Chapter 6

Chapter Six

" P eanut Butter! No!" Josie yelled as the orange kitten perched on the rim of the glass tank, poised to dip one paw into the water in pursuit of the fish contained there.

Or maybe the two-month-old would dive right in and try to go for a swim. After only two days with the foster cats, Josie wouldn't be surprised by anything the tiny terrors did.

"Jelly! What are you eating?" She dove for the white-pawed marmalade.

Wrapping her hands around his fat little belly, she peered into his mouth.

She grabbed the tail end of the twist-tie from the loaf of bread she'd made the mistake of leaving on the counter just in time before the kitten swallowed it.

"Ugh!" She put the cat down and stomped to the kitchen, burying the deadly piece of plastic deep in the kitchen garbage pail before glancing around the space for more possible threats.

How did her mother and father handle these little monsters? She didn't know, but she was determined nothing bad was going to happen to the creatures on her watch. Even if she had to baby proof the whole damn house.

As she bent over the screen of her phone and the Amazon app thinking maybe some cat toys would keep the little troublemakers occupied, the cell in her hand lit with an incoming call.

She tapped the screen that displayed her best friend's name and photo.

"Everything okay?" Josie asked in lieu of hello.

Bailey's weary voice came through the speaker phone as she said, "Everything's fine. And you don't have to ask me that every time I call."

"Quinn is away doing God only knows what, who knows where. And you're there in California in the house all alone while I'm all the way across the country in New York, so yes I do have to ask. Every time."

But since everything was fine according to Bailey, Josie navigated back to the shopping app and typed Kitten Toys into the search bar.

"The neighbors are so close we can see inside their windows—you know this—so I'm not exactly alone ."

Josie let out a snort of a laugh at the truth of Bailey's words.

Their neighbor had a habit of walking around in his underwear in clear view of the window that faced their house—what they could see of his underwear beneath his beer belly. Not that she was looking. She desperately tried not to but sometimes accidents happened.

"I'm fine here," Bailey continued.

"Can we put a ban on the word fine for the duration of Quinn's mission or op or whatever he's away doing and for the rest of the time while I'm here?" Josie asked as she added a package of three catnip mice bargain priced at $1.99 with free shipping to her shopping cart, then added the suggested item—a bag of plastic balls with bells inside them.

"Why?" Bailey asked.

"Because fine is a non-word. Seriously, it says nothing. Gives no description at all." Josie hit to make the purchase, happy to see the items would arrive the next day before turning her complete attention back to the debate with Bailey.

"You want descriptive?" Bailey asked. "Here you go. Busy. Stressed. Pressured. Overwhelmed, overloaded, swamped… Oh, and burnt out and possibly getting sick."

Come to think of it, her friend's voice did sound a bit scratchy. Josie closed the app and frowned. Bailey had her full attention now. "What's happening?"

"The label wants all the new songs for the album not just written but recorded two months ahead of the original schedule."

"Why?"

"Because they can?" Bailey suggested.

"Because your manager is letting them. Tell Xander to put his foot down. Do I have to call him and set him straight? I'll do it," Josie threatened.

If Quinn were there he'd do the same. Bailey was too much of a pushover sometimes. And her workaholic manager Xander had no problem taking advantage of that fact to push her too far.

"It's not Xander—at least not just Xander. It's me too. There's a… time sensitive opportunity."

"Another concert tour?" Josie guessed.

"Yes. International this time."

"Wow."

"Exactly. So how can I say no?"

"Well first of all you definitely can say no and you should if this is all too much for you. But if you want to do it and you can get it done in time without killing yourself, then yeah, you should do it."

Bailey was quiet for a moment, then said, "You're right."

Josie sniffed. "Am I? Can you record yourself saying I'm right and then play it for Quinn every time he's being a dick to me?"

"No," Bailey said firmly. "You know I don't get in between you two. There lies madness."

"So poetic." Josie rolled her eyes.

"No, just smart," Bailey corrected. "So how are you doing there?"

Motion caught Josie's eye and she leapt just in time to stop Jelly from falling into the fish tank as he joined his sister on fish watch.

Scooping the kittens up one at a time and putting them on the floor, she said, "I'm rethinking my desire to own a pet. These two kittens are devils."

"Quinn will be happy to hear that." Bailey laughed.

The pet versus no pet debate had been ongoing since they'd all moved in together.

"Or maybe I'll bring these two little ones home with me as a gift for my darling brother." Josie smiled at her own ingenuity, liking that idea. Torturing Quinn was one of her favorite pastimes.

"Again, I'm not getting involved. But I'm glad you have company there, even if they are devil kittens. You're so worried about me being alone here but you're alone there too with your parents gone on their road trip."

"Alone is just the way I like it," Josie said. "No one to fight me for control over the remote. No one to argue with about what kind of take-out we should get for dinner."

No having to hear her best friend and her brother in bed—or in the shower—doing it…

"And if I need for anything, there are always the neighbors. You remember how small this town is," Josie continued.

She wandered to the window to glance out at one of those neighbors' houses now--and stopped dead.

Eyes widening, she breathed out, "What the hell?"

"What's wrong?" Bailey asked, fast and with concern.

"Corey Jacobs, that's what's wrong."

"Corey your neighbor? He left home while we were still in school, right?" Bailey asked.

"Yeah, well, he's back." And currently shirtless.

Josie scowled at the muscles of his back and arms glistening with sweat as he mopped the perspiration from his face with the T-shirt he must have just taken off after a run.

He always had been a runner. Winter. Summer. Freezing cold, or withering heat. It didn't matter.

He'd sure run fast enough away from her after they'd been together…

"He must be home to visit his mom," Bailey suggested.

"Great," Josie growled out.

"Why do you hate him so much anyway? What did he do to you?" Bailey asked.

Josie narrowed her eyes in hatred but didn't turn away from the window until Corey finally went inside. "Nothing. I just don't like him."

Bailey might have been her best friend all through high school, but Bailey had left for New York City early that summer to get settled in for college. She'd missed Josie's entire relationship with Corey—if she could even call it that. And Josie hadn't shared.

"It must have been something," Bailey argued. "He seems to really get to you."

"Not at all," Josie lied as she realized her hands had begun to shake just from seeing him again. Jeezus. How could he still have power over her all these years later?

The meeting for the committee her mother had volunteered her to be on was in half an hour, across the street, in the Jacobs' house—where Corey currently was.

A little detail she hadn't known when she'd agreed to attend. She silently bit out an obscenity.

"I don't know…" Bailey began. "It seems like something's up between you two."

"Nope. It's nothing. I'm fine. Everything's fine." With that, Josie realized that maybe fine was a useful word after all.