Fed up

me enjoy myself for two minutes. Please?” I was so not taking off the veil. A short headband piece that had been wrapped in bright white material was affixed to the top of my head, and sheer layers of fabric fell to just below my shoulders. I looked at my reflection and imagined myself traipsing down the aisle, headed toward wedded bliss with my chef.
    “All right,” she agreed. “But don’t get anything on it.”
    I crossed my heart with my finger. “Promise. Hey, I’m going into Simmer for dinner tonight. You want to come?” I leapt up and down the narrow hall, letting the veil fly out behind me, while Adrianna shook her head at my lunacy.
    “No, thanks. Owen is going to be home soon, and I want to take a nap, and then we’re finally going to put the crib together.”
    The baby’s room was actually a walk-in closet with a window and a radiator. Once a crib was in there, it would occupy so much space that there might not be room for an adult to stand. To get the kid into the crib, Adrianna and Owen would be able to open the door and toss the baby in. But how would they ever get the baby out?
    “Come here,” Adrianna said. “Let me do your makeup, too, and then you’ll really knock Josh’s socks off tonight.”
    I reluctantly let Ade remove the veil. By the time she’d painted my face with M●A●C cosmetics, I was ready for this in-home salon to close. I hugged her good-bye, thanked her for the spectacular job she’d done on my hair, and rubbed her belly.
    I went home and admired my newly blonde-streaked hair in my own mirror. My scruffy clothes looked silly with my fancy hair and makeup, but I didn’t care. Adrianna had certainly cheered me up and distracted me from dwelling on Francie. And tonight I would see Josh! I tried to take a short nap, but visions of Francie danced unpleasantly in my head. The ringing of the phone rescued me from the atrocious images. Caller ID showed my favorite number.
    “Hi, Josh,” I said happily into the phone. “How’s it going there?”
    “Good. Good,” he answered. “Um, how are you?”
    “You know, as well as can be expected after yesterday.”
    “So... what else is going on? You know... you doing anything?” Josh sounded strange.
    “No,” I answered hesitantly. “Josh, is something up?”
    “What? Oh, no. It’s just, um, do you want a cat?”
    “A cat? No, not really. I already have Gato. Why? Do you know someone giving away a cat?”
    “Sort of. Yeah. This guy is giving away this Persian cat, and...” Josh’s voice trailed off.
    “Spit it out, Josh.”
    Josh coughed. “When I went out to get a coffee on my break, I walked past this guy outside the T station who was stopping people and asking them if they wanted a cat. He stopped me, too. He said he just broke up with his girlfriend and moved, and he didn’t want the cat anymore, so he was trying to give it away.”
    “Josh, I’m sure someone will take it. Especially a Persian. Or he’ll take it to a shelter.”
    “Maybe,” Josh said skeptically.
    “Josh?”
    “Yeah?”
    “Josh, did you take the cat?”
    There was a long, long pause. “Yeah.”
    I sighed. As much to myself as to Josh, I said, “You took the cat.” Turning practical, I asked, “Where are you? You didn’t bring it into the restaurant, did you?”
    “No, I’m sitting in my car behind Simmer, and it’s in a cat carrier next to me.”
    “Oh, my God.” Josh was hardly ever at his own apartment. He certainly wasn’t there enough to take care of another living creature. In other words, I knew whose cat this was going to be.
    “Chloe, I asked the guy what he was going to do with the cat if nobody took it, and he said he was going to throw it in the river! The Charles River is only a few blocks from here, and I think he was serious.” Josh was talking a mile a minute now. “He was a totally normal-looking guy, too, which was weird, but he said it was his ex-girlfriend’s cat, and they broke up, and he didn’t want to deal with it, and so I took it. Her, actually. She’s a girl. And she is so beautiful. She’s got white fur and orange ears, and she’s just sitting here looking at me, and I feel so bad for her.”
    I was momentarily torn. On the one hand, I was irritated with Josh for taking in this strange cat that would end up with me. On the other hand, I felt overwhelmed with appreciation of how sweet and adorable my boyfriend was. How many men would even have stopped to listen to some idiot on the