Page 22 of Love Fast

A screeching yowl from somewhere interrupts us and we break apart, my hands falling from her face, our breath still mixing in the cold night air. Just as I begin to think I imagined the noise, Rosey—panting, chest already heaving—says, “Did you hear that? Was it a wolf?”

We shift to face the wilderness, but I can’t let her go completely. My hand slides down her arm and takes her hand in mine. “It didn’t sound like a wolf.”

The yowl sounds again, just before a long-haired white cat lands from nowhere on the porch railing.

“Fuck!” I say. “Where did that come from?”

Rosey starts to laugh next to me. “Not a wolf, then.”

“Way scarier than a wolf.”

“Byron, it’s the fluffiest cat I’ve ever seen. There’s nothing scary about it.” She leans forward, holding out her hand. “Here, kitty, kitty. Who do you belong to? Is she Beth and Mike’s cat?”

“I have no idea. But Beth and Mike live on the other side of town, so I doubt it.”

“Maybe we should feed it.”

“That will just encourage it to stay.”

She beams as I say it, like that was her exact plan.

“But it’s someone else’s cat,” I say, as if that’s the real reason I don’t want to encourage its presence here. “I’m sure they’ll miss it if you steal it away.”

Rosey narrows her eyes at me. “I’m not sure your intentions are honorable.”

I chuckle. “If you knew what I was thinking up until we got interrupted by that cat, you’dknowthey weren’t honorable.”

I enjoy the blush creeping over her cheeks. I glance back at the cat to find it staring at Rosey, like it knows she’s the soft touch here. It’s not wrong.

It jumps from the railing onto the floor by Rosey’s legs and starts to rub itself against her jeans. I can’t blame it. Wasn’t I ready to do the exact same thing a minute ago?

“I’ve always wanted a cat,” she says. “But there wasn’t enough room for all of us in our trailer, let alone a pet.” She scratches the cat under its chin and the cat starts to purr like a Bugatti.

“It’s loud,” I say.

Rosey laughs. “You jealous?” she asks. “You want me to tickle you under your chin?”

“You can do anything you want to me,” I reply.

“I’m going to take a rain check on that,” she says, letting go of my hand and standing. “I have an early shift tomorrow. I don’t want to piss off my boss on my second day.”

“Yeah, that would be a bummer.”

She laughs, though I’m not quite sure why.

I don’t want her to leave, but we barely know each other. I can’t expect her to stay. The cat follows her into the cabin, and all I can do is sit here and wonder how the fuck I almost kissed a near-perfect stranger, and why I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop myself next time.

TEN

Rosey

As Eden, Akira, and I file out of the locker room, ready to meet Hazel in the lobby for our second day of training at the Colorado Club, excitement fizzes across my skin. I hope I see Byron again after work. Less than a week ago, I was supposed to be walking down the aisle with another man. I know it doesn’t make sense that I’m almost kissing someone else. Not just almost kissing him, but thinking about him, dreaming about him, seeing him in strangers at work.

It's just more evidence that Frank was never meant to be my future. In the two years we were dating, I never felt butterflies in my stomach the way I do when I see Byron. I have a list of questions I want to ask Byron, and I keep thinking up new ones. I never had that urgency toknowFrank. Maybe whatever I’m feeling toward Byron is nothing more than childlike infatuation. But it feels good. It makes me feel alive. I’m excited for the new day. The fact that I never had that with Frank must mean I made the right decision by not marrying him.

“We’re going to start off by touring the swimming, gym, and spa facilities,” Hazel says. “We saw the Eat Well Café yesterday, but I want to get into the non-F-and-B aspects of the area. You’ll notice we don’t just saysportsor evenindoor sports. Indoor sports are divided into two areas. First swimming, gym, and spa, which are all on level one, and then the basketball, squash, racquetball, indoor tennis, and pickleball, which are all located on the basement level.”

“Is spa a sport?” Akira asks. She does it in such a gently inquisitive way, it’s like she was born a diplomat.

---