Right up the walk, boots crunchin' behind hers, and I didn't even need to think about it. Just went where she went.
Didn't need a dog after all.
Turned out I was one.
TBH, I was fine with it.
Calvin pushed the back door open and stepped inside.
A small, offended meow from the kitchen floor.
Calvin dropped the duffel right there in the living room and bent, scoopin' Cat up against her chest in one smooth motion like she'd been doin' it her whole damn life. Cat went boneless in her hands the way Cat did, head tucked under Calvin's chin. Calvin pressed her face into Cat's black fur and whispered somethin' I guessed she hadn't intended on me hearin'.
"I'm sorry." She gave Cat a quick peck on the top of her head. "I love you."
I kept my face real still and my eyes on the far wall.
Didn't say nothin'.
Didn't need to intrude on their moment. No clue what Calvin had to apologize for—maybe tryin' to skedaddle and leavin' her behind. Either way, Cat knew Calvin loved her. She told me every day when we made biscuits together. Cat would say,I love my mamaand I'd say,me too, kitty Cat.
The one and only time Calvin had walked into the room during our father-daughter chat had taken years off my life, fearin' she'd overheard.
Calvin lifted her head after a moment. Didn't look at me. Just shifted Cat into the crook of one elbow, picked up the duffel with the other hand, and started for the stairs.
I followed, per usual.
The stairs were a special kinda hell for a man fresh outta the ER. Every step sent a fresh bolt offuck youthrough my hip and up into my shoulder, and I gripped the bannister harder than a grown man oughta have to.
Halfway up, she glanced back.
"You good?"
"I'm good."
"Brody."
"I'm good, viper."
She watched me a beat longer. Then turned around and kept climbing, slower now than she'd been takin' 'em before.
At the top, she turned for the bedroom, tossed the duffel in the closet without breakin' stride, and headed straight for the bathroom.
Followed her in there, too, like she had me tethered to her with some sort of invisible leash.
Wrapped around my balls.
The clawfoot tub had been collectin' our dirty clothes for a week. Calvin bent, gathered the whole pile in one armful while balancin' Cat in the other, and dumped it on the bathroom floor next to the tub.
Then she set Cat down right in the middle of it.
Cat blinked once, circled, and flopped into the clothes like she'd been waitin' her whole short life for such a throne.
Not the cat bed I'd bought. Not the blanket I'd folded up for her in the corner of the bedroom. A pile of dirty laundry on the bathroom floor.
Calvin turned to the tub and twisted the hot tap. The old pipes groaned to life and water started runnin', steam curlin' up into the late evening light comin' through the window.
Then she turned to me.
