“That was all very helpful. Thank you,” Bonnie said sarcastically, pushing herself upright. She grabbed a clipboard and an adoption form and went back into the dining room. She still wasn’t sure which of those options she was going to choose. They all had their merits, although kicking her out seemed the least risky. Kissing her, while tempting, held too much chance she’d get hurt again.

  First, she’d hear what Taryn had to say. Then she’d decide.

  * * *

  While Taryn waited impatiently for Bonnie to come back, she scanned the room, searching for her cats.

  Her cats.

  She had been living with the idea of adopting them for a while now, but it had taken her days to work up the courage to come back here. Even though she had made the decision to try not only for Sasha and Ninja Cat, but for Bonnie, too, her old fears hadn’t been easy to shake. She had driven by the café several times, only to leave Sumner again and go back to her office, where she had to face Angie’s dramatically disappointed sighs.

  But now, here she was. Intentionally heading toward the type of intense emotional moment that she always tried to avoid, because no matter the outcome, she was about to face either the highest or the lowest moment of her life.

  Bonnie came back to the table holding a clipboard and pen. Taryn reached for them to fill out the papers, but Bonnie shook her head. “I’ll take care of it. Just answer the questions.”

  “Can I see the cats first?”

  Bonnie frowned. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said slowly. “Especially considering your prior offenses.”

  “My prior…Hey, I was just giving them a sightseeing tour of the rec center.”

  Bonnie smiled, and Taryn wondered if she’d get extra points on the adoption form for that. She gestured toward the window. “They’re over there. Isa, if she tries to leave the café, throw a scone at her head.”

  “Sure thing, boss,” Isa called from over by the counter.

  Taryn shook her head and walked in the direction Bonnie had indicated. A fleece-lined basket was hanging from the windowsill, and when she looked inside it she saw a patchwork pile of ginger, white, and stripey fur. She couldn’t see any heads, which was alarming, but as she got closer, Sasha’s popped out from under Ninja Cat’s ginger arm, and she gave Taryn a mix of a yawn and a meow before she closed her eyes again.

  Taryn smiled and walked back to the table, with no attempts at cat theft. If Bonnie denied her application, though, she might return to her life of crime.

  She sat down. “Okay, I’m ready.”

  Bonnie looked at her clipboard, tapping her pen on its edge. “All right, first question. Are you single?”

  “It doesn’t really ask that, does it?” Taryn tried to turn the clipboard so she could see the page, but Bonnie held it close.

  “It actually does. We always ask how many people are in the household. Kids, other animals. How many people will be acting as caretakers for the cats.”

  “I’m not sure. Can you write in process?”

  Bonnie looked at her quizzically. “What’s in process?”

  “The household. Can you put a range, say from one to twenty-some? I’m still ironing out the details.”

  Bonnie shook her head silently and looked at the form again. “Okay, next question. Any felonies? I’m just going to check yes for that one.”

  Taryn snatched the clipboard before Bonnie could stop her. She set it on the table and rested her elbows on it, leaning forward. “Bonnie, I want these cats in my life. I want you in my life, too, and your three cats, and all the ones here, and I suppose Isa and Jerome, too. The whole package. I don’t care how many interviews it takes, or how many forms you invent, I’m not going to stop trying.”

  Bonnie stared at her, her face expressionless. “Animals can be heartbreaking, Taryn. I don’t think you quite grasp how much you’ll come to care for them, and how frightening it might be if something goes wrong and they get hurt or sick. I don’t want to send them home with you if you’re going to abandon them when emotions get too high, or when it’s not all snuggles and purrs.”

  “Ah,” Taryn said, echoing Bonnie’s words from the night of Finding Furever. “We’re not talking about the cats anymore, are we?”

  “Not just the cats, no.”

  “Bonnie, I pushed you away because I was afraid of feeling too much for you, but I was too late. I already loved you. Walking away, being away from you—that hurt more than anything, but you know what? I survived it. I hated it, and I’ll do whatever I can to keep from feeling that loneliness again, but I learned that I’m strong enough to handle whatever comes.”

  Bonnie was silent for a moment, still not revealing her reaction to Taryn’s words, but her eyes looked misty. She looked around the café. Several tables were occupied. “Can we finish this interview in private?” she asked.

  Taryn nodded, following Bonnie through the door and into the kitchen, trying to ignore Isa’s knowing smirk as they walked past.

  “Ha!” she said, pointing at Kip, who was perched on the counter with his front legs curled under him. “A cat in the kitchen. I knew it.”

  “That’s not a cat,” Bonnie said in a stage whisper. “That’s my new sous chef. Be careful what you say—he’s a bit self-conscious about his abundant facial hair.”

  Taryn smiled at the joke, feeling slightly more hopeful if Bonnie was back to teasing. She reached out and touched Bonnie, running her finger along the vee of her shirt, from collarbone down. “I missed you,” she said, closing her eyes with relief when she felt Bonnie’s hands settle on her waist. Relief turned to something much stronger when Bonnie tugged her closer, but Taryn was more than ready to handle this.

  Bonnie rested her forehead against Taryn’s. “Do you still want us to go slow?”

  Taryn’s answer was to press Bonnie against the edge of the counter, molding them together along the lengths of their bodies. “Slow didn’t seem to work too well for us,” she said, shifting her hips against Bonnie’s. “Maybe we should try a different speed?” She slid her fingers into Bonnie’s hair and moved forward until their lips met. The intensity she had felt before was still there, growing like a swelling wave as their kiss deepened from the almost chaste one they had shared before into something much more relentless. This time, though, Taryn didn’t fight her response to the heat of Bonnie’s mouth on hers, or the feel of her hands sliding under the hem of Taryn’s top and pressing against her lower back, or the buzzing sound in her…

  They pulled away from each other slightly as Isa came in the kitchen.

  “Isa, get out,” Bonnie said.

  “The timer’s going off. You told me to get the quiches out of the oven.”

  Taryn sniffed, suddenly aware of the cheesy aroma in the room. “Ooh, quiche. Yum.”

  Bonnie sighed. “Okay, take the quiches out of the oven, and then get out.”

  Isa crossed the kitchen and turned off the timer. “If you two are going to be kissing in here from now on, I expect a raise.”

  Bonnie looked at Taryn, their eyes only inches apart. “Well? Are we?”

  Taryn grinned, closing the distance between them. “Oh yes. And you’d better make it a big raise.”

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Taryn peered around the kitchen door. “Hurry,” she said. “They’re about to start.”

  Bonnie took off her oven mitts and tossed them on the counter, checking to make sure nothing was in danger of burning over the next few minutes, before she followed Isa and Jerome out to where they stood behind the counter. She felt a momentary, habitual desire to remain hidden in the kitchen where she stood no chance of becoming another viral meme, but she pushed that urge aside with little trouble. She walked up behind Taryn, wrapped her arms around her middle, and held her close.

  “I can’t believe how gorgeous it looks in here,” Isa whispered, and Bonnie had to agree.

  The main room was transformed by the simple color scheme. Glittery wands with ribbons and feathers attached were scattered around the room so the guests could play with the cats. The silver-trimmed and velvet beds looked like royal cat thrones rather than the much-loved, scruffy beds Bonnie knew were underneath the fabric.

  Jerome and Isa had hung fairy lights around the room, high enough so the cats couldn’t reach them. Multicolored cats were everywhere, wandering among the chairs and hopping onto vacant laps. Bonnie had even managed to get purple sequined bowties on a few of the calmer ones. The few members of the press that had been invited were being politely unobtrusive, and most of the time Bonnie couldn’t tell them apart from the other formally dressed guests.

  And in the center of the room, Marty and Lex stood facing each other and looking rather ridiculously in love. And Kip was there, too, sitting on Marty’s shoe and cleaning a paw.

  “Oh, look,” Taryn breathed out the words, turning her head to look at Bonnie. “You taught him to stand at the altar just like I asked. You’re a miracle worker.”

  “I am,” Bonnie agreed. “I think I’m going to take some of the cats and hit the road. In performances all across the country, my cats will stand places. Unless they don’t want to, of course, and then they’ll walk around. Or sit. It’s really rather hard to predict, but it will be an impressive show.”

  Taryn laughed quietly, looking back at the scene as Marty and Lex spoke their vows. “Kip might not be available for the tour. I have a feeling you’ll be getting an adoption request for him soon.”

  “I’ve already got the forms ready to go. I took him off the list of available cats right after the tasting back in the spring. I figured it was only a matter of time before Lex and Marty came back for him.”

  Taryn covered Bonnie’s arms with hers and pulled them closer around her. “I should have brought Sasha and Ninja Cat. They would have loved to see this.”

  “We’ll show them the video later. I’ll make popcorn.”

  Isa leaned toward them. “While the image of a cat happily eating a bowl of popcorn might be a charming one, movie theater food is not a healthy option for them.”

  Taryn covered her mouth to muffle her laughter, but Bonnie just shook her head. “Aren’t you graduating soon?” she asked. “Maybe looking for another job?”

  “Not soon, but when I do, you’re going to hire me as your business partner.”

  “Doubtful,” said Bonnie, but she felt Taryn squeeze her hands, and she responded by gripping hers in return. They had been talking about Bonnie offering Isa a more permanent position at the café, but Bonnie had worried she wouldn’t be interested. She was already managing most of the accounts, and the added help would give Bonnie time to work on other projects. Apparently, Isa was applying for and offering herself the job in one time-saving action. She was efficient, Bonnie would give her that.

  They fell silent as they watched the rest of the ceremony. When it was finished, a friend of Marty and Lex’s played the guitar and sang. None of the cats joined in, but the café’s newest resident stood on her hind legs behind him the entire time, batting at his guitar strap.

  “That’s adorable,” Taryn said, pulling out her phone and taking a picture. “I’m sending this to your parents, so they can see their newest grandbaby.”

  Bonnie rubbed her forehead but didn’t try to stop her. Her attempts would fail, anyway.

  She had brought Taryn to a family barbecue during the summer, where Taryn had talked happily about the fact that between the two of them, she and Bonnie had given Bonnie’s parents thirty-two grandchildren, the largest family of anyone there. She then proceeded to tell them stories about each individual grandcat. Jonah thought she was brilliant, and by the end of the evening, he and Mayu had hired her to plan their vow renewal, which they were now determined to hold in the cat café.

  Bonnie let go of Taryn’s waist but kept hold of her hand as the guests stood up and started to mingle. The food was ready to serve, and everyone—human and feline—seemed relaxed and happy. It seemed to be the perfect chance to sneak away, just for a few stolen moments.

  She tugged on Taryn’s hand, leading her into the recently completed addition. The kitten residents were in the upstairs room for the night, as promised to Lex and Marty, but they lived in the tearooms now. Bonnie was able to serve twice as many guests because of the separate rooms—and rescue twice as many kittens—but she was still booked out months in advance. She and Taryn were living in her rental house still, because they couldn’t fit themselves, four cats, and one growing kitten into the main suite. Bonnie didn’t care where they slept or lived, as long as they were all together.

  The moon was shining brightly through the big picture windows, so they left the lights out and sat on the window seat. They rested back against the cushions.

  “I knew it was going to change my life,” Bonnie said, turning her head to brush her lips across Taryn’s hair. “When I said yes to you, and yes to having the wedding here. At the time, I thought that was a dangerous thing, but I can’t imagine going back to the way I was before you.”

  “We couldn’t go back, even if we tried,” Taryn said. “We’re too connected now. Us, our cats, our lives. Even our jobs are intersecting in some ways. Remember the day I came back to adopt Sasha and Ninja Cat? They were sleeping, all jumbled together in the basket by the window. I couldn’t tell where one began and the other left off. That’s us now.”

  Bonnie smiled and kissed Taryn’s neck. “I like that.”

  “So,” Taryn said, in the overly casual tone of someone who was about to ask a not-casual question. “The wedding was beautiful, wasn’t it? Could you see yourself doing that someday? Getting married here?”

  Bonnie felt herself go still at Taryn’s question. “Can you see yourself getting married in your office?” she asked.

  Taryn laughed softly. “Okay, I see your point.”

  “Not here,” Bonnie said. “But maybe somewhere else. Ben and Daisy’s farm would be nice. The one you’re planning there is going to be wonderful. Or a garden somewhere, like the one I’ve shown you around the corner.”

  Taryn nodded. “A garden sounds lovely. The perfumed air and buzzing bees.”

  “Yes,” Bonnie agreed. There was no perfume in the air tonight, but she felt a sense of expectancy surrounding them. “You plan weddings based on what matters most to the people involved, so if I hired you, I would only have one request. That you would be the one I’m marrying.”

  Taryn snuggled deeper into her arms. “You’re the only one I’d want to marry, too,” she said, turning her head to kiss Bonnie. She leaned away slightly. “As long as Ninja Cat gets to be best man, of course.”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Bonnie said with a laugh as she pulled Taryn into another kiss.

  About the Author

  Karis Walsh is a horseback riding instructor who lives in the Pacific Northwest. When she isn’t teaching or writing, she enjoys spending time outside with her animals, reading, playing the viola, and riding with friends.

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