Page 31 of Check You Out
The questions keep coming.
“How old is he?”
“What breed is he?”
“Does he like sitting in the baby carrier?”
My mouth goes dry with all the talking. My gaze darts to Xander, but he’s in the corner, flipping through a book about Stardew Valley recipes. Some help he is. I swear a woman is about to ask for my number when Charlotte is suddenly at my elbow.
Pointing to the paper cups in my hands, she asks, “Is one of those for me?”
“Yes, uh, the one with the C,” I reply and hand it to her, trying to focus on her face and ignore the buzzing clogging my ears. “It’s a London Fog.”
“Wonderful!” She exclaims and takes the cup, beaming at him. “Hey, let’s go in my office.”
Wow, Xander was right.
“Sarah, I’m heading to the back.” Charlotte grasps my hand and leads me through the bookstore. The buzzing dissipates, and my hearing clears. As we pass Xander, he flashes me a thumbs up. Thelma trills and runs behind us, darting through the doorway at the last second. She leaps on top of the desk and meows loudly.
As Charlotte closes the office door behind me, I can’t help but let out a sigh of relief, and a loud, “Thank you.”
She laughs. “Of course. Do you want me to leave you alone?” She runs a hand over her cat’s fluffy back. “Thelma will hang out with you if you don’t want human company.”
“Can you stay?” I ask.
“Of course. I’ve got two employees working on the floor and they can handle it..” She looks me up and down, taking in Lloyd still strapped to my chest. He squirms and kicks his little legs. “So, this is Lloyd?”
I told Charlotte all about my tiny dog the night before. How one of my students just showed up with him one day and offered him to me after their dog had puppies. I couldn’t resist the big, soft brown eyes. “The one and only.”
She points to my set up and says, “That has to be one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen.”
“You and everyone else think that. I hate it,” I reply and gaze down at him. I ruffle his little ears. He wakes up from his nap and looks at her with his big bug eyes. He gazes around the office. He finally spots Thelma on the desk and lets out a low growl. The fluffy cat just swishes her tail in curiosity.
“Is he wearing a shirt?” Charlotte asks as she gives Thelma a scratch behind her ear.
“Yes, he is.” I unhook the straps holding Lloyd in and put him on the ground, revealing his new shirt that says, “Save the Summerville Library!” along his back. He shakes his little body and gets up on his hind legs, pawing at her leg. “Xander knows a printer. I got one for Thelma, if she’ll tolerate it.”
Charlotte’s eyes grow wide, and she giggles, jumping on the balls of her feet while clapping. “Oh my gosh! Aidan, I love it. Thelma is going to love it too.” She reaches down to examine the little top and strokes Lloyd. He pants and wags his curled tail.
I pull out a tiny white shirt from my jacket pocket and hand it to her. Our fingers brush and my skin tingles as her soft skin meets mine.
But Charlotte doesn’t make any note about my touch and instead pulls the shirt over the cat’s head and her front legs. The cat doesn’t protest and instead rubs her face against Charlotte’s touch, while slowly blinking and flicking her tail back and forth.
“See! She likes it,” Charlotte declares as she scratches Thelma’s chin. The cat stretches and shakes once before walking over to me and head butting my hand. I run my fingers in between her ears, and she purrs like a motorboat. “She likes you too.”
“It seems she does,” I say, not hiding the surprise in my voice.
“Look at my little advocate! Wait, is that a QR code?” Her gaze switches back and forth from Thelma to me. “Does that go to the petition?”
I grin. “Yup.”
She laughs. It’s a beautiful, fully belly laugh, and my sides involuntarily move with her. “That’s amazing,” Charlotte finally says. “Aidan, I love it.”
“We also posted a bunch of flyers around town,” I say, shifting on the balls of my feet.
Her face falls. “Oh, but it’s raining. They’ll get—”
My mouth widens into a grin. “I laminated them on Friday. The school has a laminator machine.”
