“Hey! Who dragged Beth out of that bar last night? I opened up a lane for you, John. That’s invaluable in fragile moments like that.”

John considered his friend’s words and then bobbed his head from side to side, conceding the point. “You’ll get a nice thank-you card in the mail.”

“Cheapskate.”

John shrugged. “Tigers don’t change their stripes. Especially when they suddenly have a beautiful woman to take out for dinner every once in a while.”

“You have to know by now that she doesn’t care about your money situation. She’s into you for you. I can tell. I have a sixth sense about these things.”

John sighed and the joy didn’t stop rising within him; it just rose at a much more sedate pace. “We haven’t really talked about all that yet. But I’m starting to understand that this is likely my issue much more than it’s Mary’s. And yes, I’m also beginning to understand that she’s really into me. Because of who I am. That’s part of why I’m such a goner.” John dragged his hands over his face and let his fingertips grip at his jawbone for a long minute, elongating his face in glee and surprise. “I seriously cannot believe this is happening.”

“Believe it, baby,” Richie said, a wide, gleeful grin on his face. “You deserve it.”

THEY SPENT THAT night together as they’d planned to and then the entire weekend as well. It was Sunday afternoon when John realized how far off the deep end he’d really gone with Mary.

Because he was literally herding a cat. While he wore oven mitts.

He was chasing Ruth around his apartment, attempting to jam her into her kennel for the cab ride over to Mary’s. Ruth was an easygoing personality, unless it came to getting crammed into a confined space, which John considered fair. Annoying, but fair.

She’d nearly scratched the oven mitts to ribbons by the time he’d loaded her in. He strapped a backpack on, filled with stuff that Ruth would need to spend the next few days at Mary’s house and a few changes of clothes for himself as well.

He was not, by any means, moving in with Mary. But there was a heat wave coming. It was going to be over a hundred degrees for at least four days and Mary had put her foot down. John could stay at his house if he wanted, she’d informed him. But she and Ruth were staying where there was air-conditioning.