“No. Not at all.”
“It won’t get too much when my family are always here?”
“No, because you’ll be here.”
Her expression softens. “My family mean everything to me. I love spending time with them. Sometimes I think it annoys them.”
“Charlotte, I doubt anyone who loves you could be annoyed with you. They love you.”
“I know. It’s because they’re always too busy being annoyed with Uncle Max to be bothered.”
Chuckling, I reply. “Now that I’m more inclined to believe.”
“They’re the best family I could wish for.”
I clear my throat as something else flitters through my thoughts. “Why didn’t you become a vet? You love animals a lot. I’ve seen you feeding the birds, and even the other night you took food out for the hedgehog.”
She lowers her lashes for a moment. “Because I could never stomach the thought of having to put them down. I couldn’t be the person who took someone’s family member from them,” she explains softly. “I do volunteer to help Faith sometimes. I like spending time with the animals. I get to walk them, spend time with them.”
I shake my head, pressing her flush against my chest. I grip her arse, and her lashes lower, her gaze on my lips. I grin at the intake of breath. “You are miraculous, Charlotte Carter.”
She leans down, her plump, full lips a breath away from mine, when my phone dings with an alert.
I reluctantly pull back. This is the message I have been waiting for. Moments later, car tyres crunch along the road outside the front.
“You expecting someone?” she asks, watching me read the message on her phone.
“Yes, and I need you to wait here for one moment. Okay?” I place her down on the makeshift bed beside me, and lean down, pressing a quick kiss on her lips.
Facial expression filled with bewilderment, she nods. “Okay, but, um, should I be worried? Your smile is kind of freaking me out.”
I chuckle as I get up, dusting off my knees. “Trust me, you’re going to love this.”
I leave her and head to the backdoor. “Bring some cookies back,” she yells.
I’m bringing her more than cookies. I’m bringing her something that will make her forget she ever wanted them.
Heading through the house, I stop at the front door, scratching Katnip behind the ear where she’s perched on the shelf beside her door.
Pulling it open, Faith and her fiancé, Beau, walk around the front of the car, the basket in hand.
“Did you receive the money I sent?”
“Yes, but like I said to you on the phone, the seller was asking for far too much.”
I shrug, taking the basket from her. “I don’t care.”
“We’ve put together some food that will last a couple of days,” Beau announces. “Where do you want them?”
I nod in thanks. “Will you pop them inside the door for me, please.”
“I gave him a general check-up and gave him his injections,” she announces before her vet mask vanishes and she grins. “Does she know about him yet?”
I smile back. “No. I’m about to surprise her now.”
“I’m sure we will hear about it later or tomorrow,” she tells me as Beau goes to her side, pulling her against his chest. “Just make sure she keeps him inside. He seems very docile and loving.”
My smile spreads into a grin. “In other words, don’t let Katnip near him.”
Her shoulders sag. “Just don’t let her bully him. That cat can be vicious.”
“They’ll be fine.”
We say our goodbyes and I head back inside, stopping just before the kitchen doorway. I hold the cage up, finding bright blue eyes shining back at me. The ragdoll—the same cat Charlotte had dozens of things with their picture on—is pure white bar the tail and face. From this light, it looks like a speck of dust.
She is going to fall in love on sight.
I head outside and Charlotte pulls her attention away from the second movie playing, her eyes wide and on me. “Is that… is that an animal?”
“This,” I begin, holding the cage up. “Is a present from me to you. He’s yours.”
“He?” she whispers, sitting up straighter. As I near, a gasp passes through her lips. “Is that a ragdoll?”
I grin, bending down and sitting next to her, setting the cage in front of us. Blue eyes sparkle as he presses up against the cage doors.
“Oh my God,” she cries, her hands shaking as she reaches out. “He’s beautiful.”
“You need to give him a name.”
“I- I don’t know what to say.” She trembles. “He’s so cute.”
She pulls him out, and I notice tears streaming down her cheeks as she clutches him to her chest. He immediately begins to purr, rubbing his nose against her chest.
“Hey, I didn’t mean to upset you. I—”
Her expression stops me from going any further. A sob hitches in her throat. “He loves me. He really loves me.”
“Babe,” I mutter, amused.
“Drew, I- I don’t know what to say. He’s- he’s perfect.”
“So are you.”
“This is the best present I could ever want,” she cries. “He’s so soft.”
I run my fingers over his soft fur. “He’s cute.”
More tears.
She lifts him up, glancing into his doe eyes. “I’m going to love you so much.” A little reptile meow escapes him and her entire body melts. She turns to me. “I love you. I love you so much.”
“Me or the cat?” I whisper hoarsely. It feels like a truck has slammed into my chest.
She loves me.
“You. Him. But you too,” she chokes out. “I’m sorry.”
I grip her chin, tilting her head until she’s facing me. “Never be sorry. I’ve not been in love. I wasn’t sure if this is what it is. I am now. I can’t imagine love feeling like anything else.”
“You can’t?” she whispers, her lashes fluttering.
“No. Because you are all I ever think about. You make me strive to be a better person. I hadn’t realised I was lonely until I met you. You brighten up my days. I love being with you, I love being around you. I love you,” I admit, pressing my lips to hers. “But don’t say it back. Don’t say it after receiving a cat. Say it to me when the dust settles with the stuff going on around you, when the exhilaration of this little guy isn’t fresh. Say it to me then. Okay?”
She nods, tucking the cat closer to her chest. “I will. I promise, I will.” Her voice is low, calm, and after pressing another kiss to her lips, her attention goes back to the cat.
I watch the joy and happiness light up her face, all of it a kaleidoscope of emotions as she plays with the cat. Content on just watching her, I sit back, hearing ‘I love you’ coming from her mouth inside of my head.
Is it love?
Who knows. She could have said it in the moment. I knew what I felt was more than lust or attraction a while ago. Saying I love you out loud is easy. We feel easy even if everything around us hasn’t been. I’m not sappy, I’m not a romantic, but for her, she makes me want to be. She makes me want to spoil her, to see the world through her eyes.