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  “Yes,” Min said, trying not to laugh. “Especially if you promise to call them Sweet and Tart.”

  “Liza would kill me,” Diana said, but her voice sounded lighter.

  “Come here first,” Min said. “And then we’ll go out and you can come back and spend the night. It’ll be like old times. Except we’ll be folding your cake boxes because they have to be assembled, I’ve just found out.”

  “Okay,” Di said. “Okay. I feel better. It’s just pre-wedding jitters.”

  “Right,” Min said. “You haven’t talked to Mom recently, have you?”

  “Well, yes,” Diana said. “I live with her.”

  “No, I mean talk. Because she just called to tell me Dad’s cheating on her.”

  “Oh,” Diana said, sounding taken aback. “No, she hasn’t mentioned that.”

  “Well, good,” Min said, and reassured Diana that their father was not sleeping with his secretary—”It would mean he’d have to skip lunch, Di, and do you really see that happening?”—and hung up with a renewed promise that they would have a wonderful time on Wednesday.

  Then she sat and looked at the phone and waited for it to ring again. She’d told Cal not to call her, that she wanted Monday to herself, but he was not good at taking directions, so maybe . . .

  By five that evening, it had become clear that the bastard had learned to take directions. Min went home and heard Elvis playing on the stereo before she opened the door. She went in and saw the cat splayed out on the back of her couch, his ears close to the speakers. “Turned it on again, did you?” she said, and went over and cuddled him to make up for leaving him all day, something that didn’t seem to bother him much at all. Then she made spaghetti and began the pleasant evening she’d planned with her cat, keeping one ear cocked for a knock at the door, just in case. When it came, she felt equal parts exasperated and happy. Okay, Cal wasn’t good at listening, that was bad, but she was still glad he was there.

  Then she opened the door and he wasn’t, it was David, and her feelings simplified down to just exasperated.

  “What are you doing here?” she said.

  “I need to talk to you.” He walked in and stopped dead, staring at the end of her couch. “My God, what is that?”

  “That’s Elvis,” Min said closing the door behind him. “My cat. I love him. Insult him and you’re history.”

  David sat down on the couch, as far away from Elvis as he could get. “I’ve been thinking about us,” he began as he loosened his tie.

  “There is no us,” Min said. “There never was an us. The best thing you ever did for me was dump me. I’d be grateful but I’m still mad at you for it.”

  “I know, I know, I deserve it.” David pulled the knot out of his tie, looking more undone than Min could ever remember seeing him. “It was the dumbest thing I ever did.” He patted the couch beside him. “Come here and let me talk to you.”

  Min went over and sat down on the couch. “Make this fast,” she told him. “Elvis and I have a big evening ahead of us.” At the sound of his name, Elvis crept forward on the back of the couch and sat beside her, growling softly, and she put her hand up and rubbed him behind the ears. “Easy, tiger,” she told him. “He’s leaving.”

  David leaned closer, keeping one eye on the cat. “I want to marry you, Min.”

  Elvis reached out a claw and buried it in David’s sleeve.

  “Hell,” David said, scooting back on the couch. “What was that for?”

  “Elvis doesn’t want to get married,” Min said. “I think Priscilla broke his heart. He always loved her, you know.”

  “It’s not funny,” David said.

  “Who’s laughing?”

  “Look, I’m serious.” David reached in his coat pocket and handed her a package. “This is how serious I am.”

  “That’s not a ring, is it?” Min said with horror.

  “No,” David said, so she unwrapped the box. Inside was an expensive, three-inch snow globe with the Eiffel Tower inside.

  “The Eiffel Tower?” Min said. This guy doesn’t know me at all.

  “That’s where we’ll honeymoon,” David said, edging closer. “In Paris. We’ll have a wonderful life, Min. And I don’t mind starting a family right away, we can—”

  “I don’t want kids,” Min said, peering into the snow globe. “David, this isn’t my kind of—”

  “Of course you want kids,” David said. “You were born to be a mother.”

  Min put the snow globe on the end table and looked at the cat. “There are two men, Elvis. One calls you a depraved angel and the other calls you a natural born mother. Which one do you pick?”

  “Well, you’re more than that, of course,” David said. “But—” He stopped when the cat jumped down from the back of the sofa, brushing against him and leaving a smudge of rusty cat hair on his sleeve. “Your cat just got cat hair on me.”

  “It’s only fair,” Min said. “Your suit just got expensive suit lint on him.”

  “Min, I know you’re seeing Cal Morrisey,” David said.

  “You do?” Min said, thinking, You miserable son of a bitch, you’re still trying to win that bet. It was enough to make her sleep with Cal just to get even with David. The thought was much more exciting than it should have been.

  “You shouldn’t see Cal,” David said seriously. “Ever again.”

  The cat jumped up on the end table and nosed the snow globe off with enough force that it landed on the stone hearth in front of the fireplace and smashed, water running everywhere.

  “Elvis!” Min shoved herself off the couch to shoo him away. “Stay away from there. There’s broken glass.”

  “He did that on purpose,” David said, outraged.

  “Yes, David, the cat is plotting against you.” Min fished the base out of the water and glass shards and put it on the table. Then she went to get her wastebasket and began to put the glass pieces in it.

  “That cat—” David said.

  “Yes?” Min said as she picked up the biggest piece.

  “Never mind,” David said. “You don’t know what Cal Morrisey’s up to.”

  “Sure, I do,” Min said, picking up another piece. “He’s trying to get me into bed.”

  “Well, yes,” David said. “But it’s more than that.”

  “I know.” Min picked up the third and last large piece and then looked at the rest. “Give me that magazine on the table, will you?”

  David passed the magazine over and she tore off the cover while he said, “You don’t know. He’s capable of anything.”

  “That was the impression I got.” Min slid the cover under the glass while using the rest of the magazine as a broom. She dumped the glass in the basket and then saw one more large piece, a little beyond her sweeping area. “Look, David, you don’t have to worry about me. I am not in love with Cal Mor—ow!” She pulled back her hand as the blood welled up. “What the hell?” She picked up the last piece and dropped it in the basket and then went out to the kitchen to wash off the blood.

  “Are you listening to me?” David said.

  “No,” Min said over the running water. “I’m injured. Go away. I don’t want to marry you.” She turned off the water, wrapped a paper towel around her finger, and went back to get rid of him.

  “Min,” David said, standing up. “You’re not taking me seriously.”

  “Lord, no,” Min said, opening her front door. “You’re a nice man, David. Well, not really. Go—”

  “No, Min, I’m staying,” he said, his voice deep and serious.

  Then he grabbed her and kissed her hard.

  Chapter Eleven

  David was holding Min’s head in his hands too tightly for her to pull away, so she drew back her hand to slap him, only to have him yank away and scream before she could complete the smack.

  At his feet, Elvis snarled, his front claws planted in David’s shin.

  Min wiped her mouth off as David kicked Elvis off his leg. “Well, that was gross. As