He actually sounds like he’s trying to help, so I thank him. I ride to the top floor, where sure enough, I find a sign that points to a hot tub. I follow it, open the outside door, and find Kathleen. In a chair, like James said.
Two kids splash around in the spa, and their mom sits nearby reading a magazine. Kathleen sits in a chair off to the side of the open deck, looking out toward the mountains and cradling Juliet in her arms.
I grab a chair and carry it toward her. When she sees me coming, she turns away.
“I don’t want to talk to you,” she says.
I sit beside her. Normally, I’d respect her wishes, but this isn’t the time to back down. “Please, Kathleen. Give me a chance to explain.”
“What is there to explain? I think it’s all pretty obvious.” Her voice is loud and scratchy, as if she’s been crying. She glances past me at the family. The mom looks very still, like she’s eavesdropping.
“It’s not as obvious as it may seem.” I pull my chair an inch closer. Juliet watches me, her green eyes passive. She really is a stunning cat. In so many ways, her quartz white fur and lime green eyes are the exact opposite of my black and amber Romeo. They would make a gorgeous couple.
“Hello, Juliet,” I say.
“Don’t speak to her.”
I sigh. “Kathleen, please. Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Ridiculous?” She starts to stand.
“Wait! I’m sorry, bad choice of words. Please hear me out, okay?”
She sits, jostling Juliet, who blinks and meows in an annoyed way. “Fine. Go ahead.”
Showtime. I have to make this good. I turn toward her and balance my forearms on my thighs.
“Okay. Friday night in the lounge, I had no idea that you were Juliet’s owner. I really didn’t. You weren’t in any of her posts, and since we only traded DMs over the months, I never knew your real name. You obviously didn’t know mine, either, or what I looked like, so I hope you believe that.”
I wait, but she doesn’t answer. She doesn’t even look my way. She’s staring at the view, her hand moving slowly through Juliet’s fur.
“And to go back farther, I’m so sorry for some of the comments I made online toward you and Juliet. That was petty and immature. Honestly, I thought you might take the whole feud thing as a joke, like I did, but I realized after a while that you didn’t. I tried to stop, but by then, our fans had caught on and, well, it became a flame war.”
She nods at that, at least, so I push on.
“When I got here to CatFest, I figured I would see you at the meet and greet and hopefully start fresh. I’ve always thought a Romeo and Juliet partnership was a good idea, and I hadn’t given up on the idea. But honestly? I thought you’d be some old crone who taught Shakespeare in high school and dressed up one of her many cats for a laugh. I mean, how wrong could I be?” I lean closer. “Kathleen, when I saw you checking in Friday night, all I knew about you was that you were the most breathtaking woman I’d ever seen, and I had to meet you. Then, when I met you, I knew I needed to spend every minute I could with you for as long as you’d let me. And then, when I found out Juliet was yours . . .” I shake my head. “I couldn’t tell you the truth, because I knew you’d hate me as soon as you found out who I was.”
She’s listening, I can tell, but her warm brown eyes hold no clue as to how she’s taking my explanation. She surprises me by speaking.
“You must have known who I was. You asked that Boyd guy to pretend to be you at the meet and greet yesterday.” Her voice is diamond sharp.
“I saw you with Juliet from the back of the room, and I begged Boyd. I had to agree to go to his favorite bar for a week. And after James stabbed him last night, I’m going to owe him two of my most valuable signed baseballs from my collection.”
The corner of her mouth quirks up, only a fraction of an inch, but it sends wild blooms of hope shooting through my body. She might forgive me. She might.
“He’s your cousin, isn’t he?” she says.
I nod. “I really wanted you two to meet, but . . .” But what? I’m a coward who couldn’t bear to tell her the truth.
She interrupts. “You could have been honest. You should have been honest.”
My head bobs up and down. “I know. You’re absolutely right; I should have. But at the time, I couldn’t risk you not speaking to me for the rest of the convention, and then never seeing you again. I felt I had to do everything I could to stay near you, even if it meant withholding the truth from you.”
She bites her lip, and I can’t tear my eyes away. I desperately wish I could touch her mouth myself and never stop kissing her.
“What about this morning?” she asks. “You were more than willing to accept the sponsorship Maya was offering.”
“No, I . . . that didn’t go the way I thought it would. When I got to breakfast, I didn’t know you’d be there.”
She makes a face. “That was obvious.”
“I’d planned to turn down the sponsorship if Maya offered it to me and ask her to give it to you. But when she suggested we share it, I hoped you might agree to work with me.” I inch a tiny bit closer and put a hand on the arm of her chair. She leans away slightly. “Think about it, Kathleen. What if we did work together? With Purina’s help, we can create something bigger than my account or yours. Together, we might even overtake the big guys like Nala or Grumpy Cat.”
She looks away. “Which is what you’ve wanted from the very beginning.”
“Yes! But . . . I know I came on too strong in my messages.”
“That’s a bad habit of yours,” she says.
I nod. “It probably is. And being afraid of connection is one of yours.”
She stiffens. “What do you mean?”
“You’re a gorgeous, fun, creative woman, Kathleen. Why aren’t you married? Or at least in a serious relationship?”
Her eyes, narrowed like a viper’s, lock on me. “That’s none of your business.”
“Why do you still live with your brother?”
“I mean it, Joe. Stop right now. You have no right to comment on my life choices.”
She’s probably right, but it’s time to go for broke, even if what I break is my own damn heart.
“There was no reason for you to turn down our partnership when I first suggested it, and yet you did. It was a great idea, but you could only see that I’d ripped off your Shakespeare theme. Well, I have news for you. Shakespeare belongs to everyone. Not just you and Juliet.”
She starts to argue, but I raise a hand. “Let me finish. And now, Purina is offering a way for us to succeed together, and I can tell you’re going to say no. Why? To punish me? I’ve told you the truth. I went about things the wrong way, but I never wanted to take advantage of you. I’d happily give up the sponsorship for you, and I already told Maya that.” I swallow hard, hoping against hope I’m not making this all worse. “I think you’re afraid. You’re afraid of commitment. Of falling in too deep. Maybe even of succeeding. It’s easier to stay in your old job and keep enabling your thirty-going-on-thirteen-year-old brother than to be vulnerable and allow something—and someone—new into your life. Because although it could be mind-blowing, it could fail just as spectacularly. And you’re too scared to try.”