He seemed serious for once. And he was being…nice. “Okay,” she managed.
Maybe it was the emotion of the day, or the fact that her life had turned as topsy-turvy as a jar of marbles that had spilled and scattered and rolled everywhere, but she found herself staring at him. Swallowing past a lump in her throat. Wanting to…confide in him? Kiss him? Murder him? All three?
And then a little yellow blur flew by, meowing loudly.
She scooped up her cat and snuggled her against her cheek. “Cosette! You poor thing!” She was glad for the spell to have broken. Glad for the escape.
Kicking off her too-high heels, she walked into the kitchen, looking for the box where she’d packed away the cat food.
“You have a cat?” Leo said it as if he had said, You have a mountain lion? Escaped from an illicit animal farm?
“She’s very well-behaved,” Tessa rushed to say. “And clean. You’ll barely notice she’s here. I—”
Tessa could tell him all kinds of things to make him sympathize, but the truth was, Cosette was a dealbreaker. Tessa wouldn’t have gone anywhere without her.
“Oh,” he said, sounding a little disappointed. Or was he angry? She couldn’t tell.
“I’ve had her ever since my dad died. We found her out the back door of the bread shop, part of a whole litter of kittens. She’s very sweet and affectionate.” The cat and he were having a stare down, Cosette sitting on the floor, calmly winding and unwinding her tail around herself, and Leo, looking back at her like she was the devil. “It’s okay to pet her,” Tessa finally said.
“I’m not much of a cat person,” he said. He glanced at his phone. “Listen, it’s been a long day. I’m going to get settled. And I have to go out. Do you need anything?”
He suddenly sounded tight and formal. She thought of asking him if he wanted her to whip up some eggs and toast—all that they had in the fridge. But he suddenly seemed like he was in a hurry to get away.
“No, I’m fine.” Tessa was realizing she had no idea where she’d packed the cat food. And her mattress was standing against the wall in the guest room, blocked in by boxes. Weariness felt bone-deep. Where did she even begin?
“Okay, well…see you later,” he said and headed out the door.
A terrible thought occurred. Was he going to see Svana? Even though he’d promised not to sleep with anyone else? Just like she’d accidentally-on-purpose not mentioned Cosette?
And, more importantly, why was that a terrible thought?
She suddenly felt foolish about the threshold thing. Being carried into the house did not make this a real marriage or even a friendship, no matter how boyish his grin or how appealing that thick, wonderful head of hair was.
Living with him in this adorable little place was not playing house.
They were on a mission. Project Save the Bakery/Restaurant began tomorrow.
And she’d better not forget that.
…
Leo’s eyes were itching so bad he wanted to—well, he wanted this day to be over. They were also swelling up. And tearing. And his nose was running. And he’d sneezed at least seven times since he’d gotten into his car. At this point, even he was having trouble staying positive.
If he didn’t get on some antihistamines right now, he was going to wake up tomorrow with his eyes swollen shut and covered with hives.
And did he ever refill that EpiPen?
He couldn’t tell Tessa any of that after the day they’d just had, and after all he’d asked her to give up in order to make this arrangement work. It was clear she loved the animal, and he couldn’t stand to upset her after everything he’d asked her to give up. She’d looked a little hurt by his inattention to her cat, but staying would have sent him into anaphylaxis right smack in the middle of that old living room.
Even worse, Tessa was throwing him curveballs in ways he’d never expected.
She’d had the courage to go on with the ceremony when he’d faltered. She was superstitious. All her wildly colorful boho/hippie furniture clashed with his.
What should he expect from someone who named her cat after a character from Les Mis?
She was the worst possible wife he could have, because just looking at her pretty curves and her long wavy hair, beautifully disheveled like that, made him…well, made him think of her in very unbusinesslike ways. And that was a very, very bad thing.
Note to self: Never carry your wife over the threshold again.
As he drove to the 24-hour drug store off the highway, he made himself think of just how aggravating she was. Except today, she’d cried when her sisters had shown up. And that moment in the bathroom—she’d looked scared and alone. Yet she’d somehow managed to convince everyone their marriage was for real.
All of these things surprised him in a way he did not want to dwell on.
He walked into the brightly lit pharmacy and bought two different kinds of antihistamines, nasal spray, and some Benadryl just in case. And some water to wash it all down.
A drug store…on his wedding night.
He thought of the shock and surprise on the faces of the people he loved. His friends, his dad, his little sister. This game they were playing…it was real. It had consequences.
He was determined to place all his focus on turning both businesses around. All he had to do was play by the script he’d already written and see this through. And take a lot of anti-cat drugs.
That would leave him no time for distractions. Especially those coming from his pretty new wife.
Chapter Eleven
“How’s married life?” Vivienne asked a few nights later when she stopped to visit Tessa in the bakery. Tessa was starting to think that maybe she couldn’t call what she was doing sneak baking anymore, since everyone on the planet seemed to know exactly where to find her.
Tessa smiled. “A big change.” She hated lying to her family about her marriage. But what she’d just said happened to be 100 percent true. Even though she’d barely crossed paths with Leo since the wedding, since they were both so busy preparing to launch the next part of their plan, it was clear that both their lives had completely changed.
That included everything from having a strange coffee press and a real knife set on the kitchen counter to seeing boxer briefs in clothes baskets and smelling the spicy scent of mentholated shave cream in the bathroom. His shoes were always carefully lined up at the door, and he often spent his time before bed poring over work at his big desk. But besides being roommates, they’d had little other interactions.
Tessa nodded toward a counter stool. “Pull up a seat.”