Chapter 14
Leo had hoped his run would have cleared his head, but it was still a jumbled mess. Because despite all his talk about chemicals
and he and Via deciding to only just be friends, he still couldn’t stop thinking about her in a completely non-friendly way.
When they ran into each other that morning, he’d intended to walk her and Sir downstairs and then go on his run. Walking with
her around the square had been on impulse. So had asking her about her past. He hadn’t expected her to tell him about her
ex, and it was worse than he thought. She’d looked so dejected, he had to hold himself back from taking her in his arms to
comfort her.
This was completely unfamiliar territory for him. Even in all the schools he attended, he kept his distance, didn’t get close
to people. He dated around, found it unsatisfying. He’d settled himself into a pattern of going to work, spending his nights
alone, then rinse and repeat. He wasn’t a complete hermit—there were plenty of opportunities to be social in his line of work,
and those were enough. Occasionally, when he was invited to a wedding or a co-worker was having a baby, he thought about marriage
and family. But he didn’t have a clue what a normal family was. He hadn’t even known he had an uncle—that’s how messed up
his family was.
Then he met Via, and a week later she was rocking his world.
She seemed comfortable with their decision to stay friends. He was starting to regret it, but it was the right thing to do.
In a couple of weeks he’d be gone. There was no point in starting something he would never finish, and while he would never
intentionally hurt her, now that he knew how badly her heart had been broken, he was even more determined not to.
When he reached his apartment, he searched for his key . . . oh no. He’d left it inside again. He gave the spare back to Via
already. Now he had to go downstairs and ask for it back. After he showered from his run, he’d go to Buck’s hardware store
and get another one made and keep it under Earl’s old doormat. Not the safest thing, but he was finding out that Via was right.
Pecan Corner was like a town stuck in the past. It was appealing.
He entered Pawsitive Vibes and walked into the cat lounge. To his surprise, there were no customers. Birdie was there, shooing
a little gray cat off the café counter. He walked over.
“Hi, Leo,” she said, picking up the cat when it wouldn’t mind her. “This is Squeaks. She’s about to win Naughty Cat of the
Week if she doesn’t start behaving.”
“That’s a thing?”
“Here at our café it is.” She pointed to the wall behind him.
He turned and saw a picture of Sir Meow in a fancy gold frame underneath a curved banner that said—sure enough—“Naughty Cat
of the Week.” From Sir’s imperious pose, he seemed rather proud of it.
“Sir’s been there ever since you arrived.” She set Squeaks down on the floor and she scampered off. “What can I do for you
this fine morning?”
“Is Via around? Forgot my key again.”
“She and Sir went to the yarn store.”
He was wondering where Sir was. Usually he would be sniffing him by now. “You wouldn’t happen to have a key, would you?”
“Sorry. Only Via does. She’ll be back soon. She left about half an hour ago.” Birdie regarded him for a second, then opened
a small refrigerator that was visible from behind the counter, took out a bottle of water, and handed it to him.
“I’ll pay you when I get back in my apartment.”
“On the house,” she said with a grin. “A friend of Via’s is a friend of Pawsitive Vibes.”
A bottle of water here, a family-slash-friend discount there . . . not to mention Earl’s apparent blasé attitude when it came
to keeping track of his sales and finances. Pecan Corner sure was generous.
“Squeaks, leave Luna alone.” Birdie sighed. “That darn cat.” She took off to stop Squeaks from pestering an adult black feline.
Naughty indeed.
Leo considered walking to Fantastic Fibers and Textiles, but that was on the opposite side of the square and right now his
legs weren’t ready for anything longer than the journey back upstairs to his apartment. He decided to take the opportunity
to explore the café further.
The fall decor was abundant, of course. There were two four-top and three two-top tables in the middle of the expansive room,
a couch and several comfy-looking chairs against the walls. Numerous baskets tilted on their sides were all over the café,
and a few hung from the ceiling, each containing a soft cushion. He saw three multilevel cat houses spread out in the room.
A small two-shelf bookcase filled with cat magazines, cat books, and cat coloring books was by the coffee counter. Cat art
covered the walls, and he stopped in front of a gorgeous watercolor of a cat surrounded by pumpkins. The cat was similar to
Luna.
Next to the painting was a bulletin board.
Via’s Autumn Bucket List was there, held up by an orange cat pushpin.
There were a couple more lists from other people, and all of them had stars next to each activity, as if marking them finished.
That was confirmed when he saw orange stars beside the activities he knew Via had completed, including their pumpkin patch excursion.
Another notice immediately caught his attention.
Pawsitive Vibes Rules of the House
Welcome to Pawsitive Vibes, where the coffee is hot and the cats are chill. Please note the following rules. Anyone violating
them will be asked to leave. Thank you!
Each visitor is limited to sixty minutes of cat time during peak hours, which are usually Tuesday mornings, Thursday evenings,
and Fridays and Saturdays.
Customers must sanitize hands before and after handling each cat.
We love kids and so do the kitties, but children under eight years old must be accompanied by an adult at all times and maintain
their “whisper voices.”
Photography is allowed, but no flash, please.
Sleeping cats should never be disturbed, not even for photos.
No feeding the cats unless they are approved Pawsitive Vibes cat treats. These are available for purchase at the counter.
This is to keep our feline friends safe.
No picking up cats without staff permission. Let them approach you. This is for your safety and theirs too!
Relax, enjoy yourself, and have fun. If you’re interested in adopting any of our residents, please see Via, Dora, or Birdie.
We’ll be happy to assist you.
“Meow!”
At the familiar mew, Leo turned around to see Sir dashing toward him, Via right behind carrying a plastic bag with the Fantastic
Fibers and Textiles logo on it. Sir put his paw on Leo’s foot and he instinctively picked up the cat, then remembered the
rules he just read. “My hands aren’t sanitized,” he said to Via.
“I think your relationship has progressed beyond mandatory disinfection. But thank you for reading and obeying the rules.
We appreciate that here at Pawsitive Vibes.”
Leo smiled. “What’s in the bag?”
“My sweater.” She pointed to her bucket list on the board. “I’m determined to finish it. Probably not before winter, but by
December thirty-first for sure.”
He had no doubt she’d do it too, now that she set her mind to it.
“Did you need something, Leo?”
He blinked. Had he been staring at her? Probably. She was so lovely, and he was noticing that for the second time in only
a few hours. Friends. Right. “I locked myself out again.”
“I’ll get the key.” She headed for the back office, taking her Fantastic Fibers bag with her.
Sir purred in Leo’s arms. Nice.
Via reappeared and motioned for him to meet her at the stairwell door. Carrying Sir—the cat would have followed him anyway
if he’d put him down on the floor—he trailed Via upstairs. In less than five seconds she had the door open. “Thanks. I’m getting
a duplicate key at the hardware store so I won’t have to bother you with this again.”
“No bother—Sir!”
The cat had leaped out of Leo’s grasp and was sauntering into Earl’s apartment. Leo laughed. “I see why he’s Naughty Cat of
the Week.”
“Two weeks running.” Via shook her head. “I’ll go get him.”
He touched her arm. “I’ll keep him again.”
“You sure?”
He should probably remove his hand. But again, for some reason, he didn’t want to. Just a friendly touch, nothing more. She
didn’t seem to mind either. “Positive. Again, I always mean what I say.” He paused. “Unless it’s something stupid. I reserve
the right to verbally swing and miss occasionally.”
“Noted.” She grinned. “Nice sports analogy.”
“It will be the only one. Unlike Earl, I’m not a baseball fan.” He finally dropped his hand and stepped back. “I’ll let you
get back to your sweater.”
“And I’ll see you tonight at Second Chapter, tape gun in hand.”
He went inside, resisting the urge to watch her walk away—not an easy decision whatsoever—and closed the door, then leaned
against it. He could have spent all day in the hallway talking to her . . . gazing at her . . . touching her.
“Meow?” Sir was looking at him from his perch on the back of the couch, his head tilted in what seemed like slight befuddlement.
“Yeah, Sir,” Leo mumbled. “I’m confused too.”
The day passed relatively quickly. When Via returned from upstairs, Birdie handed her a cell phone. “Here,” she said. “Print
off that picture of Squeaks. She’s going right there.” She pointed at the golden photo frame.
“What did she do?” Via asked.
“Jumped on counters, annoyed Luna, flung her litter, among other things.” Birdie didn’t sound offended, though, just irritated.
They’d had ornery cats in the café before. Some took longer to adjust than others.
“Will do.” Via looked at the little gray cat, sleeping peacefully in one of the baskets by the counter. “I thought she was doing fine.”
“She’s feeling herself, that’s for sure.”
She went to her office, printed the picture off Birdie’s phone, and walked back up front. Birdie removed Sir from the frame
and put in Squeaks. He had set a personal record for the café.
She spent the rest of the day deep cleaning all the litter boxes and vacuuming the baskets and cat houses, something she did
at least two, sometimes three times a day. In between tasks she visited with customers and took some time to give each Pawsitive
Vibes cat individual attention.
About an hour before closing, she sat on the couch with her unfinished autumn sweater, wondering if she’d set herself up for
failure. One glance at her bucket list on the board and she’d decided to take a visit to Fantastic Fibers. Yes, she had plenty
of things to do to fill her time, but that particular item on her list had been bugging her. She didn’t like to leave things
unfinished, and this was the year she’d mark off that task. Besides, Sir loved going to Fantastic Fibers and he’d been ready
to take another walk anyway. Frederick always gave him a scrap ball of yarn to play with.
After Frederick had fixed the mess of stitches on her needles and she bought an extra skein of the autumn-themed yarn, she
returned to Pawsitive Vibes and saw Leo there. He wasn’t sweating, but his shirt was darker around his neck and upper chest.
That must have been quite a run he went on. But for once, what was sticking in her brain weren’t his looks or even him touching
her arm for a decent length of time—although she wouldn’t complain about that. It was a friendly touch, after all.
“I always mean what I say.” So far he had proven that. But she still couldn’t fully trust him. Now she was wondering if she would ever be able to trust
another man, other than her dad and brother.
Dora plopped down next to her on the couch. “That’s going to be pretty . . . if you ever get it done.”
“Hey, I’m working on it.” She dropped another stitch. Pondering her trust issues was bad for her concentration.
Squeaks jumped on Dora’s lap. “Such a sweet kitty,” she murmured as she rubbed her chin against her hand.
“You do know she’s the new NCOTW, right?”
“Yes, but I don’t know why. She’s always been well behaved around me.”
“Me too. Maybe it’s Birdie who’s the naughty one.” They both chuckled and she returned to her sweater, immediately dropping
four stitches. “Nuts,” she said, grabbing the small hook Frederick had showed her how to use to pick up dropped stitches.
“Maybe I should have taken up crochet instead. I can’t seem to get the hang of knitting.”
“You’ll figure it out,” Dora said. “How’s friends with Leo going?”
She knit a stitch. “Fine.”
“Hmm.”
“What does hmm mean?”
“I don’t think you two can be friends.”
“Excuse me?”
“There’s too much chemistry between you.” Dora moved her hands around like fireworks going off. “Sparks, everywhere sparks.”
“Don’t you have your own relationship to obsess over?”
“Why are you denying your feelings for him, Via?”
Ugh, three stitches dropped. She wasn’t going to get anything done on the sweater today. She shoved it and the knitting needles
into the new project bag Frederick insisted she had to have.
“It’s covered with kitties,” he’d exclaimed.
“How can you pass it up?” He knew she couldn’t and it was totally adorable.
It was even autumn themed and had a mulberry background and gold bottom, with various cats lounging around in a movie theater.
Unfortunately Dora was expecting an answer. Her sister could be as stubborn as any Dalton, and Via knew she wouldn’t leave
her alone until she got one. “All right, here are the reasons.” She started ticking off her fingers. “One, he’s going back
to LA. He can’t wait to get home.”
“Long-distance relationships aren’t impossible.”
“Two,” she said, ignoring Dora’s remark. “We’ve already established the friend zone.”
Dora grinned. “Some lines are meant to be crossed.”
“You’re enjoying this way too much.”
“It’s truly enjoyable.”
When Squeaks tried to sneak into her bag, Via gently moved her away.
“Okay, what else?” Dora asked.
She opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out. She couldn’t admit the third and biggest reason—she was scared. Being
friends was safe. Being anything else was terrifying.
A loud crashing came from outside the lounge. Via and Dora rushed to the coffee counter to see Squeaks knocking over bottles
of coffee syrup.
“How did she get out of the lounge?” Via exclaimed.
Two bottles hit the ground, breaking into pieces. Sticky syrup was all over the floor, so of course the cat jumped right into
the puddle. “Squeaks!” they both shrieked.
Birdie was right. She was a naughty, naughty cat.