“What…do you mean?” Ronnie said, her brow wrinkling.
Ginger began to meow in her carrier, which he had set down on one of the recliners. He gestured toward it. “I have to make sure Ginger is happy here. So after I start up the fire, you can get her litter box set up and let her out of her carrier while I boil some water for tea. See how she takes to her temporary digs. And if she shows me a reasonable amount of love—and doesn’t tear my place apart—I’ll be happy to keep her.”
“You didn’t tell me there would be conditions,” she protested, shooting him an accusing look. “I thought her staying with you for a couple of days was a done deal.”
Red gazed at her for a long, worrisome moment. She couldn’t believe that he had first said yes, only to now reveal that things might not work out after all…
“It is,” he said, grinning. “I just couldn’t resist teasing you.”
* * *
Red was acutely aware of Ronnie shuffling about, setting up Ginger’s food and water dishes. He felt warm and rolled up his sleeves, but he suspected that it had little to do with the fire. The warmth was inside him. Despite the warning voice telling him he should remain detached, he knew deep down that he liked having Ronnie around. In his house, in his truck, on his pond. In a restaurant. Sleeping by the fire…
Maybe “liked” wasn’t the right word…
A couple of glances over his shoulder as he arranged the kindling on top of the logs in the grate revealed Ronnie preparing the litter box and placing it in a corner behind a large potted plant. He heard Ginger’s contented purring as she lifted her out of the carrier and set her down in the litter box. When the fire was robust, Red drew the panels of the safety screen together and stood up. He walked over to where Ronnie was and they both watched as the kitten leaped over to the area rug, surveying her new surroundings and emitting a few plaintive mews.
He and Ronnie exchanged bemused glances, and he couldn’t help thinking how natural it felt to be doing this with her. Watching their new kitten together.
Whoa. Her new kitten.
“Oh, look, Red!” Ronnie clasped his forearm. “She’s rolling like a little ball. Oh, my gosh, she’s so cute!” And then she let go to kneel down on the rug beside Ginger.
Red watched her playing with the kitten, his pulse elevated from the brief touch of her fingers on his arm. He smiled at Ginger’s antics and at Ronnie speaking to the kitten as if she were a child, and stroking her after each roll or tumble. In the background, he could hear the intermittent crackling of the fire.
Anybody looking in on them would think they were a happy family…
That’s all he had ever wanted growing up…to do normal things with his parents, like the other kids in his class and in his neighborhood. Simple things.
Things that Ronnie probably did with Andy…
And things that he could imagine himself doing one day. With his own kid…
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CLASPING RED’S FOREARM had been involuntary. It had happened before she could even think about stopping herself. The feel of his bare arm under her hand had instantly restored her awareness, though, and she had casually let go and knelt on the carpet with Ginger, making sure that her flaming cheeks were not in Red’s line of vision.
Ronnie watched Ginger as she then ambled toward the pet bed that Ronnie had placed a comfortable distance from the fireplace. The kitten sniffed curiously around it and explored other nooks and crannies around the room before returning to curl up in it. Ronnie cheered inwardly and as Red excused himself to go to the kitchen, she sat down on one of the recliners. She would leave after a quick text to Casson.
She was happy to hear that the baby’s fever had gone down, and Justine was feeling better. Relieved, Ronnie texted that she’d be over in the morning to share the details of the business meeting with him. A glance toward the cat bed made Ronnie set down her cell phone quickly. Ginger was gone. A quick scan of the room showed no sign of her.
She had to find her. Ginger could get into anything in such a huge place and ingest something that could be harmful… Her heart drumming, Ronnie dashed into the kitchen, breathlessly told Red that she was looking for Ginger, and dashed out again. The doors down the foyer were all closed so she headed to the carpeted stairway. Ginger was small, but she could have managed the trek upstairs.
Ronnie’s dismay grew as she inspected the first two rooms and found no sign of Ginger. And no luck in the room she had occupied her first night in the mansion. She entered the open double doors of the room opposite that one, and with a jolt realized she was in the master bedroom. Red’s room.
She had never seen such a huge room. It incorporated a living space with an amber leather couch and chair. The king-size bed with what she realized, as she stepped closer, was a live-edge slate headboard. The floor was a gleaming expanse of dark hardwood. The entire wall behind the bed consisted of floor-to-ceiling window panels, providing a view of the pond and a majestic stretch of snow-dusted pines. Two of the side panels were actually doors leading to a balcony jutting out in a spacious half-circle.
As she turned away from the view, her gaze fell on a photo frame on the night table near her. Someone had taken a photo
