Chapter 1 #3
“Great,” Teddy huffed, closing the door behind him and turning to face the carrier. He sluggishly got down on his knees to open the latch rather than bend, which was what he was supposed to do, but it still made him feel silly and incapable.
Smudge didn’t move.
“I don’t bite, I promise,” Teddy said as he carefully sat, but the beautiful feline remained tense and stationary.
“I also can’t run very fast, so I can hardly chase you.
No? New environment, I get it. I realize I don’t come across as very personable.
There’s a reason all my past relationships ended badly and I don’t have many friends, but I’ve been told my worst side was my demanding nature on the job, and I can’t exactly berate you for a sloppy pas de bourrée. ”
Smudge didn’t even tilt his head to look at Teddy.
“Still nothing, huh? I thought cats, being assholes themselves, didn’t mind fellow assholes.
You too good for me, Smudge? We really need to do something about that name.
Come on.” Slowly, Teddy grabbed the cat to pull him from the carrier, discovering stiff limbs but not too much resistance, and lifted him into a baby hold.
He really was beautiful. And soft.
“There now. I’m not so bad, am I?”
Smudge blinked at him; then just as Teddy attempted to stroke his chin, he hissed, squirmed to get free, and darted off into the house, leaving Teddy thankfully unscratched but very much alone.
Wonderful.
The next few hours were spent calling for Smudge, leaving out food as incentive that occasionally would magically disappear, but still no cat.
Even the litter box Teddy set up in the laundry room had been used.
How was a twelve-pound cat such a ninja?
Maybe because Teddy moved slower than he used to.
Being crouched down on all fours calling for Smudge beneath the sofa—if he was even under there—was probably why he didn’t hear the door.
“Are you supposed to be in positions like that?” Finn’s voice caused him to smack his head against the bottom of the sofa. “Oh shit, sorry.”
Teddy refrained from growling as he sat back on his heels and tried not to glare at Finn, who was muffling chuckles behind his hand and still looked gorgeous.
“Really sorry. I uhh… let myself in.”
“I noticed.”
“You didn’t wait for Smudge to come out on his own, did you?”
Even what was supposed to be the sweetest cat in existence had rejected Teddy.
“I don’t suppose you have any bright ideas for finding him,” he said—just as Smudge jumped onto the coffee table, happily rubbing into Finn’s hand when he reached for him.
Teddy turned his glare onto the cat. “You do remember that he’s the one who abandoned you here. ”
“Teddy.” Finn laughed. “He can sense you’re irritated. You just need to stay calm.”
“I thought pets were supposed to be the ones keeping us calm.”
“Treat him like a small child.” Finn sat on the coffee table, while Smudge stuck close to his side, purring at his offered scratches.
“I hate children,” Teddy said, but Finn was undeterred.
“How about like a new student, then, just learning to dance?”
“You know that awful coach on Dance Moms?”
“Yeah.”
“I once overheard a student say I made her look like a pushover.”
Finn broke into his heartiest laugh yet, crinkling the dimples beneath his stubble. “Not a people, kid, or animal person. Got it.”
“Not an anything person,” Teddy grumbled. “This was a bad idea.” He grimaced as he tried to get up, not thinking and doing it the way he used to without care for his hip. It was infuriating to have to think twice about every move he made.
“Here.” Finn stood to help him, and Teddy grudgingly allowed it.
Smudge stayed on the coffee table.
“I have an idea,” Finn said. “Why don’t we share a cup of coffee or something and sit a while so Smudge can see that I trust you. Once he realizes I like you, he’ll warm up to you too.”
“And why would you like a grumpy old man?”
“I’ll let you know if I run into any,” Finn teased, forcing Teddy to finally free himself from self-flagellation and smile back.
They left Smudge be and went to the kitchen to fire up Teddy’s Keurig. He chose a cappuccino to appease his sweet tooth, while Finn was fine with dark roast, cream, and one sugar.
Smudge still sat on the coffee table when they returned, watching them with a flick of the end of his tail as they lounged on the sofa. To pass the time, Teddy asked Finn when he’d moved in, since he’d always remembered that beach house being empty.
“Five or six months ago. I probably just missed you and moved in after your last stay here. It used to be my parents’, just for vacations when I was a kid, but I decided to move out here for good, get away from the city.
I have some friends in town, and my sister and her husband live here.
They were all over the other day. I hope we didn’t bother you. ”
“It was fine,” Teddy dismissed. “You’re hardly raucous partiers.”
Smudge moved to the sofa suddenly but remained a cushion away from Teddy, still watching them.
“Keep focused on me,” Finn said in a low whisper that made Teddy realize how close they sat and how teal Finn’s eyes were. “See, the trick with most cats is to ignore them until they come to you, everything on their terms.”
“I see why we’re having trouble getting along. Too much alike.”
“So, I should try ignoring you?” Finn gave him that endearing smile again, and Teddy’s stomach flipped. “Sorry.” He pulled away as though Teddy looked shell-shocked. “You can tell me to buzz off if I’m being too forward.”
“You’re not, I’m just not really….”
“Gay?”
“Definitely gay.”
Finn chuckled. “But not interested, I get it.”
“More that it’s bad timing.” Teddy thought of his hip, his retirement, his misery.
“You’re in a difficult place right now, big life transition.” Finn nodded. “You don’t need some nosy neighbor getting too familiar.”
Licking his lips as he clutched his coffee cup, Teddy focused on the comfort Finn managed to exude as effortlessly as he’d lifted Teddy from that beach chair the other day. “This is an okay amount of familiar,” he said.
Finn’s eyes followed the trail of Teddy’s tongue. “I’m glad.”
Electricity buzzed between them like there was a storm brewing outside. Despite everything Teddy had said, he felt drawn to Finn’s orbit like nothing could stop him.
Weight on his thigh snapped his attention to Smudge, who’d snuck closer and had his front paws on Teddy’s lap now, peering curiously at him as though wondering why he wasn’t being petted yet. Taking a chance, Teddy reached to stroke his head, and Smudge bucked up into his hand.
“There you go, see?” Finn said. “You just have to be patient and eventually they come to you.”
Crisis averted. Teddy had a cat, whose name could now never be anything but Smudge. Teddy couldn’t change it after their adventures today, not with Finn living next door.
He felt a heat in his chest and low in his belly just from having Finn beside him, tempting him to forget all about his hip and disrupted life, but all too soon, Finn was getting up and heading for the door.
“Sorry, my sister’s bringing dinner over, so I need to get back. But if you have any more trouble with Smudge, don’t hesitate to call.”
“I will,” Teddy said. “I mean won’t. Hesitate.”
Finn really had melodic laughter. As he stood in the doorway, the setting sun cast him in an especially warm glow. “Also, in case you were curious, I am very patient with cats. Goodnight, Teddy.” He bid farewell with a lingering stare.
“Goodnight, Finn,” Teddy said, almost afraid his pounding heart would tear from his chest and follow Finn down the walk.
It didn’t. He remained unbloodied and unembarrassed. More or less.
At his feet, Smudge rubbed against his legs and looked up at him with a near-silent squeak.
“That all you got?”
Smudge tried again, but it still came out more squeak than meow.
Crouching carefully, Teddy reached to pet him. “Time for more food, I take it? Or missing Finn already? Because I… I need to eat too. Come on.”
Heading for the pantry where he’d stored Smudge’s food, Teddy tried to think of anything other than Finn’s less than subtle offer.
The rest of the week went by uneventfully. Teddy didn’t see Finn, but the occasional text would ping on his phone, checking to make sure he was okay, that Smudge was okay, without ever explicitly asking if Teddy wanted company again.
If he was waiting for Teddy to make the next move, he’d be waiting a long while. Teddy just couldn’t. Not right now. Not until he sorted himself out.
Smudge was good company, a very good sleeping buddy, like Finn had said, curling right against Teddy’s side at night or when he napped, somehow knowing to steer clear of his bad hip and generally being well-behaved.
Teddy still had no idea what to do with all his free time. He had some family money. He’d saved well. He could coast and exist without needing to work again, given how minimally he lived, but that was just existing, just survival. Somewhere along the line, he needed to live again.
At least today was his first day of physical therapy.
He wasn’t looking forward to it, but it would give him something to distract himself with.
This being a vacation town, the health center was connected to a day spa rather than directly to the hospital, though still close to the hospital with doctors on call.
It had that sense of “island time,” the same as being on the beach, like everything moved a little slower here.
It was almost nice. Maybe Teddy would splurge on a massage.
He sat in the waiting room in simple sweats and sneakers. He hadn’t met his assigned physical therapist yet, but the name on the sheet had been uniquely old-fashioned. Teddy felt the man’s pain.
“Edmund?” the nurse called. “Phineas is ready for you.”
Teddy stood—then stiffened when a voice answered from around the corner.
“Betsy, how many times do I have to remind you. It’s Finn.”
You have got to be kidding.
“Hi, Teddy.” Finn materialized as if out of Teddy’s daydreams.
Teddy had thought sunlight was required to bring out the auburn in Finn’s hair, long enough that it might have fallen into his eyes if it wasn’t styled to spike upward.
Apparently florescent lights worked too, his eyes positively sparkling so that Teddy noticed a few golden freckles swimming in the sea of turquoise and his dimples prominent beneath the scruff on his face.
“I realized I never got to finish telling you about my day job. Crazy coincidence, huh? When I hinted you’d eventually come to me, this wasn’t exactly what I meant. You ready to get to work on your recovery?”
Fuck everything, Teddy thought.
The universe was clearly out to get him.