Kitten Caboodle (Clover Hill Romance Book 12), page 7
All the doors and windows were closed, so she couldn’t have gotten out, she reminded herself. Where haven’t you looked?
She named each room she’d been in, counting them off on her fingers until she’d gotten through every room in the house but one.
Cade’s room.
With a groan, she made herself go back upstairs. Sure enough, his door was open just wide enough for a troublesome kitten to get through. She moved to poke her head in, then stopped herself. They may have slept together, but she didn't have permission to just walk into his space while he slept.
But, as she stood there, she didn’t hear anything inside. No snoring or the shuffles of someone getting ready for their day. Either he was a really quiet sleeper or he wasn’t there.
Daphne was sure he would understand the need to find Sushi, but it made her feel weird all the same. Just a quick peek and then she’d get out.
She flipped her phone’s flashlight on and took a deep breath before slowly opening the door just far enough for her to fit through. She didn’t have to go far to see exactly where her cat had gone. The light filtering through the door showed Sushi curled in a ball directly in the center of the pile of pillows.
Cade wasn’t there. He must be an early riser, to her surprise, to get up and out before she’d even woken up.
She wondered, briefly, what it would have been like to have spent the rest of the night with him. Would he have woken her before he left, or would he have stayed in bed until her alarm went off?
“Looking for something?”
She whirled around and found Cade standing at the top of the stairs in a pair of shorts and tank top that showed off tons of glistening skin.
“S-Sushi, actually.” She pointed to the bed, and he got closer to her so he could see over her shoulder.
He snorted when he spotted the cat. “Clearly she’s changed her mind about me since last night.”
“Or at least your pillows,” Daphne laughed. “Speaking of, how’s your head?”
He tilted his head at her and smiled mischievously. “I don’t know, got any complaints?”
“No, no complaints.” She smacked his chest lightly when he laughed. “I meant the cat scratches, and you know it. Those can go bad very fast if you’re not careful.”
He stepped back from her and touched his head gingerly, as if he was afraid to press too hard. “Honestly, I’m fine. I’ll give them a good scrub once I take a shower to be safe. Which I actually need to do. I can’t go to my first day of work looking like this, after all.”
She recognized a dismissal when she heard one. “Right. Well, now that I’ve found the cat, I’m gonna go make some coffee and breakfast. Do you want some?”
“Coffee would be great. But if you wait, I’ll help you make breakfast.”
“I’ll take it. See you in a few.”
Cade didn’t rush through his shower, but he didn’t exactly take his time either.
Soft morning sun lit his bedroom through the window as he got ready for his first day of work.
He pulled the outfit he’d planned for his first day out of his closet and got dressed. Normally, he went to work in joggers and tank tops, but he wanted to be a little bit fancier today. He chose a pair of khakis and a frog-patterned button-down shirt and let his hair curl loosely around his shoulders.
He thought he looked good, but he wasn’t sure what Bryan was expecting from him today. He could feel his anxiety building, but some deep breaths and breakfast would go a long way to fixing that.
Grabbing his wallet, keys, and phone, he took the stairs two at a time. He couldn’t wait to spend more time with Daphne. He wished he could’ve spent the night next to her, but it was probably too early for that.
He wasn’t exactly sure what their relationship was now, but she had mentioned a next time. So she probably didn’t just want a one-night stand. He didn’t have time to worry about that right this second, though, because he had a breakfast to cook.
She must’ve heard him coming, because she spoke without turning to look at him.
“I’m thinking omelets with toast. Sound okay to you?”
Looking around the kitchen, he saw that she had gotten out the ingredients, and he nodded. “Sounds good. I’m pretty good with a spatula, so tell me how you like yours and enjoy your coffee.”
He was sure she was going to shoot back that she could cook her own omelet, and sure enough, she spun to look at him with her coffee mug in hand. Then she did a double take. “Wow, you look great.”
Cade tugged at the bottom of the shirt self-consciously. “It’s not too funky for Bryan?”
Daphne looked him up and down before replying. “Just funky enough, I think. He’ll probably ask where you got it from so he can get one of his own. Now, if you’re going to be cooking breakfast, I’ll fix your coffee. Deal?”
They traded preferences—he liked two spoonfuls of sugar and a decent amount of milk in his coffee, and she liked her omelets with mushrooms, bell peppers and cheese. Before long, each of them had a steaming plate in front of them.
“Are you excited to start work?”
He tilted his hand from side to side as he swallowed his coffee. “Right now, I’m more nervous than anything, but I’m looking forward to it. I’ve never done anything quite like this before.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll be great at it,” she said firmly.
“I appreciate the confidence, even though you have nothing to base it on other than your new knowledge of my physique,” he joked.
She snorted into her coffee.“It is a mighty fine physique, certainly, but I have a little more to go on. Bryan takes his business seriously. He wouldn’t have asked for permission to hire you if you hadn’t been doing well at his Pop’s place. Have faith in him, if you don’t have it in yourself.”
That was a surprisingly wise statement for this hour of the morning, Cade thought. It made him feel a little bit better as he asked the other question weighing on his mind.
“Speaking of physiques… we should probably talk at some point?”
“That would be smart,” Daphne agreed, and relief washed over him. “Let’s talk tonight over dinner.”
By the time he got into the car with his thermos a few minutes later, his anxiety was becoming a little more like excitement.
He put the address into his GPS app, then laughed because he didn’t need to. He could have walked or biked, if he’d left himself enough time. It was maybe five blocks away, on the next street over. He left his phone on his dashboard, just in case, and started to drive.
On one side of the street, he saw Holly’s Groceteria, a boba tea shop, and sub shop. On the other, Cade saw the back side of the bakery, the tea shop Daphne had mentioned the previous day, and what he vaguely remembered to be a thrift store before he found the storefront that would be Cracked Up Chiropractic.
The location was good from what he could tell, but it wasn’t much to look at yet. The windows had been covered in newspaper from the interior, and the cloth canopy had been removed so there was just a half-circle of metal sticking out from the red brick. He had a feeling it would be something special once they were done with it.
Before he slid his phone and his back pocket, a text from Michael popped up. It was just a simple you’ve got this with the muscle arm emoji.
Between him and Daphne, Cade was starting to feel like maybe he actually did.
Much like the exterior, the interior was a blank canvas. There were five doors leading to small rooms around the exterior of the space. A wall segmented the space in two, creating a front desk area with a hallway and a surprisingly spacious working area.
He guessed it would be enough space for a couple of chiropractic tables and a decently sized physical therapy section. The biggest difference between the outside and inside was that the interior wasn’t completely unoccupied. Bryan stood in the back corner next to a folding table with a small smile on his face.
“What do you think? Did I choose all right?” He was bouncing on his toes a little bit and his eyes were sparkling.
Cade took another look at the room, seeing what it could be, and smiled back at his new boss. “Oh yeah, I think you chose just fine. I think you’re going to need some stuff, though.”
“Then it’s mighty convenient I’ve got a list going and my checkbook ready. A lot of lists, actually. I must admit most of them are from Google, though.”
Cade laughed. “Where else would we start? Got a chair for me?”
The other man reached behind him and pulled out a metal folding chair, setting it up next to the table with a flourish. Cade grimaced at the thought of spending all day in a bad chair, but he could deal.
“Real office chairs show up tomorrow at 11, along with a front desk that will give us somewhere to actually work. I wanted to have them today, but you know how shipping can be. For now, we have this table and a lot of handwritten lists.”
He wasn’t kidding. There were three notebooks on the table in front of them, all open to pages with lists of things the clinic needed.
The list closest to him read Chiropractic Equipment, and while the list nearly filled the page, most items were crossed off or had notes saying things like “wait 3mos.”
What remained included most of the basic things he had already thought of—chiro tables, traction chairs, sacral blocks, tens units, a theragun, scheduling and record software.
There was something major missing from it, though. An expensive something.
“What are you going to do about x-rays? I know the machinery’s pretty expensive on top of everything else you need for start-up costs, but I understand they’re important.”
Bryan grimaced. “Upwards of fifteen grand expensive. Pop and I were talking about it, and there are options for used machines, or we could go for a leased machine. It might be more expensive in the long run, but it would let us get started with something with a guaranteed repair.”
Cade made a thoughtful sound. They were good options, but there was one he hadn’t mentioned. “Is there any way you could outsource it?”
Bryan shook his head. “The only place with an x-ray machine within a ten-mile radius is the hospital. It would cause more problems than it solves. Not only would it be a huge wait to process them, it would be way more expensive for my patients. I’d rather spend the money to make things as accessible as possible.”
That made sense. “The only other thing you’re going to want to add to this list is a very large order of Biofreeze. The stuff is magical, plus, people are willing to buy it for home use. You’ve got another list for your PT, right?”
Bryan looked at the other notebooks on the table with confusion, then dug into his bag and pulled out three more. He held one out to Cade with a hopeful expression. “Flip through and see if you can find it. I’ll take the others.”
Cade snorted, but took the notebook. The lists inside were much like the ones on the table, but less organized, if possible.
Cade was gonna have to find a better system if this was Bryan's usual way of handling lists. There was nothing in the notebook about physical therapy equipment, but before he could say anything, Bryan made a joyful noise.
“Found it. I only remember the things I’ve used personally, so please let me know if I forgot something.”
This list was much shorter than the previous, simply listing exercise balls, yoga mats, and weights. Here was a way he could be useful. “This is a good start, but you’re gonna need way more stuff for even a basic physical therapy set up. Some of the fancier stuff can wait until you’re a little more established, or you have a client who needs it. I assume you’re trying to reduce up-front spending?”
When Bryan nodded, Cade grabbed a pen and added low-weight dumbbells, cuff weights, resistance bands, medicine balls, foam rolls, and wall bars to the list.
“Okay, now we’ve got that settled, let’s talk a little bit about what your timeline looks like. You mentioned on the phone you’d like to do a soft opening next month, right?”
“Yeah. I know it’ll be a tight turnaround with getting everything here, but the big stuff is already on its way, and we’d like to start doing interviews next week. I think we can do it, between the two of us. Right?”
Cade looked around the empty building until his eyes rested on the many lists in front of him. His heart thumped nervously, but he smiled back at his new boss. “Yeah, I think we can. Let’s get to work.”
Daphne walked in the door that evening feeling like a pack mule with all the food she’d ordered from Dragon Palace.
She’d texted Cade around lunch to ask what he typically ordered from Chinese restaurants, but had gotten no reply. He had told her the other day he would eat almost anything, but she hadn’t wanted to order something he hated.
Inspiration struck as she ran her finger down the menu and realized she didn’t know what she wanted, either. None of her go-to favorites were screaming for her to pick them. That didn’t mean she couldn’t get them, though.
She had ordered a range of the smaller versions of their entrees, plus an order of egg rolls and crab rangoons. She’d even eaten a few of the rangoons to tide her over on her way home. Everybody liked those. And, as always, the restaurant had thrown in some freebies that smelled amazing.
Now, she just had to figure out how to make the words in her brain come out correctly before he got home in roughly fifteen minutes. No pressure.
Sushi chose that moment to hop up on the kitchen table and yell at her, as if to say she was being silly. She probably was. After all, she barely knew him and it wasn’t like they could have a long-term future together with the way things stood. He would be leaving in three months and going back to his real life.
It didn’t stop her from wanting to learn everything she could about him in the meantime. She could only hope he felt the same way.
Cade’s nerves picked up as he walked into the house. He called out a greeting, but didn’t see Daphne when he looked around. Instead, Sushi used her claws to climb up his body so she could sit on his shoulder. He was going to have to talk to Daphne about it. They had to do something about those claws before she got them into something a little more tender than just his thighs.
Speaking of Daphne, she had come through with her promise of dinner. He couldn’t pin down exactly what it was, but it smelled delicious. She couldn’t remember the last time he’d come home to a meal someone else had done all the work for.
When he walked into the kitchen and saw her standing next to the table—now completely absent of signs of their light accident a few days prior—he realized why he couldn’t tell what was there. She’d ordered what looked like the entire menu from someplace called Dragon Palace. How many people was she trying to feed?
Cade tried to count the takeout boxes, but kept getting distracted by the cat purring in his ear. Finally, he gave up and just asked. “Are we having company for dinner?”
She tilted her head at him. “No? It’s just us. We said we were going to talk about our relationship or the possibility of one. Why would I invite other people over?”
“I—I just meant, there’s a surprising amount of food on the table. I know I eat a lot, but it seems like too much for two people.”
She waved her hand at him. “Of course it is. I wasn’t sure what you liked and you weren’t answering your phone, so I got a little bit of everything I liked and a couple new things. Whatever neither of us likes can go to Bryan and Kav, and everything else will make a couple good leftover meals.”
His phone? He hadn’t heard it go off since he’d walked into Cracked Up Chiropractic. That was weird, now that he thought about it. He patted his pockets until he found his lifeline to the outside world.
Which was dead.
“Crap, I must have forgotten to charge it last night after…” He blushed. “I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful from now on.”
“With charging your phone? Or with me?”
He wasn’t sure how to answer. “Both? I think?”
“Um, do you want to eat first? Or should we just get it out since we’re already sort of talking about it?”
That made him smile. “Let’s just get it out there. Secrets and nerves are bad for digestion. If that’s okay with you, of course.”
She smiled at him, but there was something nervous about it. “So I wanted to know if you were interested in having a relationship, or if you just wanted to be friends with benefits, or if you just wanted a one-night stand. No judgment on what you’re thinking, I just think we need to get onto the same page.” She took a deep breath and continued. “I think you and I might make a really great couple if we gave it time. It’s unusual for me to sleep with someone before I’ve really gotten to know them, but there’s something between us that really makes me want to know more. That is, if you’re interested.”
Every word bloomed in his chest like a flower in the sun. For once, he knew exactly what he wanted to say. “Daphne, I have been interested in you since the moment you fell into my arms. I don’t ever want you to be confused about that. You are brilliant and commanding and beautiful, and our night together might have been unplanned, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Well, except maybe the abrupt ending.”
She laughed shakily.
Cade hoped his smile was reassuring as he continued. “I know I’m not supposed to stay in Clover Hill after August, and that makes things complicated, but… I think we could have some fun for now and figure out the rest later. What do you think?”
“I think that sounds nice, even if it scares me a little. I’m not… I don’t like not having a plan.”
He reached out to her and she fitted herself against him.
“It scares me, too,” Cade admitted. “But you’re like, really smart and I’m very flexible. I think we can figure it out together while we’re here. Don’t you think?”
Now she smiled at him, and he was unable to resist his urge to pull her closer and kiss her trembling lips. She tasted of chili sauce, cream cheese and something else he couldn’t quite identify. He couldn’t get enough.
