Page 24 of Glitter

“Doesn’t matter. You stuck it to the man, and Sir Cattus is presumably happy with it, even though he sounds like an out of tune violin being played with a tire iron. Color me suitably impressed.” I pressed my lips to his torso one last time before I reluctantly got off him and rolled to the side, my bladder arguing with me. “What can I cook for you for breakfast? Do you have enough ingredients for pancakes?”

“I think so.” He reached for me as I got off the bed, but he let his arm drop when he saw I was heading to the ensuite. Groaning, he scrubbed his hands on his face before he sat up, the sheets and blankets pooling around his lap. He looked around the room, then sighed, resigned to the new day starting.

Once we were refreshed and dressed, we headed out to the kitchen. Sir Cattus glared at us both when we opened the bedroom door before he sauntered his way slowly down the hallway ahead of us, his tail lifted high and flicking from side to side in contempt. I swallowed a laugh at his antics and chanced a peek at Henry, who simply shook his head, shrugged, and muttered, “He’s such a prima donna.”

While Henry pulled out the ingredients for pancakes, I took a closer look at the food and water dispenser he’d built. It appeared to be somewhat modular, with each mechanism easily able to be lifted out of the overall base to be cleaned or refilledas necessary without affecting the other segments. The first end section was a water fountain that looked like it continually bubbled away like a miniature infinity pool and was low enough that Sir Cattus wouldn’t have to bend down to lap at the water. The middle section was the dry food dispenser that looked like ones I’d seen in pet stores in the past, but the other end section intrigued me the most.

“That’s the wet food dispenser,” Henry said from the pantry door, his arms crossed as he watched me now that he’d finished getting everything ready to mix. “It’s more finicky than the other two, but it does the job.”

“How?” I couldn’t see how he’d figured out how to keep the wet food fresh and not clog the mechanism inside. I studied it as he came over and knelt next to me, lifting the lid off to show me the interior.

“The mechanism needs to be cleaned daily to keep everything in working order, which it does automatically, but the basic gist of it is this system here.” He pointed at a circular rotor that fed from one side. There were levers further up the casing, all at different lengths. The precision and ingenuity of how everything fit together astounded me. “It takes in the food pouch and holds it on a timer. Once the system determines that it’s time to feed Sir Cattus, it slices into the pouch and deposits the food where it needs to go.” He pointed to the hole that appeared to have a small turbine ready to spin when it was activated. “It’s a bit more involved than that, but that’s basically the gist of it.”

“And the automated cleaning?” I’d never seen anything like it before. I already thought Henry was a genius when he showed me the glitter bomb prototype, but this was on another level entirely.

He shifted on his knees to point at a different part of the machine. “Every time the wet food is dispensed here, the machine separates the dish trough to the inner workings ofthe dispenser. It then runs a wash cycle through,” he said as he scratched at his bearded chin. “Think of it like a miniature dishwasher or those glass washing machines that bars and clubs use. The dirty water needs to be emptied every second day, but I do that at the same time I refill the food supplies.” He pointed at another section where a pouch sat waiting to be dispensed, much like a junk food vending machine.

“Jesus, Henry. This is incredible.” I rocked back on my heels and stared at him before bringing my eyes back to the machine. “How long ago did you build this? Have you had any hiccups using it?”

He put the casing back on the machine and notched the locks into place before scratching his chin again. “About three years ago? I’ve had Sir Cattus for four years and it took me a few months to build and calibrate.”

My eyes widened as I took in the whole setup again. It all looked brand new. “And you haven’t had to do anything since then? It’s been working perfectly for three years?”

He shrugged and his cheeks flushed as he rose, then he offered me his hand to stand up as well. “Once I had the kinks ironed out, yeah.” He cast his eyes down like he was embarrassed. “It’s no big deal. I didn’t want Sir Cattus to starve, that’s all.”

I could feel the corners of my lips quirk as I shook my head. “Henry, there are pet owners out there that would pay big money to have this in their homes. You’re a fucking genius.” I stepped around him, washed my hands, then started mixing everything together for pancakes. “You could create a patent and sell it for millions. Or keep the patent and build and sell them yourself. Do you have any idea of the goldmine you’ve created?”

Henry’s cheeks darkened even more, and his eyes kept darting away, not meeting mine at all. It suddenly dawned on me that I might have been a little too enthusiastic in my praise, but I could only guess at the amount of pet owners, incredibly richpet owners, that would snap up his machine in a heartbeat, regardless of the cost. Peoplelovedtheir pets and spent huge amounts of money on them every day.

But sometimes it took an outsider’s perspective to show a person their own genius.

If Henry lacked the self-belief he needed to see his own brilliance, then I wanted to stick around and show it to him every single day, even if I needed to build his confidence slowly. Whatever it took, I was ready for it. He deserved it.

I reached out and rested my hands on his shoulders, turning him slightly until we were facing each other. “Or not. It’s okay if you don’t want to patent anything. I just wanted to make sure you know how magnificent you are.”

His gorgeous pale blue eyes finally swung back to mine, softening slightly when he saw how honest I was being. He was obviously still wary at what I’d said, but the appreciation was there in the playful glint that sparkled in the morning light.

“You understand that, right? You’re one of the smartest people I know, and I’m a scientist who works in cutting edge cancer research.” I gave him a goofy grin as I leaned in towards him like I was going to tell him a secret. “I know a lot of very smart people.”

He puffed out a laugh, his demeanor relaxing even more. “Thank you, angel.”

“You’re very welcome, my dear pocket bear.” I pecked a kiss on the end of his nose, then released him so I could turn back to the pancake mixture and make it into a batter. “Now. What would you like on your pancakes?” When I didn’t get a response, I looked over my shoulder to see him looking somewhat perplexed. “What?”

He tilted his head to the side and put his hands in his pockets. “Why do you call mepocket bear?”

I burst out laughing. “Oh, hon. You’re a bear.” I gestured the mixing spoon in the direction of his sturdy torso and thick beard. “With your beard and all, you’re the very definition of a bear.”

Nodding slowly, he absorbed that. “But whypocket?”

I smirked, dropped the spoon back in the mixing bowl and sauntered over to him before draping my arms around his neck, feeling the tension in his shoulders. “Because you’re short enough to fit in my pocket. I could pick you up, pop you in my pocket, and carry you around all day.”

A flush appeared on his cheeks before he looked away, mumbling, “I know I’m short and fat…”

“Hey now. None of that,” I said, frowning while I gently scraped my nails against the back of his neck. “I adore the fact that you’re shorter than me. And get that thought about you being fat completely out of your head. You might be sturdy, but you’re definitely not fat.” I leaned down and nipped his earlobe, lowering my voice to warmly say, “I meant it as a term of endearment, Henry. If you’re not comfortable with me calling you that, I promise I’ll stop.”

“No, it’s okay.” I felt the tension in his shoulders ease before he rested his hands on my hips, his fingers digging slightly into my clothes. “I’m not used to hearing that sort of thing said in a nice way…” He trailed off before the corners of his lips turned up in a tiny smile. “Thank you for explaining.”

I studied him carefully before I leaned down to kiss him softly. “I mean it, hon. If you don’t like it, I’ll stop. Just say the word.”

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