Olivia leaned back in her chair. She crossed her arms over her chest, tilted her head, and said, “Holy shit, you have feelings for her.”
“No, I don’t.” He dropped his fork and said, “Why in the hell would you say that?”
“So you only like her as a friend.”
“That’s right.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.” Jack wanted to growl at Olivia, but like he was in a cheesy rom-com, an image of Hallie saying bartender every time Vanessa had called her a waitress played in his mind, followed by the sound of her laughter as that stupid fucking cat burrowed into her black skirt and covered it with orange fur. His chest hurt and he felt a little light-headed. “Shit. I don’t know.”
Olivia’s mouth dropped open and she gasped, but she quickly closed it and held up a hand. “It’s not up to me to know anything about your feelings. But, Jack, if you don’t want her to go out with this guy, why don’t you just mess up their next date?”
“This is what the advice columnist has to offer? They should fucking fire you.”
“No, listen. Just something stupid, like canceling their dinner reservation before they get there or showing up at the cat adoption place even though he’s going because you just want to help your bestie.”
“I have to go.” Jack stood, banging his knee on the table in the process and growling through his teeth, “Dammit.”
“I’m not done, you tool,” Livvie said, staring at him with huge eyes like he’d lost his mind as she shoved a fry into her mouth. “And you literally haven’t taken a bite of your lunch yet. Sit your ass down.”
“Can’t.” Jack shook his head and headed for the door, needing air because he wasn’t sure he could handle his epiphany. He wasn’t sure he could handle how stupid he’d been. He needed to be alone and think, so he said to Olivia over his shoulder, “I have to bail, Liv.”
A few hours later, he found himself walking into the animal shelter. The minute he went through the door, he could see Hallie and Alex, standing at the counter. Hallie was talking to the woman behind the desk, and Alex was saying something that was making her smile.
Jack was supposed to be the one making her smile.
He walked up to Hallie and said, “Where’s our cat?”
“Jack,” she said, looking surprised. “What are you doing here?”
He shrugged, feeling a little stupid but also happy about the way she was looking at him. “I just thought after we saw Tigger’s propensity for rage this morning, you might need some help getting him home.”
“Hi, I’m Alex,” the blond clown said, smiling and extending his hand.
“Jack,” he replied, shaking the guy’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“And I’m Carole,” said the woman who was standing behind the counter in a light blue smock. “Let’s go get your cat.”
Jack followed Hallie as she tried to get her fat boy into a kennel that she and the clown had apparently just purchased at Target. Dammit. The cat did not want to go in, and it seemed as if Jack and Alex were in some sort of primitive contest to win Hal’s favor by being the one to succeed.
Alex tried patience, holding out his hand and waiting in a crouch for Tigger to come over. Hallie, on the other hand, kept trying to pick him up, but the furball was not having it. In the end, Jack won, simply because he was quick and basically landed on top of the cat and pinned him down until Hallie could get him scooped into the carrier.
When they were finished at the shelter, Hallie said, “I’m so glad you came, Jack. Obviously we couldn’t have done this without you.”
“Yeah,” Alex added, smiling at Jack even as they both shared a knowing look about what was really going on.
“No problem,” he said as she looked at her cat through the kennel door.
“We’re going back to Hallie’s for Chinese takeout,” Alex said, stepping marginally closer to her. “Want to join us?”
Hallie looked up from the kennel and right at Jack, grinning and making a funny face. He wasn’t sure if it was meant to convey Please come and save me or Don’t you dare; I want to be alone with my date.
“I’ve got plans, but thanks,” he said.
As Jack walked to his car, he cursed his sister and her stupid ideas, because there was no way his visit to the shelter did a damn thing to derail Alex’s progress with Hallie, or to put Jack in some better position—not that he necessarily wanted to be in a better position.
But a few days later, when he wanted Hal to meet him at Taco Hut but she couldn’t because she and Alex had fancy dinner reservations, he lost his damn mind. He heard Olivia’s voice in his head, dialed the fancy seafood bistro, and said, “I need to cancel a dinner reservation.”
Chapter
THIRTEEN
Hallie
Hallie closed her apartment door and hit the dead bolt. As she kicked off her shoes and dropped her jacket on the floor, she realized she was still smiling. Alex had left her at the door five minutes before, yet the smile was still on her face.
She didn’t see Tigger—he’d been with her for a week now, and every time she came home he was asleep on her pillow—but that was easy to fix. She walked over to the kitchen, opened the utensil drawer, and took out the can opener. From the bedroom she heard the telltale mrrreow before heavy paws landed on the wood floor and he hightailed it in her direction.
Yes, Tigger’s superpower was that he could literally hear the clicking sound of the can opener from anywhere on the planet.
“Hello, Tiggy,” she said as she crouched down and petted his fuzzy orange head. She still couldn’t believe she had a cat, but she was grateful to Ruthie for the whole weird moving-out debacle, because she was head over heels obsessed with Tigger. “Let’s get you some tuna.”
She opened the can and poured the contents into a saucer. Her phone buzzed in her pocket as she turned to toss the container. She expected it to be Alex, but it was Jack—who’d been weirdly quiet over the past few days. But perhaps he was as smitten with his PhD girl as she was with Alex and didn’t have time to text.
Jack: How was dinner?
She took the phone into the bedroom and plopped down on her bed. OK, so listen to this. I told you Alex made reservations at the Aquarium, right?
Jack: Yep—so fancy.
Hallie: Well, we got there, and there was no reservation and no tables. Alex’s face got all red and he looked pissed.
Jack: Did Jekyll become Hyde over expensive fish?
Hallie: No, Jekyll became fucking Romeo.
Jack: He poisoned you?
Hallie: He went outside and made a phone call, and then asked if I minded going on a walk for a bit.
Jack: So he called his mom to talk him off the rage ledge.
Hallie: Shut up and wait for it. We took a walk, and then after like thirty minutes he led me to an igloo in the park. We went inside and there was heat, twinkling lights, and a picnic blanket on the ground with to-go burgers and fries.
Jack: Shut the fuck up.
Hallie laughed and still couldn’t believe it. Right?!