Page 83 of Single-Minded
I’d been planning on a dog. When I’d visited the shelter yesterday, I’d filled out paperwork for a dog. And then I’d seen one of the volunteers holding the cutest little kitten, and something about its eyes had stolen my heart.
The mostly white kitten had a few dark spots and hints of gray tabby marks on its head. The volunteer took me back to visit its two littermates, and I was a goner. The second one was mostly white too but had more and bigger spots, as well as more gray tabby markings on its head. The third one looked as if it’d been left in the color bucket even longer, with a white underbelly but gray tabby marks on its top half. They’d just been cleared for adoption a few hours before, and now they were my roommates: Mocha, Latte, and Chai.
Today was Friday, and I’d invited West and his daughters over to see the kittens and go kayaking after the workday—and yes, I’d bought one more kayak, this one teal and royal blue.
Nova and I were in the tandem boat. The girls had insisted West use the pink and purple kayak, and he was helping Sienna and Scarlet, in their individual boats, whenever they needed it.
As we made our way back toward my dock, Nova’s paddling was slowing, as West had warned me it would.
“Miss Presley, look!” Nova said.
I looked where she was pointing on the shore and spotted a small animal, maybe raccoon size, but it wasn’t a raccoon. “I see it,” I said in a loud whisper, not wanting to scare it as it crawled over a large rock at the shore two lots down from mine.
“Daddy!” Nova whisper-shouted and pointed.
West nodded and pointed out the animal to Scarlet as Sienna said, “It’s a groundhog.”
“Hi, Hoggy,” Nova said, forgetting to whisper.
“Nova, are you helping Miss Presley paddle?” West asked gently.
She took her time pivoting to face the front of the boat, then dipped her paddle in just enough to have a braking effect instead, making me laugh as the boat turned at an angle toward the shore.
“Oops, sorry,” Nova said when she realized what she’d done.
“It’s okay,” I said. “We got this, Nova. Two more docks and we can visit Mocha, Latte, and Chai.”
“Oooh,” she squealed. “I can’t wait.”
We’d spent nearly an hour playing with the little beasts before heading out in the kayaks. I was sure the girls were getting hungry in spite of the string cheese they’d snacked on. West had promised them pizza from Humble’s after our boating adventure. Since my kitchen was empty as usual, and it would look odd if I joined the four of them in public, I planned to get a pie for carry-out.
A lot had changed in the two weeks since my birthday. My home construction project was entering the last stages, with the main floor mostly done, just in need of a final detail here and there. West and his crew had a day or so of work in the bonus room above the garage, and they hoped to finish the boathouse and my new entertainment patio on the boathouse roof within the next week, weather permitting.
Since that first night at West’s house, he and I had managed to steal time together in secret as often as possible. He was like an addiction. I couldn’t get enough of him. It wasn’t just the sex, though that continued to be superlatively, mind-blowingly good. We got along well even with our clothes on. When we worked at the shop together, time flew by even though I was doing the most physical labor I’d ever done in my life and had the chronically sore muscles to show for it.
My shop was coming together, and I waffled between sheer excitement and utter terror that I’d fail at this venture. What business did I have opening a coffee shop in this small town I’d only just moved to? I might know financing and accounting, but I had no experience in retail or marketing.
I’d find a way to make it work soon enough, I supposed. West estimated we could finish by the end of next weekend.
Nova chattered nonstop about groundhogs and kittens and fish and turtles and I wasn’t sure what else the rest of the way to my dock. She went a mile a minute, and before I could respond to one thing, she was on to the next, so I mostly laughed and inserted a comment here and there between gentle reminders for her to paddle when she could.
“We’re coming, kitties!” she shouted as we rounded the dock, and I guided the boat toward the shore.
“Stay seated while I get out and pull us farther in, okay?” I said to her.
Nova sang her affirmative answer, pulling yet another grin from me.
As I carefully climbed out, West and the twins were just passing the dock right before mine because Scarlet had tried to paddle closer to the groundhog—in spite of Sienna pleading with her to give the “poor baby” some space—then had trouble turning her boat around.
I pulled the nose of the kayak as far up onto the shore as I could get it, then helped Nova out into the ankle-deep water.
She was off like a shot as I worked to pull the long boat all the way out of the lake.
Nova galloped out onto the dock, ushering in the other three kayakers. “Daddy! Hurry up! The kitties are?—”
A shriek rang out, and then a sickening thud sounded as Nova’s head hit the dock.
I sprinted to the spot where she lay on her back, crying for all she was worth.
