Page 63 of Cat’s Guide To Romance

Sparkle leans back enough to look at me. “Your standards are concerning.”

“You had fun.”

“I did.” Sparkle smiles up at me, his arms still looped around my neck. “Thank you.”

“For the worst camping trip in recorded history?”

“For taking me somewhere.” The joke dies on my tongue as his expression softens. He toys with the collar of my shirt, his gaze dropping to his fingers. “I told you I wanted adventures. I meant it. Even if we’re terrible at them.”

I brush a damp strand of hair away from his forehead. “We can be terrible at a lot of things together, darling.”

Sparkle’s purr starts again, and then he kisses me. I don’t try to make the moment bigger. I don’t need fireworks or cannon fire. I don’t need eleven steps written on glittery pink paper telling me how to make Sparkle fall for me. I just wrap my arms around my pretty kitty and kiss him back.

22

SPARKLE

I wake up with a pine needle in my hair. I find another one stuck to my sweater when I pick it up from the floor, and there’s dirt on one knee of my jeans. Everything smells faintly like campfire smoke even though Lucien teleported us out of the rain and into a hotel before either of us could get completely soaked. I should wash everything.

Instead, I stand in the middle of my bedroom, holding my sweater to my nose and smiling.

“Oh gods.”

I throw the sweater toward the laundry basket and miss. It lands on the floor beside it, but there’s no one here to care. No kittens running in and out of my room. No Mama asking if I can help her with something. No breakfast to make or lunches to pack. I don’t have to walk Ferris to school or make sure anyone remembered their homework.

The apartment is completely quiet.

Before, I’d never admit it out loud, but the silence made my skin itch. I kept thinking I was forgetting something. I’d wake up and immediately start making a list in my head before remembering there wasn’t anything on it. Today, the silence feels different.

I stretch my arms over my head and let my tail sway freely behind me as I walk into the kitchen. Dirty dishes from the other day are still sitting in the sink. I stare at them, waiting for the compulsion to wash them immediately. Nothing happens. I leave them there, for now.

A laugh bubbles out of me as I open the refrigerator and stare at the completely ridiculous assortment of food I bought. I’ve spent my entire life shopping for eight people, and apparently I have no fucking clue how to shop for one. I have enough eggs to feed a small army and three different kinds of cheese because I forgot what I’d already put in the cart.

I grab one of the little yogurt cups I bought solely because it has strawberries on the label. Breakfast is yogurt. Just yogurt. Mama would tell me that’s not enough. I’d tell Ferris that’s not enough. I grab a muffin too. There. Responsible adult. I’m halfway through the yogurt when my phone buzzes across the counter.

Lucien: I have terrible news.

My heart does a little jump.

Sparkle: Did the hotel charge you for all the mud?

Lucien: Worse.

I wait. And wait. My ears flatten.

Sparkle: Well???

The little dots appear.

Lucien: I have been informed we are not allowed to abandon our camping equipment in the woods. Apparently this is considered littering.

I snort so hard I almost inhale yogurt.

Sparkle: You didn’t know that?

Lucien: I am a demon, darling. Not a park ranger.

Sparkle: Go get your tent.