I turn quickly, heading for the door to flip the sign to Closed before anyone else wanders in during the last fifteen minutes of the day.
That’s when I see Mom and Grant outside. What are they doing here? I pull the door open just as Mom buries her face in her elbow and sneezes—hard.
“Oh my,” she mutters, fishing a tissue from her coat pocket.
“Bless you,” I say automatically, stepping aside to let them in. That’s when I notice what Grant is clutching to his chest.
My stomach drops.
“Grant,” I say, with a hard shake of my head. “You can’t bring that in here. It’s against code.”
He looks up at me, wide-eyed and easy going. “Oh, it’ll just be for a minute.”
“You can’t,” I start, feeling like this is going to go sideways fast.
“You got a kitten?” Josh blurts. He shoots up from the booth and hurries to Grant, who beams and carefully transfers the small tabby into Josh’s waiting hands.
The kitten is tiny. Striped gray and brown, oversized ears, paws a little too big for its body. It blinks up at us like it has no idea it just detonated a bomb in the middle of my café.
“When did you get a cat?” I ask Mom, keeping my voice low, even.
“About a week ago,” she says, dabbing at her nose.
Understanding slides into place. “Allergies,” I say flatly. “You’re allergic to the cat, aren’t you?”
She sighs. “Seems that way.”
Josh strokes the kitten’s back with an admiration that makes my chest ache. The tabby reaches up, placing one paw against his cheek, and I can tell by the look on Josh’s face that it’s instant love.
“Aww, look, Mom. He likes me.” Josh’s grin is pure sunlight. “What’s his name, Grandma?”
“We haven’t been able to decide,” Mom says.
Grant lets out a dramatic exhale. “Good thing too.”
Josh looks at him, confused. “Why is that a good thing?”
Grant frowns, and lightly strokes the cat. “Harder to give it back after you name it.”
Everything inside me goes still. Because here we go…sideways.
Josh’s eyes widen. “Give it back? Give it back where? To who?”
“We adopted him from the shelter,” Mom says gently and then her eyes go wide, distraught. “Just in time too. Before, they…you know.”
Josh instinctively steps back, curling his body around the kitten like a shield. His fingers tighten protectively in the soft fur. “What do you mean just in time? Wait, what will happen to him if you have to give him back?”
“Josh,” I begin softly, already knowing the direction of this conversation, already bracing for the crash.
“Mom, no.” His voice cracks. “They can’t take him back. They’re going to put him down. Can we keep him?”
Every eye in the café shifts to me.
I swallow.
“You know we can’t,” I say, forcing steadiness into my tone. “We live above a café. The door opens and closes all day long. If a cat gets out or ends up near the food, this place could get shut down. And our apartment…” I shake my head. “It’s just too small.”
The words taste cruel, even though they’re practical. Tears pool in his eyes instantly. He tries to blink them away, but they cling stubbornly to his lashes.
