“Mittens has been clawing at the sofa.” Julia remarks.

Drat. I’d hoped nobody would notice.

My cats would always do it to my ratty old couch, but Mittens replaced that with this high-end monstrosity.

Mittens inspects it.

“You’re right, I see the marks. We’ll have to buy you a scratching post, won’t we?” he says to me. “I hope you’ll resist the urge to scratch until then.”

Julia laughs,

“Cats will be cats. Isabelle kept clawing up the couch even after I got a scratching post, so I ended up getting rid of it and all the cushioned chairs.”

“You dote on that cat,” Mittens says, affecting a fond tone.

I honestly can’t tell if it’s real or not. Could he be fond of her and still planning to destroy her life? And if so, why would he do that? I can never tell what he’s thinking.

“I sure do.” Julia agrees, and they relax into a comfortable silence.

Julia looks over at him, and he looks back at her curiously. Then she looks away again, a bit awkwardly.

Ah, the romantic mood. Mittens doesn’t feel it at all.

He’s just dating so they can get married.

Now, if it were me…

But it’s not me. With an inward sigh I jump into Julia’s lap.