Like Cats and Dogs by Kate McMurray (scary books to read TXT) 📗

He just liked her.

So they ate yogurt. And when they were finished, they sat in the booth with their empty cups and kept laughing and talking. And when the staff kicked them out because the store was closing, they walked back outside, and Caleb wanted to take Lauren’s hand. Except, no, they weren’t in that kind of relationship.

“What train do you take home?” Lauren asked.

“I can take almost anything. The 4/5 or the 2/3 or anything that goes to Jay Street.”

“Let’s get the F, then. That’s the train that stops nearest my building.”

“All right. Lead the way.”

Lauren’s knowledge of the city streets was clearly much better than Caleb’s. She confidently led him south toward Bryant Park. On the way, they chatted about new building developments—Lauren pointed at a skyscraper a few blocks away that hadn’t existed a couple of years before—and how the city changed. Caleb found the amount of construction in Manhattan and Brooklyn to be puzzling at times, wondering where there was even room for new developments, but New York was a forward-facing city, constantly sloughing off the old to replace it with the new.

Then he said, “Oh, that Randolph guy you mentioned stopped by the clinic the other day. He seems like a scumbag.”

Lauren laughed. “Yeah, he’s pretty slick. Diane told him she wasn’t selling in no uncertain terms, but I guess he’s not taking no for an answer.”

“He assured us he’d keep the vet clinic in the short-term, at least until he rips down all the buildings on the block to put in some phallic high-rise.”

Lauren scrunched up her nose. “That wormy little assistant of his asks a lot of questions about health department regulations. The law is clear that I can serve food as long as the animals are kept in a separate room. I’m worried he still might file a complaint in an attempt to shut us down and give Diane an incentive to sell.”

“Really? Not much of an incentive. Diane could just rent the space to someone else.”

“Diane is both the owner of the space and the business, so maybe they think the financial hit if the business goes under will persuade her to sell. Maybe that fear is irrational, but I asked Diane to talk to her lawyer. Apparently, we’re in the clear, but… I don’t know. Randolph could cause a lot of trouble for us.”

“Or Diane will turn him down a few more times and he’ll give up. There are plenty of other blocks in Brooklyn for him to conquer. Hell, he already owns that one building across the street.”

“True. Evan and I have been speculating about what he’ll build there. But honestly, I’d be pretty angry if he shut down the Italian restaurant or the thrift store. Or if he changed anything. I don’t know. Since I live there, I feel a sense of ownership for that block.”

“I get it. When I lived in Boston, they tore out this charming row of little shops near our house to put in a weird little mall. It totally upended the neighborhood. And for what? So some real estate developer could make a fortune building a thing that nobody shopped in. It took them forever to get tenants. I hope he lost money. My favorite pet food store was in that row of shops.”

Lauren laughed. “You’re not bitter or anything.”

When they got to the park, they found it full of people. A massive movie screen was set up on one end. It took Caleb a moment to recognize the movie was Big.

“Aw, I love this movie,” said Lauren. “Too bad it’s almost over.”

Caleb laughed. “You don’t want to watch it, do you? There’s no room in the park.” It looked like people were sitting on every conceivable bit of available space.

“No, it’s fine. I own it on DVD, actually.” Lauren sighed. “Okay, so is it strange I find it romantic? Like, Tom Hanks and Elizabeth Perkins have this sweet romance, but it’s not meant to be because, you know, he’s actually thirteen.”

“Romantic and not creepy?”

“The way it’s acted, it’s not creepy. Elizabeth Perkins isn’t, like, a pedophile. She thinks Tom Hanks is a normal thirty-year-old man. And you kind of get the feeling she doesn’t meet a lot of good men, so it’s really sad when it turns out they can’t be together.” She paused. “What?”

“What?”

“You’re doing a thing with your face.”

“What am I doing?”

“Like… I don’t know. You think I’m silly, but you’re indulging me.”

“Maybe I am a little.” Caleb felt the grin pull at his mouth.

“Would I be wrong to guess you find my silliness charming instead of frustrating now?”

“You’re not wrong,” he said.

“It’s a star-crossed romance. The movie, I mean.” She stepped closer to Caleb. “Two people who really like each other, but the timing is terrible, so it won’t work out.”

Caleb met her gaze. She looked at him with an earnestness he’d never seen on her face before. Was she implying that, had the timing been different, she and Caleb could have been a good match?

Maybe they would have been. But all he had was right now. And right now, he wanted to kiss her.

So he did. First, he said, “Timing’s a bitch.” Then he leaned in and met her lips. She put her hands around his shoulders and pressed into him. He’d intended it to be a sweet indulgence, like all the toppings she put on her frozen yogurt. But instead, it became charged.

He really liked her.

But the timing was impossible, so he pulled away.

She smiled. “What as that for?”

“You’re cute.”

“You just kissed me in public.”

“No one was watching.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Right. Well, let’s go, lover boy. Your place or mine?”

“Mine. I gotta take Hank out.”

“I’m not presumptuous in inviting myself over, am I?”

“Nope. I want you to come home with me. Will Molly be okay?”

“I fed her before I left for the symposium.”

“Then let’s go.”

They rode the subway back to Brooklyn across from a couple that was apparently very into each