Page 28 of A Love Like Pumpkin Spice (Wayward Hollow #1)

Nic

“I can’t believe you’re taking your cat on a walk.” Lauren nods at my bag with a giggle, but I shrug.

“Cinnamon lived outside before she came to me.” My hand finds the little creature’s head for a quick pet. “I can’t just suddenly deprive her of it.”

“Wouldn’t she walk then?”

“What can I say?” I say, chuckling and hugging the bag with Cinnamon to my chest. “I tried to get her to, but she’s a lazy little lady.”

Cinnamon has turned into the biggest cuddle bug.

When I unlock my door, she’s already waiting behind it, meowing incessantly with a look that says, “How dare you leave me alone with the child for this long?” She immediately rubs herself against my legs until I’ve shimmied out of my shoes without losing my balance and scoop her up and cradle her to my chest.

Pumpkin couldn’t care less. She’s happy whether I’m there or not. Some days, I’m not sure she even knows the difference. Her gaze is always so vacant. I wouldn’t be surprised if she forgot about my existence when I’m not in the same room as her for more than ten minutes.

“Lazy and calm,” Lauren points out. “She’s really imprinted on you, hasn’t she?”

“Wherever I go, she follows. When I leave or close the door on her, she voices her displeasure. Loudly. Preferably right into my ear in the middle of the night when she has somehow managed to pry the door to my bedroom open. I’m sure a certain cheeky ghost cat is more than happy to assist her with that.

I’m only thankful I wasn’t blessed with two cats that have the pipes of Adele.

Little Cinnamon’s voice here is more of a Billie Eilish, her meow's are a lot softer, but higher-pitched.”

The three of them have turned into a mischievous trio that keeps me on my toes. “The other day, I’m 90 percent sure Chaos opened the door to the cat food container for them. I found them munching away on it in the kitchen.”

“She wants to be close because she loves you!” Lauren leans over to give Cinnamon a kiss on her head. “Such a cute little admirer. Not quite as cute as the human one, though.”

“Right,” I say, sensing my face turn red.

“Oh, there’s a story there.” Lauren immediately gets into Sherlock Holmes mode. Her stare burns into my skin while I do my best to keep my eyes forward with the best poker face I can muster. “Oh my God, you did it!”

“What?” I try to sound surprised, but internally, I’m panicking. Oh my God, what gave it away? Do I have “freshly fucked” written on my forehead? Because I feel like I do.

“Don’t try to lie—you’ve got a hickey on your neck.” Instinctively, I lift my hand to hide it, but Lauren bursts into laughter. “Relax. You don’t. I just wanted confirmation.”

“You’re … evil. And a genius.” I narrow my eyes at her.

“You may call me Einstein.”

“I’ll call you ‘Dr. Drakken,’ though your skin is a healthier color,” I say with an eye roll and nudge her with my elbow. “Let’s go to the town square park. Maybe Cinnamon will walk on her leash in the grass there.”

The town has become extinct, even though it’s a few minutes after noon. There are no humans on the streets, no cars driving by. Hell, I can’t even see anyone through any shop windows.

“ Where is everyone?” I ask and glance around curiously.

The antique shop and flower store have their big closed signs out, indicating their lunch break, but this is giving me zombie apocalypse vibes.

I’m not surprised though; Amanda appreciates her lunch time.

According to her, card readings on an empty stomach lead to erroneous results.

“Probably still at Caleb’s,” Lauren says overly nonchalantly, and I suddenly stop, narrowing my eyes at her.

“You’ve got a crush on the town grump!” I don’t know why I haven’t voiced it yet, but the way she said it, with a tinge of sadness and apprehension, tells me there’s something going on.

“I do, captain obvious.” She giggles and averts her eyes, an unreadable expression flickering before she schools her face.

“What are you going to do about it?”

She rolls her eyes. “I’m going to—ALARM!”

Suddenly, she grabs my arm and pulls me after her, ducking and motioning for me to do the same. We hurry past the gazebo and hide behind a bunch of bushes.

“What the fuck, Lauren?” I ask, but she puts her finger over her lips and shushes.

“What’s going on?” I ask more quietly, voice barely above a whisper.

“Enemy approaching,” she says cryptically, stretching her neck to peek over the shrubbery. “I swear I saw Jay and Marissa.”

My blood runs cold, and my heart beats into my throat. “What? Are you serious?”

“They just got out of the car.” She gets back into a crouch and gives me a strange look. “Maybe we should have them admitted to a mental health facility. That level of delusion can’t be healthy if they still think they can get anything out of you.”

“Please. They are hopeless. Jail would be better,” I whisper back and shake my head. “Fuck. What do I do, Lauren?”

“Run at them, bat swinging?”

“ Where would I get a bat from?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugs and takes another peek at what’s going on. “Can you launch Cinnamon at them like a Pokémon?”

“What’cha doing down there?” Both of us startle when a voice suddenly appears behind us. Lauren throws her hand over my mouth before I can squeal in surprise.

“Get down here,” she hisses at Kieran and when he doesn’t react, she reaches for his shirt and abruptly pulls him down to our eye level.

“Why are you two hiding? And, Nic, why are you glowing? You’re radiating. I saw it from all the way over there.” He points somewhere behind us, and I shoot him a stare that’s supposed to convey really?

“Oh.” The penny drops. “Ohhhh. Damn, girl. Congrats.” I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. Apparently, I do have “freshly fucked” written all over my forehead, after all. That’s not embarrassing at all.

“I swear, she’s been annoyingly happy all day,” Lauren chimes in, and I can’t help but rib her.

“Jealous?” I lift my eyebrow at them, lips stretching into a smile.

“Hell yes,” Lauren hisses with a pout and Kieran bursts into laughter. “Don’t laugh,” she scolds him. “Do you seriously want to tell us you’ve never had any problems that couldn’t be solved with a good fuck.”

“Can’t say I have,” he presses out, still chuckling. “In fact, my best fucks have only gotten me into trouble.”

“I will need those stories sometime,” Lauren says, curiosity written all over her face as she crosses her arms in front of her chest.

“Ohhh, you have a cat here.” Kieran suddenly notices and makes grabby hands toward Cinnamon with the brightest smile on his face, and I let him pull her out of the bag.

She meows in a weak protest that quickly dissolves when he cuddles her to his warm chest and tucks her into his jacket. “Who are you, cutie?”

“That’s Cinnamon,” I introduce her with a grin and watch him instantly fall in love with her. “Cinnamon, that’s Kieran.”

“Okay, okay, now with the introductions out of the way, we need to do something.” Lauren’s eyes dart between me and Kieran. “Her ex and her sister are in town.” She narrows her eyes at him. I guess she must have filled him in on everything at one point. “Are you up for a secret mission?”

“Always.” He gives us a terrible salute and hands Cinnamon back to me. “Tell me what to do, ma’am.”

“I like that.” Lauren grins before her face suddenly turns serious.

“They’re at Caleb’s. Go in there and try to find out what they want.

We’ll make a run for it while you distract them.

Make sure they don’t see us run for our lives.

When you have the intel, we meet at Nic’s house.

” She narrows her eyes at him even further. “Bring cat treats. And coffee.”

“And one of those marzipan thingies, please. I’m hungry,” I add.

“Make that two.”

“I accept the mission.” He gives the two of us a serious nod.

He stretches his neck to check our surroundings and all but jumps up, patting the dirt from his jeans, while trying to seem inconspicuous.

“Give me three minutes after entering.” He shoots the two of us a dramatic look.

“May fate be ever in your favor.” And then he runs off.

“Do you actually think he’ll find anything out?” I ask her, but she shakes her head, staring at her wristwatch and counting down the minutes until we make a run for her car.

“Let’s be honest, we both know why they’re here,” she explains, then gets ready to bolt. “But if he gets them distracted, that’s all we need. Now, let’s go.”

The n she takes my hand, and we run faster than I’ve run in years as I hug the bag with Cinnamon to my chest.

“That was boring.” That’s how Kieran greets me when I open the door for him. He walks in, immediately handing me a tray with three coffees and a bag of baked treats for us humans, then another one with treats for my cats.

Cinnamon immediately trots over, and he scoops her up to cuddle her to his chest, kissing her tiny head.

“You’re such a pretty girl. We’ll be best friends,” he coos at her while making his way to my living room like he owns the place.

“Oh. Hi, Lauren,” he greets her offhandedly before sitting on my couch and petting Cinnamon with a mischievous grin that would rival a James Bond villain.

“What happened?” Lauren asks, turning around with Pumpkin cuddled into her hood, her small face popping up between her hair. “Tell us everything.”

“Oh my God, there’s another one?” Kieran’s eyes widen.

“Right, I forgot you haven’t met them yet.” I point out. “That’s Pumpkin. She has as many brain cells as one, and she screams so loudly I fear for my windows every day.”

“God, she’s adorable.” He gazes at her dazed as he mindlessly pets Cinnamon, then shakes his head as if he’s waking up from a trance.

“But anyway, nothing happened. I stalled them for a few minutes, but ultimately Caleb kicked them out because of the ruckus your ex caused the last time. Didn’t give a fuck about your sister’s crocodile tears.

She couldn’t believe it. Honestly, it was glorious to watch. ”

“ I wish I could have seen that,” I mumble and sit on the couch too.

Immediately, both cats decide to not give a fuck about their respective humans anymore and make their way to me.

“Are you the cat whisperer?” Kieran asks, voice full of awe, and I chuckle.

“Nope, I’m just the favorite.” I grin and Kieran gets up to distribute the coffees I put on my coffee table. I hope Marissa and Jay will go back to wherever they came from if they can’t find me here.

And there are worse things than cozying up with my cats for a few days and keeping a low profile.