Page 40 of At the Heart of It (The Can’t Have Hearts Club #4)
“You remembered to put glue in it this time?” Jonah pressed Lucifer’s squishy pink paw pad to reveal the claws on his right hand. Lucifer responded with a hiss that sounded like a malfunctioning espresso machine.
“Yes, I remembered.” Jossy held the cat still while Jonah wrestled the nail tip onto the cat’s first claw.
He drew back, admiring his handiwork. “Why the pink glitter?”
“Because the vet clinic was out of more manly colors.” Jossy stepped back to fill another claw tip with glue. “Sorry, Lucifer.”
The cat growled as Jonah slid the next claw tip into place. “You’re seriously compromising his manhood here.” He positioned another glittery pink object over the next claw. “And mine,” he added as Lucifer delivered another rabbit-kick to his nuts.
“Sorry, Sorry.” Jossy handed him another claw tip and grabbed the cat’s rear wheels again. “Seriously, Jonah—I owe you for this. Declawing is such an inhumane thing to do to a cat, so this is truly a kindness you’re doing for him.”
Lucifer growled again, unimpressed by Jonah’s kindness. Jonah grabbed another claw tip from Jossy and slipped it into place, getting more comfortable with the task even if Lucifer wasn’t.
Maybe this would be a good time to broach the subject of the computer-controlled knee. They’d discussed it before, but not recently. And never when it was a real possibility. Never when Jonah was in a position to make this kind of difference in Jossy’s life.
He was thinking about how to bring it up when Jossy interrupted his thoughts. “Have you seen the footage yet?” she asked. “The stuff they shot at the animal shelter the other day?”
“Not yet. Kate mentioned something during filming yesterday. Said post-production was putting together a promotional thing on YouTube.”
“Will you get to see it before it goes out?”
“She offered, if we wanted to see it. Apparently they can’t email it out, but she’s willing to pull it up on her laptop and show us when she gets the files tomorrow night. We could both meet up with her if you’d like.”
“No.” Jossy bit her lip and handed him another claw tip. “I think I’d be too nervous. Maybe you could watch it first and tell me what you think?”
“You’re so weird.” Jonah wiggled the glittery pink claw tip into place and held out his hand for another.
They lapsed into silence for a moment, each of them focused on the task of helping the uncooperative cat. When Jossy spoke, her voice was barely audible.
“Jonah?”
“Yeah?”
“I had a dream last night that I was riding a bike.”
He looked up sharply, and Lucifer saw his shot at escape. Jonah gripped the cat tighter, subduing him without taking his gaze off his sister.
“Wow, that’s—does that happen often?”
She shook her head, eyes glittering a little. “No, that’s why I told you. It kind of shook me up. I mean—I’ve barely even thought about bike racing for eighteen years.”
“Really?”
She shrugged and handed him another nail tip. “I mean, sure, I’ve thought of it. In that way you think something absurd like, ‘I wonder what it would be like to buy a two-thousand-dollar pair of stilettos and sashay through downtown Seattle.’”
Jonah frowned and slid the next claw tip into place. “You lost me there.”
“I just mean, it’s impossible,” she said.
“It’s not impossible, Joss.” Jonah kept his voice soft, both for Lucifer’s benefit and his sister’s. He couldn’t believe his luck at having her broach the subject. This had to mean something. “We’ve talked before about the computer-controlled knees.”
“Please.” Jossy rolled her eyes. “You think two-thousand-dollar shoes are insane. A prosthetic like that? You could buy a hundred pairs of those shoes for the cost of one of those.”
“Call me crazy, but only one of those options sounds practical.”
“That’s not even remotely practical,” she said. “Even if money were no object, it’s a silly thing to spend it on.”
He started to tell her money was no object. Thanks to the show, that was almost the case. But should he really count chickens that hadn’t hatched? The show hadn’t formally been picked up yet. Anything could happen.
Jossy shook her head and handed him another nail tip. “I wasn’t telling you about the dream to complain. I just thought it was interesting.”
Jonah nodded, not ready to let the subject go just yet. He thought about Kate’s words the other night.
“That really fucking sucks.”
It did suck on so many levels. He’d spent eighteen years trying to make it up to Jossy. Trying give back some of what he’d stolen from her. Trying to live up to his father’s last request.
But shirtless dog walks and cat manicures could only go so far.
“What if a computer-controlled prosthetic just landed in your lap?” he asked.
Jossy snorted. “Ouch.”
“I don’t mean literally. Like what if insurance suddenly paid for it or something.”
He kept his gaze on the cat, not wanting her to read too much into the “or something.”
“I don’t know,” she said slowly. “There’s no point in even talking like that. It’s never going to happen, Jonah.”
He took another nail tip from her and slid it onto Lucifer’s claw. For the first time, he saw a faint shimmer of hope. Things would never be the same for Jossy, but if he could just make this happen for her?—
“We’re almost done,” Jossy said. “Hang in there, sweetie pie.”
“That’s right, buddy.” Jonah glanced at his sister and smiled. “The end is in sight.”