Like Cats and Dogs

by Kate McMurray

  She didn’t know. How did she feel about him?

  Well, she liked Caleb, despite everything. She liked spending time with him. The sex was mind-bending, but she liked just hanging around and watching TV with him, too, or eating takeout Asian food with him, or even just talking with him. They still argued, sure, but the arguments were fun. She enjoyed riling him up, frustrating him, and he enjoyed doing the same to her. At first, fighting had been acrimonious, and she still thought he could be arrogant, but she understood what his whole deal was better now.

  What she wanted was for them to be in a real relationship. Would they get married? Who knew? Who cared? Right now, she just wanted to see what would happen if they explored what they had.

  When Lauren was a kid, her mother had owned an antique candle snuffer shaped like a deer. Lauren and her brother would fight at the end of every big meal over who got to be the one to snuff the candles. The way Caleb wanted to frame their relationship felt a lot like that candle snuffer. It had been a heavy thing, made of some kind of metal, and it could douse a flame in half a second. In a way, Caleb hovered over his relationship with Lauren like a candle snuffer: heavy, unwavering, and ready to put out the flame at any moment.

  That was unworkable. Back when their relationship was just sex, the impending end of the relationship hadn’t felt like a big deal. But now they’d crossed some threshold and had grown fond of each other, or at least Lauren really liked Caleb. The impending end of the relationship was not something Lauren wanted or looked forward to, though it still felt inevitable.

  Maybe it was time to put an end to it, then. If Caleb wouldn’t commit to anything, why bother keeping it up?

  ***

  Doug Francis ran into the vet clinic, drenched. Caleb had been conferring with Rachel at the front desk when the thunderstorm started, so he wasn’t surprised to see Doug had been a victim of the storm.

  “That’s some rain out there,” said Doug.

  “You all right?” Caleb asked.

  “Fine. Just…wet.”

  “There are clean scrubs in the storage room,” said Rachel.

  “Bless you. If I stand here in wet clothes in this air conditioning I will freeze. Is it always so cold in here?”

  Doug headed into the back of the clinic. Caleb glanced at Rachel. Rachel shrugged. “With rain this bad, all our afternoon appointments will be late.”

  “I only have one more today I think. Then I’m out.”

  “Oooh, hot plans tonight?”

  “Hardly.”

  Rachel laughed. “Really?”

  “When you say it like that, you make me feel like a bridge troll. Can’t a guy go home after a long workday to eat leftovers and watch a baseball game?”

  Rachel raised an eyebrow, then laughed. “I mean, look, you’re a handsome man. You probably own a mirror and already know that. I know you just got divorced, but Brooklyn is not a terrible place to be single.”

  Caleb did not want to have this conversation. “I’m good, really.”

  “Last weekend, my boyfriend and I went to this barbecue restaurant over by the Gowanus. Which is, by the way, like two blocks from another barbecue place. Why are there so many places in Brooklyn that sell smoked meat?”

  Caleb laughed. “I don’t know.”

  “Well, anyway, we were at this restaurant, and this place is a total meat market. In all senses. It’s all open-air, which means it’s probably quite hot in the summer, and there are bars all over the seating areas and then a counter where you order food. Huge crowd this weekend, though. People everywhere. I got hit on by a guy at the bar who was, like, fresh out of college, and I turned him down of course, but I admired his nerve.”

  “Is there a moral to this story?”

  “I’m just illustrating that there are lots of places like that in Brooklyn to meet people if you wanted to, you know, rebound from your divorce.”

  “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”

  “Unless you’re already seeing someone?” Rachel raised her eyebrows.

  “No,” Caleb said, mostly to see how the lie tasted.

  He didn’t like it. Saying he wasn’t seeing anyone felt like a betrayal of Lauren. But why should it? He had just had this discussion with Lauren. They didn’t have any kind of commitment to each other. They had no future together. They were just fooling around. It would end soon, probably.

  But if it was really fleeting, he wouldn’t feel so sad by the prospect of it ending.

  He shook his head, trying to push the thoughts aside. Doug emerged in a clean pair of bright blue scrubs looking ready to conquer the day. “All right. I’m ready for the sick dogs and cats of Brooklyn now.”

  Rachel looked toward the front window. “Well, the rain seems to be slowing down. Hopefully that means patients will come in soon.”

  But instead of dogs or cats, the next people who came into the vet clinic were a pair of men in boxy suits. The sleeker one extended a hand toward Caleb, probably because he happened to be standing near the door.

  “Hello, I’m Brian Randolph,” the man said, “and this is my assistant Mr. Newton. We own the building across the street.”

  “Uh-huh,” said Caleb. He could sense that both Rachel and Doug had tensed.

  “I’ve been speaking with the owner of this building about a possible sale. She hasn’t said yes yet, but I can play hardball. I just wanted to take a look at the clinic here, since I’d be your new landlord. I understand it is one of the busier ones in the neighborhood.”

  Rachel put her hands on her hips. “We’re one of only two vet clinics in all of Brooklyn with emergency hours. The other one is in Midwood.”

  “Yes, quite a distance from here,” said Randolph, nodding. “You folks have nothing to worry about, at least not in the short-term. A business like this provides a valuable service to the neighborhood.”

  The use of the word business made the hair on the back of Caleb’s neck stand up. Even when he’d owned a clinic and had to deal with its finances, he still thought of it as a clinic more than a for-profit business. Caleb and Kara had opted not to pay themselves during the early lean months, for example, because the patients were more important than their bank balance. Luckily, that period of their lives hadn’t lasted long, and they had turned a profit, but Caleb still didn’t quite think of it that way.

  Lauren had mentioned this slimeball had taken an interest in the building, but Diane didn’t seem interested in selling. So why was this Randolph guy sniffing around the vet clinic?

  “Does that mean in the long-term that you might close the clinic?” Rachel asked. “If you buy the building, I mean.”

  “No, not at first.”

  Right.

  “Let me guess,” said Caleb. “You’re buying up buildings on the block so you can level it and replace everything with some eyesore of a glass tower, so you can have a bank and a Starbucks on the first floor and luxury condos upstairs, thereby stamping out all the personality from the neighborhood.”

  Randolph balked. “I’m interested in investing in real estate on this block, yes, but not for nefarious purposes. I’d like to find businesses that best serve this neighborhood. More housing, better restaurants, and yes, a veterinary clinic, are all a part of that. But wouldn’t you all prefer to practice your craft in a state-of-the-art facility? Better technology, newer equipment, nicer facilities? This waiting room is quite dark, don’t you think?”

  A woman and a German shepherd came in then. Rachel ran to the door and held up a trash can for the woman’s umbrella. Caleb was grateful to the dog, his next appointment, for getting him out of this conversation. Doug busied himself looking at the schedule on Rachel’s desk.

  “We’ve got patients,” said Rachel, gesturing at the dog. “Nice of you to stop by, though.”

  The assistant, who had said nothing while inside, looked visibly uncomfo
rtable in the presence of a wet dog. He stepped toward the door, clearly intending to flee, and the German shepherd chose that moment to shake the water out of his fur. The Newton guy was covered in little droplets and looked ready to crawl out of his skin.

  “Yes, let’s go,” Newton said to Randolph.

  “Indeed.” Randolph took one last look around, clearly sizing the place up. “Hopefully I’ve given you something to think about. The current owner of this building can’t afford to pay for many upgrades, but I can.” Then they left.

  Rachel told the woman with the German shepherd to take the dog to Exam 1. When they had passed through the door, Rachel shivered in an exaggerated way. “Ugh, that guy is skeevy. Gave me the willies.”

  “Olivia said there was a real estate developer sniffing around the building,” said Doug. “Guess that was him.”

  “You don’t think Diane would sell, do you?” asked Rachel.

  Doug shrugged. “I don’t, but a huge pile of money will make people act out of character. And that looks like a guy who’s got a vault full of cash that he swims in like Scrooge McDuck.”

  “Diane is eccentric, but I’d much prefer her as a landlord than that guy. Good gravy.” Rachel shook her head. “And what was all that about better facilities? Is he trying to get us to talk Diane into selling? Or to moving to some other fancier building so he can tear this one down? What is his end game?”

  “Unclear,” said Doug. “He’s like a cartoon villain.”

  “I like this job,” Caleb said before he thought about it too much. Rachel and Doug both turned toward him with questioning looks on their faces. He sighed and said, “Just saying. I like working here. I’d like to keep working here. It would be a real shame if some dickhead developer bought the building and tore it down.”

  “Amen,” said Doug.

  “I’d better go see to…” Caleb grabbed the chart from the desk. “Captain von Trapp.”

  Doug sang, “The hills are alive with the sound of barking…”

  Caleb laughed and walked back to the exam room.

  Chapter 20

  Lauren stood in a crowded hotel ballroom with theater seating, looking for an empty seat. She’d come to a symposium about new science regarding feline behavior because Diane encouraged this kind of professional development. It was being held at a hotel in Midtown. Since moving to Brooklyn, Lauren spent far less time in this high-traffic tourist area around Times Square, mostly by design. She was already stressed from having to push through the slow-moving crowds of tourist families gawking at the buildings and lights around them, worried she’d be late because people needed to walk five-abreast on the sidewalk.

  When Lauren had first seen the website for the symposium, she’d thought learning more about how cats behaved might better inform some of the decisions she made for how the café was run, but now that she was here, she felt outclassed by the audience. Nearly everyone around her had Dr. or DVM on their badges, and she was here as just the manager of a cat café.

  She hadn’t felt this silly or out of place in a while.

  “There’s an empty seat over there,” said a voice to her right.

  She turned and saw a handsome man—a veterinarian named Michael, according to his name badge—and smiled. “Thanks.”

  “Here, come with me.”

  So Lauren followed Michael to a pair of empty seats at the end of one row about eight rows back from the dais.

  “Thank you for helping me find a seat. I was a little overwhelmed.”

  “No problem. I’m Mike, by the way. I work at a vet clinic uptown.”

  “Oh. Nice to meet you. I’m Lauren.” She deliberately withheld her credentials, because he would likely mock her, the way Caleb had when they’d first met.

  Caleb had some grudging respect for her work now and he’d probably be impressed she was attending this symposium. But she didn’t want to push it too far with this stranger.

  “Did you know,” said Michael, pointing to the program in his hand, “that in ancient Greece, a symposium was an event at which a bunch of men sat around drinking and talking. I guess we’ve evolved if a woman as pretty as you is allowed in.”

  Lauren didn’t know what to do with that. He’d found her a seat; she didn’t owe him more than her thanks. So now he was hitting on her? Okay. She smiled, hoping the lecture would start soon. “I didn’t know that,” she said. “About the word symposium, I mean.”

  “I was a classics major in college for a semester before I decided to switch to biology so I could find a job after I graduated that didn’t involve asking if you want fries with that.”

  “So not only did you switch majors, but you did many years of extra schooling to get that job?”

  Mike shrugged. “I liked school, what can I say?”

  Well, he was annoying her now. Caleb had his faults, but his arrogance didn’t approach the smug look on Mike’s face as he grinned at Lauren.

  Ugh. What the hell was up with this guy? And why couldn’t she get Caleb out of her head?

  Thankfully, some music began to play and the panel for tonight’s discussion walked out onto the dais and sat behind a table. Lauren kept her gaze forward, focusing on the speakers, trying to ignore Mike.

  He behaved until the talk ended.

  She stood and was about to make a beeline out of the ballroom when Mike said, “This hotel has a really nice lounge on the top floor. It rotates, actually. Excellent view of the city. Can I interest you in a drink?”

  It wasn’t even that Mike had behaved poorly. She just got a vibe from him she didn’t like. She opened her mouth to tell him she was seeing someone, but was she? She hated having this secret, ill-defined relationship with Caleb. On the other hand, there was no reason Mike deserved the truth, and Lauren’s thoughts were clearly tied up with another man, even if they weren’t officially seeing each other.

  “You okay there?” Mike asked. “Just a drink. Not a marriage proposal.”

  “Listen, Mike, it was great talking with you, but—”

  “Lauren?”

  Lauren turned and, as if she’d conjured him, here was Caleb. “Oh. Hi,” she said.

  “I thought that was you.” Caleb planted himself beside her and thrust his hand toward Mike. “I’m Dr. Caleb Fitch. I’m a veterinarian in Brooklyn.”

  “Right. Nice to meet you.” Mike shook Caleb’s hand.

  “What are you doing here?” Lauren asked.

  “Jenny Cartwright was a classmate of mine in vet school,” Caleb said, hooking his thumb back toward the dais. Dr. Cartwright had been one of the panelists. “I came to see her and offer moral support. You?”

  “Professional development,” Lauren said, feeling a little embarrassed. She definitely didn’t belong here.

  “Yeah, Jenny’s research on feline behavior is really interesting. And good for her. I wanted no part of more academia when we graduated, but she thought research was more interesting than actually practicing veterinary medicine.”

  “Are you guys friends?” Mike asked.

  “Neighbors, in a way,” said Caleb.

  Lauren tried to mentally transmit to Caleb that she didn’t want him to say she managed a cat café, and then she felt stupid because she should take pride in her work and not feel like she didn’t belong here. She did belong. She’d understood every word of the presentation and also found the research interesting.

  “So, about that drink,” Mike said.

  Caleb put an arm around her, which surprised her. It felt heavy around her shoulders.

  “She’s going to have to give you a rain check,” Caleb said. “She’s coming out with me now.”

  Caleb’s tone was forceful and a bit possessive, leaving no room for argument.

  Mike held up his hands, likely recognizing he’d just lost this territorial dispute. “All right. See you around, Lauren. Nice to m
eet you both.”

  Once Mike took off in another direction and Caleb started to steer her toward the exit, she said, “Well, that was beastly of you.”

  Caleb frowned. “Was that inappropriate? I just thought—”

  “I was working out how to politely turn him down, so it’s fine, but you might as well have just peed on me for how much you acted like a caveman there.”

  Caleb took his arm away. “Oh. I’m sorry. I wasn’t even thinking. You know I don’t think I own you or anything, right? I just didn’t like that guy.”

  “I know. Me neither. Let’s just get out of here.”

  ***

  The spike of jealousy that had pierced Caleb’s chest when he’d seen Lauren talking to that Mike guy in the ballroom had surprised Caleb, even though it shouldn’t have. He should really face facts that he was developing feelings for this woman.

  So he’d swept in there to get her attention and prevent her from going out with that guy, who could have been perfectly nice. And it would have been within her rights to go out with him, because it wasn’t like she had any kind of commitment to Caleb. And yet.

  “Well, now what?” she asked when they were outside.

  “Uh, well. You want to get a drink?”

  Lauren scrunched up her nose, clearly displeased with that suggestion. “Can we just walk for a bit? Get out of the Times Square area?”

  “All right. Lead the way.”

  Caleb still didn’t know the city well, but he recognized they were walking east, toward Sixth Avenue. It wasn’t very late, only just after eight o’clock, but once they were outside of the Times Square bubble, the streets were fairly empty, the office workers all gone home.

  “Did you have dinner?” Lauren asked.

  “Yeah, I ate with Jenny before the presentation.”

  “This Jenny. Is she—”

  “Happily married to a high school math teacher. We’re just old friends.”

  “Not that it’s any of my business.”

  Caleb didn’t want to pursue that. Likely the thought process in Lauren’s head was similar to the one he’d just worked through. “Did you eat?”