Skylar smiled as she stood in front of Rory’s desk. “Okay. Storyboards are done. Come take a look.”

Rory got up and walked to the art room, took a look and nodded. “Wow, you’ve really outdone yourself this time. These look great.”

“You wanna change anything?”

“Nope. Between my copy and your artwork, we’re going to have a killer presentation next week.”

“I think so. Tell you what, though, I’m glad we had our vacations scheduled for this long weekend. I’m really fried.”

“Yeah, me too. Between work and a little too much emotion, I’m ready to get outta dodge.”

“So, is this trip for you and the girls to Vegas some sort of female version of The Hangover?”

“Yeah, right. But this is probably the last time we’ll all travel together as single women.”

“Well, don’t get into trouble. All those free drinks at the casino might have you kissing all sorts of men in coat closets.”

“Trust me, I learned my lesson that night.”

“You got Will Prescott out of your system?”

“Absolutely. That lunch with Brett certainly helped.”

“Well, just think, you’ll see him again at the presentation when you get back.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing Brett. Anyway, I gotta run an errand and drop off the keys to the house at the shelter. They’ll be cat sitting for all four of our cats.”

“I thought you always left them at Madison’s house when you were gone?”

“Not this time, she’s having the place treated for bugs and the cats don’t need to be there. So Hemingway will have help wreaking havoc while I’m gone. Don’t forget to lock the door to your art room or it will look like a Jackson Pollock painting.”

***

RORY HANDED THE KEYS to her house over to the woman who ran the cat shelter. “Here ya go, Jeannie. Really appreciate you taking care of all the cats while we’re gone.”

“Not a problem. Oh, before you go I need to show you something in the back room.”

“What, a new cat?”

“Nope. The result of a suggestion you apparently made.”

“Huh?”

“Follow me.”

Rory followed her to the back room. The woman turned on the light, revealing a huge amount of cat food.

Brett Hemmerson’s brand.

“Whoa.”

“Yesterday this truck pulls up out of the blue with a load of this stuff. I guess you talked to the owner of the company and must have mentioned we could use some food. Anyway, for a shelter cat, food this good is like Christmas morning. They’re all tearing into this stuff.”

“For any cat, it’s a treat. Mine is hooked on it after one can.”

“Well, whatever you did, bless you. We’ve got enough food for the rest of the year.”

Rory beamed. “I thought he was sending over a few cases, but this... this is incredibly nice. I’ll need to call him up and thank him.”

“I’ve already done that.”

“Yeah, but I need to as well.” And it will be a good excuse to call Brett.

“Rory, after this you’ll be in the running for volunteer of the year. Though you’ve got tough competition.”

“Oh really? Let me guess—”

“New volunteer who has been fostering cats all year. He’s been a godsend.”

“He? You’ve got a guy fostering cats?”

“Yep. And now that I think of it, you two might hit it off. He’s single, really cute. And so good with cats. He’s even taken some of our really sick ones and special needs cats.”

“Wow. Impressive.”

“I’ll introduce you at the Christmas party.”

Huh. Another single man who likes cats.

Must be more of them than I thought.

***

RORY FINISHED PACKING and had a couple of hours before heading to the airport so she took the opportunity to thank Brett for the cat food.

Okay, so she had an ulterior motive.

She pulled his business card from her purse and dialed the number. “Mister Hemmerson’s office...”

“Hi, this is Rory Callahan. Is he available?”

“What’s this in reference to?”

“He sent a load of cat food over to our shelter on Staten Island and I wanted to thank him.”

“Oh, sure, I remember him doing that. Hold on and I’ll see if he’s done with his meeting.”

Rory drummed her fingers on the desk as she waited on hold to classical music. Finally she heard a click and Brett’s voice. “Hi, Rory.”

“Hi. I called to thank you for that very generous gift to our shelter. That was really nice of you. The cats are going wild over the stuff.”

“Hey, happy to help out. Of course now you’ll have a bunch of shelter cats hooked on my cat food.”

She laughed a bit. “Shelter cats are happy to have food, period. But I know this is a real treat for them to have something this good. Usually it’s whatever the shelter can afford. Anyway, I wanted to thank you personally and didn’t want to wait till I saw you next week.”

“Nice of you to call. As for next week, I’m really looking forward to your presentation... and, of course, seeing you again. I had lunches with all the agency people on the short list, and I must say, I enjoyed talking with you the most.”

“I really enjoyed talking with you as well. And not just about advertising.”

“Same here. Well, I’ll see you next week, and don’t hesitate to ask if that shelter needs any more help.”

“You’re very kind, Brett. Thanks and have a nice long weekend. Bye.”

She ended the call and headed back to the bedroom to zip up her suitcase and found Hemingway sitting on top of her clothes. “Yeah, you hate it when I go away and you wanna come with me. Sorry, aint no way I’m taking you on a plane. But your siblings will be here so you probably won’t even miss me. Meanwhile, I think I may have found a guy who would love you as much as I do.”