Page 53 of Impurrfections

~Thanks for letting me know, kid. Stay well.

Nothing more. But somewhere out there, a big bear of a guy with a graying beard and a beer gut knew I still inhabited the same world.

“That’s nice of him.”

“Yeah.” I stuffed the phone into my pocket. “Is there someone you checked in with before inviting the weird homeless guy to your house?” I’d had buddies over the years who’d watched my back for a while in exchange for me watching theirs. But most of them were in the same broke boat I was, and moving all the time meant I’d lost touch.

Theo shook his head. “I have a good friend, Jamie, but he’s in Chicago with his boyfriend now. We still talk sometimes, but not like that. Not anymore.” He glanced out the window. “I don’t make friends easily. I have guys I sometimes hang out with in San Diego, mostly contractors and like that. But they don’t really know me.” The corners of his mouth turned down.

I rested a hand on his knee. “Their loss. Hey, I bet Arthur would totally come beat me up if I hurt you.”

That made him laugh. “More the other way around.”

“Or give us a good, stern talking to. One of those more-in-sorrow-than-anger things.” I’d had a boss for a while who was expert at those, a hardware store owner, a real good guy. But I’d had my wallet stolen and lost my rent money and had to move on. Arthur reminded me of that guy.

“Yeah.” Theo brightened. “I can’t wait to tell him the shelter’s a go. Get him in to look the space over, start throwing ideas around. He needs his nonprofit designation first, though.”

“He looked pretty nauseous at the idea of that paperwork. You might have to hold his hand for that part.” I didn’t like the idea of Theo and Arthur with their heads together, working on the shelter project. They’d surely see they were both way better people than me, and there wasn’t much I could contribute. But dogs like Foxy desperately needed that shelter, so I’d suck it up.

“You could be right.” Theo put the car in gear. “Maybe I’ll send Wynn, my local lawyer, to help him instead. Make sure it’s done right.”

My stupid heart did a little dance at Theo wanting to pawn Arthur off on someone else. Although maybe he just hated paperwork, too. “Wynn sounds like a good idea.”

Theo glanced at me. “You want to, um, swing by my place on the way back?”

“Is that code forwanna fuck?” I asked to buy time.

He flushed. “I guess so.”

I did, and I didn’t. My dick was, yeah, totally on board, but I still didn’t have my balance back on solid ground with Theo. Not all the way. Luckily, I had an excuse. “Dog to walk, honey. Unless you want to clean that bathroom floor.” The look that crossed his face at that blunder wasn’t pretty, so I quickly added, “Too soon?”

His frown eased and he managed a laugh. “Yeah, a bit.”

“Sorry. I don’t want to leave Foxy alone too long. Good bet Mimsy will figure out how to pull that door and let her loose, if she doesn’t do it herself. We need to head home and install that safety chain.” I’d picked up one of those door-chain things that would let Mimsy through, but not Foxy.

“Okay.” Theo pulled out of the lot.

It occurred to me I’d saidhome.I’d started thinking of the wine venue that way. But it wasn’t, and I needed to remember that. It would be a construction zone sometime soon, not a place I could live.And then what?

I shoved the question away in my head. I got through life by taking a day at a time. When you had twenty bucks to your name, thinking ahead just made you want to curl up in a ball and hide. “You sure you have a battery powered drill in the trunk?”

“Got my basic tool kit.”

“In a Tesla.”

“Kind of fits who I am.”

He stared straight ahead, his eyes bleak like that wasn’t a good thing, so I squeezed his leg higher up his thigh. “Hey, I like who you are.”

That lightened his expression.

I did some looking around as we drove, noting landmarks and street names, getting a better mental map of Gaynor Beach. Theo had pointed out that a smartphone would have GPS and maps. I’d pointed to the price tag. I had a map on paper, was good with spatial stuff, and rarely got lost. And this town was easy because there was the ocean all up one side and a river across the middle. You couldn’t get too far wrong.

When we got to the wine place, I unlocked the door with my new key and cracked it open carefully. Sure enough, Foxy wedged her furry nose through the gap. I grabbed her collar as I let Theo and me inside. Mimsy dodged out past our legs, and I called to Theo, “Put the rock in the door.”

He did what I asked, and I felt a glow of warmth that he knew what I meant and was taking care of Mimsy. I’d rarely had a person like that around.

Foxy wanted to follow the cat, so I had Theo hang on to her while I ducked inside to find her leash. Once she was hooked up, I let her trundle her fat belly out the door. Theo carefully reset the rock behind her, and I wanted to hug him—Oh, hell, why not.

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