Page 47 of Until Joy

“Joy,” July smiled at me. “I want you to meet Glenda Pearson. She’s here to adopt a cat or a kitten. I was telling her that you were the one who knew all our pets the best.”

I walked around the reception desk and shook her hand. “It’s very nice to meet you, Ms. Pearson.”

“Oh, please call me Glenda.” When she smiled at me, I realized I was right. She did have a pretty smile.

“Okay Glenda. I would love to match you up with a pet.” I looked over at July, who handed me the intake form. She was very thorough with the questions she asked. She always wanted to make sure our animals went to good homes.

I frowned when I saw that Glenda often had to work long hours and didn’t get home until nine or ten in the evening.

“What? Is there something wrong with my form?” she asked. I inwardly winced. I’d totally screwed up by frowning.

“No, of course not,” I prevaricated. I didn’t want her to think that we didn’t like her. Everything else seemed great. She owned her own town home, so she didn’t have to ask permission to have a pet. Glenda didn’t smoke. That was never a deal breaker. July just made sure that she didn’t send an animal who had any kind of respiratory issue into the home of a smoker. July was definitely protective. James and Dean were lucky to have her as a mom.

“You said you wanted either a kitten or a cat. Do you really know which you would prefer?” I asked.

Glenda grimaced. “I guess I’m leaning toward a kitten. There’s just something about the idea of having a baby cat to love. I don’t have any kids.” She reached out and put her hand on my arm with a sisterly smile.

“A kitten needs a lot of attention to begin with, just like a baby. I see here that you work a lot of late hours. Is that likely to continue?”

Glenda nodded. “It’s definitely part of the job. I think that might have been part of the reason my boyfriend and I broke up last Saturday…” Her voice trailed off and then she stared at me. “Wait a minute. Didn’t I see you at Louey’s last Saturday? Weren’t you singing?”

I felt my cheeks heat up.

“Yes, she was,” Kayan said excitedly as she came down the hall from the break room. “Wasn’t she awesome?”

Glenda gave me a long, thoughtful look, then snapped her fingers. “What song did you sing again? It sure was a hit with everyone. You were amazing!” Glenda enthused.

I blushed. “I don’t know about amazing.”

“No, seriously! You killed it.” She laughed. “I wish I had half your confidence. What was the name of the song you sang again?”

“I Kissed a Girl,” I croaked out. “These two picked it out.” I pointed accusingly at July and Kayan.

“It was great. They did a good job. I was really having fun while you were singing,” Glenda gushed. Then she shook her head. “It was a good night for a while. Too bad Rob ruined things...”

“Who’s Rob?” Kayan asked.

“I thought he was The One,” Glenda answered. “We’d been together for over four years. He broke up with me that night.”

“Are you kidding me?” Kayan gasped. “Did you have any idea it was coming?”

“None,” Glenda shook her head. “He seemed to really be enjoying the night, too. I know he liked your performance, too.” She looked over at me and gave me a small smile. “Him breaking up with me came totally out of the blue. It happened maybe twenty minutes after you sang.” She bit her lip. “Oh well, his loss.”

I admired her attempt to treat her breakup as no big deal, but it must have hurt like hell.

She looked around at all three of us. “So, does my paperwork look good enough for me to check out the cats and kittens?”

“You should come out with us sometime,” July said enthusiastically.

And that was why I loved July. I’d been thinking the same thing.

Glenda hesitated. “Oh, I don’t know… I wouldn’t want to cramp your style.”

Kayan rolled her eyes. “Please. We’re all about women supporting women. We’re your new girl gang, Glenda. No backing out now.”

Glenda laughed. “Well, when you put it like that… count me in.”

With that decided, I took her back to the kennels. The dogs barked, but I was impressed how Glenda didn’t flinch. She was calm, cool and collected. I unlocked the area for the cats.