Page 73 of The Paid Wife: A Lesbian Romance

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nowhere to go again. She had someone to care for now besides

herself. She would never let Mr. Pickles go back to the shelter.

He’d been so unhappy there, basically wasted away to skin

and bones. The life was totally gone out of him when she’d

gotten him, but since then, she’d earned his trust with pets,

scratches, and treats as bribery.

“Speaking of,” Dani said, sitting back down with the cat

balanced on her lap. “I’m just about out of food. Want to go

shopping?”

“Now?”

“Yup.” Dani glanced at the clock on the wall. She

remembered her mom having the same one when she was

little. She’d look up and see it on the wall so often. It was

brown and yellow, a seventies beast made from wood with

painted yellow flowers on the face. She’d looked everywhere

and finally, after searching online forever, she’d found one just

like the one her mom had. “You don’t leave the house after

eight ever?”

“It’s just not for grocery shopping.”

“When should said shopping be done, then? Some of us

work during the day.”

“Oh. Uh. Yeah. Right. Sure, I’ll go. If you want to.”

Dani privately thought it might be a good distraction. She

kept on stroking Mr. Pickles, not wanting to disturb him now

that she had him settled. He was just starting to get his rattly

old purr motor going. It sounded like tin cans being grated

over barbed wire. It was probably one of Dani’s favorite

sounds in the entire world.

“You could probably use the distraction,” she said, stroking

Mr. Pickles’s head. He leaned into her touch and turned his

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