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Before Kaison can give them the update, Joyce looks down at Mittens, who is still curled up in his lap.
“Well, who is this cutie?”
“This is Mittens,” I say. “She’s our little stowaway.”
Kaison laughs. “We had no idea she was in the car until we got here.”
Kaison fills them in on how his mom is doing, being sure to let them know she was sneaking out of bed and getting on her feet more than she should.
“That sounds like her, ignoring the doctor’s advice and trying to overdo it,” Joyce says.
“Well, don’t tell her I’ve told on her,” Kaison says.
“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it,” Maybelline says.
Somehow, I’m not sure I believe her.
“Speaking of doctors, your sweetheart looks like she needs to see one.”
“What do you mean?” Kaison says, looking over at me.
“Take a look at her hand,” Joyce says. “I was a nurse for thirty-five years. You look like you’re having quite the allergic reaction.”
Kaison looks over at me. “Oh, no. That’s gotten pretty bad.”
I try to bend my fingers, but they’re so stiff and swollen it’s hard to do.
“Maybe you’d better go swing by Dr. Bradley’s office.”
“We were actually going to have him come to the house to give her an allergy shot,” Kaison says. “But we got busy and never called him.”
“Well, I’d say you’d better make that a top priority today,” Joyce says.
“Thank you, both of you. As soon as we finish this coffee, we’ll have to head in that direction.” There’s no way I’m taking coffee into a Lamborghini that belongs to the CEO of Keith Enterprises. It’s bad enough that we had a little stowaway. Hopefully, Mittens didn’t scratch up any of the leather.
We finish up our coffee, and just as we’re heading out the door, Kaison gets a phone call.
“It’s my dad.” He puts it on speaker and opens my door for me.
“Hey, Pops. How’s it going?”
“Kaison, why is my Lamborghini sitting in front of Blue Mountain Brewery?”
My heart is pounding so hard it’s about to leap out of my chest. This is it. My job is toast.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Kaison smoothly says.
“Very funny. After I drove by, I checked the footage on the security cameras and saw you and Ariana getting into the car.”
I knew I shouldn’t have let him talk me into getting into that car.
“I thought you were out of town,” Kaison says as we climb into the car.
“I just arrived today. Please return my car and don’t leave your trash in it like you did last time. You know I don’t like it when you take my car without asking.”
“Hey, someone needs to drive it around town once in a while. It’s not good to just let your car sit for too long.”
“Oh, I see. You were just doing me a favor. Getting to thechoresI don’t have time for.”