Number Neighbors - Emma Hart Page 0,16

this.

I also wanted to know what the odds were that our numbers would be the same, with the final digit one number removed?

I’d put my life savings on it being less than one in a billion.

Think about it: all the phone numbers in the United States, and two neighbors having almost identical phone numbers?

Oy.

Ignoring Lucifer’s mewling—I could swear that kitten was a Victorian schoolteacher in a previous life—I hit my indicator to show that I was turning right and made the turn before the lights changed.

I drove the rest of the way back home, doing the best I could to not fucking think about Hannah and what was to come.

I wasn’t very good at it, that was for sure.

I pulled into my driveway and parked up. Hannah’s drive was clear, so she wasn’t home yet. I was a little surprised by that since she said she finished earlier than me, but she’d probably run to the store.

Maybe to buy a cat carrier, because God only knew she was the most unprepared cat owner ever.

Sorry, a not-a-cat-owner.

That’s what she was calling herself, at least.

I’d be damned if this kitten ended up with anyone other than her.

I scooped Lucifer’s medicine out of the center console, then grabbed the box with the cat in it. I carried both into the house and set the carrier down by the front door.

Hopefully Hannah wouldn’t be too long, because I didn’t really want this little terror running all over my house. I only had a limited amount of litter and food here that I kept in the basement for emergencies, and this little guy had proven that he could eat for England.

I put the medicine down on the counter and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, then leaned back against the kitchen island to drink it. I was tired, and all the muscles in my shoulders were in knots.

I wanted to go to bed, but I had to get this over and done with.

I also didn’t want to have Lucifer trying to climb my bedroom wall again at two-thirty a.m.

Thankfully, I’d already planned to redecorate before he decided to help me.

I finished the water and crushed the bottle, looking up just as Hannah’s car crawled past my window.

Awesome.

I grabbed hold of the medicine and the cat box and, after waiting a minute, headed out just as she was getting out of her car. Her long, dark hair was pulled into a ponytail on top of her head, and it swished around her face as she straightened out.

“Stupid hair!” she muttered, batting at her hair. She looked over the top of her car and met my eyes, freezing as she did so.

Red crept up her cheeks, and she took a step back from the car. “Um. Hi. Hey, Isaac.”

I bit back a laugh at her awkwardness. “Hey. Good day?”

“Not—not bad.”

“I have your cat.” I held up the box. “And his medicine.”

“Oh. Sure.” She locked her car and walked around it. “Put it on the porch and I’ll take him in.”

“Or I can just take him in for you.”

“No, no, it’s fine. I can—I can manage.”

“Hannah, don’t you think we need to talk?”

She cleared her throat and with a sigh, said, “Honestly, I can’t think of anything I want to do less right now.”

My lips twitched. “So you’re just going to ignore all this?”

“That’s the plan.”

“We’re not ignoring it.”

“I said I was going to ignore it. You’re free to address it, but it’ll be a terribly boring, one-sided conversation.”

“Bloody hell, woman. I don’t remember you being this argumentative over text.”

“Well, then you can text me instead.”

“So you can ignore that, too?”

“Yes.” She pulled two grocery bags out of the trunk and slammed it down, then met my eyes with her eyebrows raised. “I thought I’d made that perfectly clear already.”

“Hannah.”

“If you don’t stop saying my name in that damn accent of yours, I’m going to come over there and beat you with my baguette.”

I paused, frowning slightly. “How the hell else am I supposed to say your name?”

“Not at all?”

“You texted me first.”

She pursed her lips as she approached the house. “I’ll be back for Lucifer in a moment.”

“You’re being unreasonable.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Do you know what unreasonable means?”

“Are you patronizing me?” She put the bags down outside the door and turned with her hands on her hips.

“No, I’m just seeing how long I can keep you talking after you said you were going to ignore me.”

Once again, her lips pursed, and she hit me with a