she took pictures with the residents to put on the website to try and bolster adoptions.
As soon as she walked through the door Mrs. Davenport’s face lit up and she clapped her hands. Audrey wasn’t sure if it was because she recognized the sweater or she was just excited that they were here.
“What did you bring us today? A rat?” Mr. Wilson teased as he leaned down to pet Duchess who had hopped up onto the chair next to him and was demanding his attention.
“That is Duchess, Mr. Wilson.”
“Oh, aren’t you a fancy girl,” he cooed at her.
“And who is this?” Mrs. Davenport asked as Barkley walked up and put his head beneath her hand.
“This is Barkley.”
“Oh, Mr. Barkley. What a handsome name for a handsome boy.” Mrs. Davenport scratched behind his ears.
“Don’t hog him, Gladys!” Mrs. Campbell, who was sitting on the other side room shouted.
“I’m not. He walked over to me!” Mrs. Davenport shot back.
Audrey made her way around the room making sure each one of the residents got a chance to pet either Duchess or Barkley. She had just finished her first round when her phone vibrated in her pocket.
She picked it up when she saw it was Viv calling. “Hey.”
“Hey, I’m stuck in traffic on 80 and I’m supposed to meet the Dining in the Dark people in ten minutes.”
“The who people?” Audrey held her finger to her ear.
“Dining in the Dark. They want to come for singles week. It’s going to be like speed dating, but you won’t know what each other looks like. It’s a popup restaurant that you eat in the dark, and I think you have a blindfold. The guests will have a different date for the appetizer, main course, and dessert. They are here in Hope Falls to do a demonstration, but I’m not going to make it back in time.”
“I’m at Golden Years wit—”
“Please, sissy! I don’t want to flake on them. Ava had clients and Grace is doing some online real estate course thingy. Help me, Obi-Wan, you’re my only hope.”
Audrey looked around the room at the residents. Normally, she did four rounds with the dogs so each person each got plenty of time. But she could let them know that something came up and tell them she would be back on Thursday. And she had said that she would help.
Audrey sighed. She could never say no to her sister, and she did appreciate that she hadn’t been her sister’s first call and the Star Wars reference. “Okay. Text me the address.”
* * *
Josh poppeda can of cat food and dumped it in the bowl. Then he repeated the task opening another jar and dumping it in another bowl. He set both bowls down on the cement floor and whistled. Within seconds both Bullet and Batman appeared.
They were strays that had shown up a few years back. Bullet was the first to start hanging around. Josh named him that because he was gray and fast as fuck. He’d almost named him Houdini because he was there one second, gone the next, but he thought Bullet fit him better. Batman showed up about a week after Bullet, he was a white cat with a black mask that looked exactly like the superhero of the same name.
As he watched the cats eat their dinner, he heard Nonna’s voice in the back of his head. “If you keep feeding them, they’ll keep showing up.”
She talked a big game, but he’d seen her sneak them tuna fish when she thought he wasn’t looking.
He washed his hands, turned up the volume on the nest speaker that Audrey had gotten him for his birthday last year and got back to work. He’d made an offhanded comment about how the radio in the garage needed an upgrade. Then two months later, on his birthday, she’d given him the nest.
She always got him such thoughtful gifts. Which shouldn’t surprise him, she was a thoughtful person. But he did have to be careful what he said around her. If he mentioned that he needed to get some new white shirts, she’d show up with a packet of Hanes and say that she picked them up when she was shopping for one of the charities she volunteered for. If he said that he was going to get the next Grisham novel when it came out, a hardcover copy would show up on his door on release day.
As much as he appreciated her paying attention and being so thoughtful, it made him feel bad that she spent her time and money on him. He didn’t deserve her friendship and he sure as hell didn’t deserve anything more than friendship, which was what he really wanted to have with her.
He was finishing up replacing an alternator when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw that it was a text from Pricilla.
He’d casually dated Pricilla off and on for years. They’d met at JT’s a month after he got home after being injured. She lived several towns over and had never pressured him for anything more than a hookup every few months. Neither of them were looking for anything serious. It was sort of the perfect situation. Or at least it had been. It had been over a year since he’d seen her last and things had not really gone as planned. When it came time to get down and dirty, he hadn’t been able to…perform.
If it was just the once, he would have thought it could be a fluke. But it wasn’t. And it wasn’t just her. She was one of three women that he saw on a casual basis. He also hooked up with Jenny who was a divorced single mom from Sacramento. And Sabrina who ran a wellness center in Lake Tahoe and didn’t believe in labels. None of the relationships were anything serious. They all knew that he wasn’t exclusive and didn’t want anything serious. The women would usually hit him up when they were between relationships or getting over a break-up or looking for some no strings fun.