She—Quinn thought the cat seemed like a she—craned her neck and gave Quinn a level look through one good eye. Her other was at half-mast, giving her a somewhat inebriated expression that showed no fear but a lot of attitude.
“Don’t tell me,” she said. “You’re fifteen too.”
The ragamuffin cat dismissed her and turned back to the hens, who were still squawking like mad.
“Zip it,” Quinn told the chickens. “If you’d just shut the hell up, I’d get her out of here.”
The cat sat, tucking her tail around her body like she was a queen, clearly having no interest in going anywhere.
“Sorry,” Quinn said. “But you’re going to have to shoo.”
The cat didn’t shoo. Or take her eyes off the hens. Correction, her one good eye, which Quinn had a feeling wasn’t all that good.
“Does everyone on the planet walk all over you?” a female voice asked.
Quinn sighed and turned to face Lena. “What now?”
“I forgot that I needed more eggs. Carolyn always let me take whatever I needed.”
“Do you cook?”
“If offering people gum is cooking, then yes, I cook,” Lena said and shrugged. “I use the eggs in some of my spa stuff. I supplied Carolyn with face cream that she lived by. You could use some of it, by the way, you’re way too dry in your T-zone. You’re going to wrinkle up like a dried-apple doll in no time.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Quinn looked at the hens, who were still extremely worked up. She gestured for Lena to go ahead because there was no way in hell those chickens were going to let her take any eggs, and maybe this made her a bad person but she really needed some entertainment right about now.
But Lena moved into the pen and proceeded to get the eggs like a beast, moving fast and efficiently without a single problem.
“Seriously?” Quinn asked her. “You can’t be bad at anything?”
Lena smiled. “Nope.” She came out and eyed the cat. “Who’s that?”
“No idea.” Quinn looked over at the neighbor’s house but neither Jared nor Hutch was in their yard, which was meticulous and perfectly kept up. There was no way that they owned an elderly cat they’d leave to fend for itself, half starved.
So Quinn scooped up the cat and headed to Chuck’s house. He didn’t answer, but Kendall—dressed to the nines in a dress that couldn’t be more than three square inches—did. Her lip curled back at the sight of the cat.
“Who’s that?” she asked.
“I was going to ask you the same question,” Quinn said. “Is she yours? Or Chuck’s?”
“Ew, not mine,” she said. “I hate cats and Chuck’s allergic.”
Quinn walked back to Lena and set the cat down. They both took in the cat’s raggedy fur and the fact that one eye sloped funny. “She’s half starved,” Quinn said.
“She’s feral,” Lena said. “And I think she’s really old too. Probably mean. I’d be careful—”
Quinn looked at the cat. “You hungry? Wanna come inside for some food?”
As if the cat spoke English, she stood up and headed for the back door like she owned the joint.
Lena arched a brow.
Quinn, feeling triumphant for once, followed the cat, who’d stopped on the porch.
Quinn opened the door but the cat didn’t budge.
Leaving the cat there, Quinn poured a small bowl of milk and set it down on the kitchen floor.
The cat hesitated and swiveled her one good eye to Lena.
Lena raised her hands. “Just standing here.”
The cat walked past Lena into the kitchen and sniffed the bowl. Then she stuck her paw in it.
“Your cat needs the short bus,” Lena said.
“I don’t think she sees well, I think she’s looking to see where the milk begins.”
Even testing with her paw first, the cat still leaned in too far, got milk up her nose, and sneezed, blowing drops of milk. When she was done with that, she began to lap with a distinct lack of daintiness at the bowl, splattering milk everywhere. When she’d finished the bowl, she sat back and looked up at Quinn.
“She looks drunk,” Lena said.
“She’s cute.”
Lena snorted. “If you keep her, she’s going to tell all her friends, and by this time tomorrow you’ll have a hundred wild cats and we’ll all be calling you the cat lady.” Lena paused. “On the other hand, keep her. Keep them all. It’ll make you look crazy and I know Mick isn’t into crazy.”
Quinn, short on patience on the best of days, of which this wasn’t one, crossed her arms. “He dated you, didn’t he?”
For the first time since she’d stepped onto Carolyn’s property, Lena smiled. “You know, it’s really a shame we’re sworn enemies.”
Quinn sat on the kitchen floor, hoping the cat would come to her. “And why exactly do we have to be sworn enemies?”
The cat eyeballed her, consideringly.
Lena huffed out a sigh and sat on the floor too. “We’re sworn enemies because you’re sleeping with the guy I want to marry. Cat, don’t go to her, come to me.”
The cat climbed into Quinn’s lap and Quinn felt her heart squeeze when she then rubbed her head against Quinn’s shirt. “Ha. She likes me.”
“She’s marking you, making you her bitch.”
Quinn rolled her eyes.
“Don’t think I didn’t notice that you didn’t deny you’re sleeping with Mick.”
“It’s none of your business,” Quinn said. “And anyway, you had your chance.”
Lena deflated a little, and Quinn realized this wasn’t a joke or a game.
“I was young and stupid—emphasis on stupid,” Lena admitted. “But Mick was so serious back then. I didn’t realize it, but he had his hands full keeping Boomer out of trouble and giving school everything he had so he could get out of here, away from his hard-ass dad and everything. He was ridiculously responsible, and I mistook that for being too good for me.” She shrugged. “So I did what I always do and self-destructed my happiness.”
Quinn didn’t want to buy into this story, but she couldn’t help but feel sympathetic. “Have you tried stopping the pattern?”
“Unsuccessfully. The guy I was seeing before Boomer stole money from me.” She shrugged at Quinn’s sympathetic look. “So I bought a car for a couple of hundred bucks, registered it in his name, then parked it at LAX and racked up four hundred and fifty-nine parking tickets for him, totaling fifty grand.”
Quinn blinked. “Actually, that’s pretty brilliant.”
“Not crazy?”
“Oh definitely crazy,” Quinn said. “But crazy brilliant.” She reached up to the counter where she’d left Mick’s mom’s moonshine and offered it to Lena.
“I’m good but you go right ahead.”
Quinn’s first sip was nearly her last. Fire burned a hole down her windpipe and her eyes were streaming by the time she managed to stop coughing.
Lena grinned. “Lightweight.”
“Shut up. And for the record, you’re still sabotaging your happiness. You’ve got a great guy waiting for you to grow up, but instead you’re chasing a unicorn.”
“Unicorn? You think Mick’s a unicorn?”