Page 15 of The Sexy Part
Mee-rrowr! Mee-rrowr! Mee-rrowr!
I jackknife up in bed. The high-pitched cry sounds like a cat in distress. Mackenzie did say she had a cat. Felix, that’s right.
I open my door. A gray cat with a white mustache and white chest stares at me. There’s a small pink toy monkey in front of him. He picks up the monkey and drops it on my foot.
“Did you hunt for me? Thank you. Goodnight.”
I turn to go, and the cat zips past me into the room. “I thought you only liked Mackenzie.” I scoop him up, and he goes limp. I carry him out to the hallway and kick his pink monkey across the hall. There. I shut the door and pad back to bed.
Ahhh. Now I can sleep.
Mee-rrowr! Mee-rrowr! Mee-rrowr!
I roll to my side and cover my ears with the pillow.
Mee-rrowr! Mee-rrowr! Mee-rrowr!He’s getting louder and more insistent.
I roll out of bed, stride over, and open the door. The pink monkey is back. He drops it on my foot.
I pick it up. “Thank you, Felix. Goodnight.” This time I slip inside, keeping my foot blocking the entrance so he can’t get in. Eww, the monkey is ratty and damp. I drop it on the floor.
I’m not even back in bed before he starts again, only now it’s caterwauling. It sounds like a baby crying.
I march to the door and fling it open. “What?”
Felix runs in, ignoring the monkey, and jumps on my bed. He curls up on my pillow.
I leave the door open so he can leave when he gets bored. Then I set him on the floor, get in bed, and stare at the ceiling. I’m so exhausted. I just want to—ah!
I yelp as Felix lands on my chest. He stretches across my torso, resting his head between his paws and staring at me. I reach out and rub the side of his cheek. He leans into my hand and purrs. I guess it’s not so bad having a warm cat purring on me.
I pet him, glad for the sweet company. “I’ll figure things out in the morning.”
He yawns.
I crash into sleep and dream of chasing a groom through the zoo and landing in the lion’s den. I wake in a cold sweat, breathing hard, confused about where I am.
I spot Felix curled up next to me on the bed. Right. Mackenzie and Harper’s place. Clover Park. My disaster of a wedding.
I punch the pillow and flop down again.Go to hell, Dave. And stay out of my dreams!
3
As soon as I wake up, I cancel my business credit card and get a new one. The old one was in my name only because Dave had bad credit for defaulting on student loans. I got him an employee card on my account. I’ll go to the bank on Monday to open a solo business bank account and transfer my half of the money from our joint business bank account. Not that there’s a lot in there. Most of what we made, I invested back in the business. I don’t want Dave having access to my half of the money. I no longer trust him.
That taken care of, I go to the kitchen in search of coffee and find Mackenzie getting the coffeemaker going. She’s in running clothes, her long brown hair up in a high ponytail.
She smiles. “Hey, Rowan. How’d you sleep?”
“Not too bad. I’m just happy I slept at all.”
“Every day will get a teensy bit easier.”
“Are you as full of positivity as your brother?”
She gets two thick white mugs from the cabinet. “Probably. You met my mom. She’s always looking to the bright side, full of hope. I think it’s, like, a rule for a wedding planner.”
Felix winds around my leg, and I stroke him behind the ear.
