Seating herself at the kitchen table, she raised an eyebrow at Aliyah, who studiously ignored her as she forked up a bite of her lunch and shoved it in her mouth. Claire cleared her throat for emphasis.

Aliyah’s eyes darted up to hers, expression all innocent. “What?” she demanded around a mouthful of noodles.

“Exactly,” Claire countered. “You got something going on with Duke that I don’t know about?”

She snorted and forked up some veggies. “He wishes.”

Okay then. Claire hid a smile, enjoying the opportunity to rib Aliyah and glad to be talking about something so normal for once. “Just checking, because I seem to recall you saying something about swearing off men for cats for the next six months. Of course this just means I like you even more.”

Aliyah paused and gave her that cool look Claire had no trouble seeing through now. “What are you talking about?”

Claire knew her co-worker wasn’t used to dea