He wasn't alarmed when she said darling because he knew she was talking to the cat. Saffron Whitby didn't use the baby-talk tone that some people used to talk to animals when she talked to Clio, but it was still subtly different from the tone of her voice when she talked to people. Warner, maybe, less guarded. Smart. You could trust a cat not to let you down; people didn't give those guarantees, no matter how much they cared about you or how hard they were trying. Not most people, anyway. Calvin was never going to be in a position to let her down. That was why he was taking his time with this; he had to hold off on approaching her until he was ready to be everything she needed. Right now he didn't even know her favorite color.

Was it blue? He'd seen her wear this hat before, with the blue ribbon. Calvin marked this idea down in the assumed, yet to confirm part of his list. Maybe she wore the hat because she liked the blue ribbon, but maybe it was simply a comfortable hat. Maybe it was the only hat she had that hadn't already worn thin.

He walked after her, pace slow enough that he wouldn't gain ground unless she stopped to window-shop. As he crossed by the front of the print shop he glanced to the cat. He ought to put some cat treats in his pocket, he thought idly, in case he ever had an opportunity to be on the same side of the window as Clio. He imagined that if the cat already obviously liked him when Saffron introduced them for the first time, that could only work in his favor. He'd have to figure out how to do it without his pockets smelling of fish.

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