Page 26 of A Christmas Negotiation

“I’m not her owner. This is temporary.” He stood up and stepped away, as if that could somehow extricate him from the situation.

“Uh-huh. Tell that to Cat.”

He turned back to her, kneading his forehead. “How do I get her to not have the kittens in here? Won’t it make a big mess?”

“First off, you don’t get her to do anything. If she’s happy and feels safe there, you should let her do her thing. You do not want to get into a battle of wills with a mama cat. Second, we can put down an old towel or two and you can toss them out once the kittens arrive.”

“What about the T-shirt?”

She patted his shoulder in consolation. “I think that’s pretty much a goner.”

“I never should have let her in that morning.”

“Oh, Jeremy, no. You had to do it. She could have died out there. Her and her kittens. You did the right thing.”

He twisted his lips, which made her think he was considering the other side of the coin she’d just shown him. “You really are good at forming an argument.”

She loved not only knowing that she could show him when he was wrong, but that he would actually listen. She found that a rare quality in a man, especially a lawyer. “Thanks. I appreciate that. Now what do I have to do to convince you to open a bottle of wine?”

“You don’t. It’s six on a Friday and there’s cause for celebration. I can’t believe it’s taken us this long to get around to it.”

“You’re speaking my language. I’m just going to grab my purse from the guest room. I can’t live this time of year without lip balm.”

Down the hall they went, making a brief stop so Isabel could fetch her bag, then descending the stairs and back to the kitchen. Isabel perched on a barstool at the kitchen island and watched Jeremy go to work. “Red or white?” he asked.

She glanced out the patio windows. The snow was still pretty and fluffy, but the wind had started to whip. “Considering the weather? Definitely red.”

“Perfect. I have a Spanish rioja that’s absolutely delicious.”

“Sounds amazing.”

Jeremy opened a tall cabinet at the far end of the kitchen, which had a waist-high wine chiller below and diagonal bottle storage above, the entire setup going from floor to ceiling.

“It’s like your own little cellar.”

“There’s a real cellar downstairs on the ground floor. I got really into wine about ten years ago. I was starting to wonder if I was going to be a bachelor forever, so I figured I might get a hobby.” He brought the bottle to the island and expertly opened it, then pulled two glasses from an upper cabinet near the fridge.

“And then you met the woman you married and the bachelor was reformed?” Isabel was indeed curious about the notion of Jeremy seeing himself as never getting married, and that apparently changing at some point.

“It had nothing to do with being reformed. I was on board from the beginning.”

“Head over heels?”

“I guess you could say that, but she also had a way of sweeping you up into her world. Or maybe sucking you into the eye of her personal hurricane is a more apt analogy.”

“She sounds lovely.”

Jeremy laughed. “It happened fast. That’s all I can tell you. I think she liked the fact that I wasn’t the typical Manhattan playboy. She’d dated a lot of guys like that.” He filled their glasses and handed her one. “Cheers. To not talking about my ex-wife.”

Isabel took a quick sip. “It’s delicious. Thank you. But not so fast.” She had questions. A lot of questions. Things weren’t entirely adding up. “Okay, confession time. I looked you up on the internet after the first meeting at your office.”

“Of course you did.”

“You did the same thing to me, did you not?”

He brought his glass around to the other side of the island, but didn’t sit with her. “Come on. If we’re going to talk about this, we’re going in the living room. I’d rather be comfortable while discussing unpleasant subjects.” He didn’t wait for her reply, but instead wandered off.

Isabel followed in earnest, worried she’d hurt him. “I don’t mean for it to be unpleasant. I’m just curious because what you’re telling me isn’t matching up with what I read.”