I shake my head. “Not at the moment.”
“Let us know if you change your mind.”
A man comes up next to ask if I’m a switch. I turn him down too.
Casey returns, sits down, and takes a sip of her tea. “This tastes gross.”
“It’s shitty tea. Plus, it’s cold,” I say.
“But you like this stuff?”
“No, I bring my own tea packets. I just ask for hot water.”
“So you’re like a bona fide tea snob.”
I smile. “I can snap those rubber bands harder next time.”
She perks up at the words ‘next time.’
“We didn’t get to do anything for you,” she says.
“Yet.”
“So when can we?”
“I’ll let you know.”
She knits her brow, then changes the subject. “So the cat is doing well? She’s at your place?”
“Yes.”
“You going to keep it?”
“Thinking to. I took her to the vet earlier. There’s no microchip and nothing in the local database of missing animals that matches her description.”
“Can I see her?”
“When?”
“How about now?”
Sitting back in my chair, I regard her more carefully. Is she interested in the cat or is this her way of prolonging time with me? It doesn’t really matter. All that matters is when I plan to pull the trigger on kidnapping her.
“Sure,” I say.
She brightens. “We’ll take your car?”
“You don’t like your driver?”
She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “Yeah. Besides, he’ll feel like a third wheel.”
“Isn’t he used to that by now?”
She evades my stare. “When I’m with him, it feels like I have a babysitter. I’m twenty-one years old.”
“And still a baby.”
She looks at me coyly. “You want to be my daddy again?”