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“Then I think it’s a fantastic idea. There isn’t a shelter around here. Nearest one’s in Casper, I think.”
“I know!” Rye said, brightly. Then he said, “I have no clue how to start a shelter,” even though it sounded like he had a pretty good idea of how to start.
“I’m sure you can figure it out. I’ll help you if you want. Probably funding is the biggest thing.”
Rye wrinkled his brow.
“Yeah. Maybe there’s grants and stuff? Or state funding? We could do a GoFundMe. Or like... I don’t know.”
“You’ll figure it out,” Charlie said. “You’ve got this. And I’ve got you.”
Rye’s eyes burned.
“You do?”
Charlie nodded somberly.
“Me too. I mean, I’ve got you too.” Rye rolled his eyes at himself. “I was trying to make that shit sound romantic.”
Charlie laughed and drew Rye close.
“It was, honey. It really was.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Rye
Once Rye had resolved to turn the Crow Lane house into a cat shelter, the pieces began to fall into place almost faster than he could keep up with them. Now when he and Charlie walked through the house, he could see his vision perfectly. Though he hadn’t been able to picture himself living there, he could imagine in great detail everything the building should have to best care for the cats he imagined helping there.
The cabinets they’d originally sourced for the kitchen were recommissioned into storage in what could now be turned into a sterile place for the cats to be spayed, neutered, and chipped.
The area inside the front door where Rye had once stomped through his own floor would be converted into a front desk area and where Rye had slept curled up in his sleeping bag would be walled off and turned into a space for the cats to stay, as would the room that opened onto the back porch.
The only room left was the upstairs bedroom.
“Do you want to turn that into an office so you can work on business related to the shelter there?” Charlie asked.
“Actually, I have another idea,” Rye said. He anticipated resistance, but they’d promised they’d always keep talking. “Just hear me out, okay?”
* * *
It took about a week (and some awkwardly Big Brotherish watching) for Rye to track down River. They arrived at the Crow Lane house by themself the next Monday afternoon and were reading when Rye startled them by bursting through the front door in his excitement.
“Hey, River!”
River clutched their chest and swore.
“Jesus, you just took ten years off my life.”
“So sorry.” Rye grimaced. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” they muttered.
Rye couldn’t resist any longer.
“You still looking for a job?”
“Always.”
“I’ve got one for you.” Rye was vibrating with excitement. “I’m gonna turn this place into a cat shelter and I want you to help me.”
River’s eyes went wide but they didn’t say anything.
“You know, if you want?” Rye added, realizing he’d phrased it rather bossily.
River swallowed hard and finally nodded.
“I... Are you serious?”
Rye let his energy spill over and told River all about it. He told them about how he wanted to encourage people to get to know the cats before adopting them to minimize the chances of returns. How he planned to provide spaying and neutering on the premises so that if people found cats they wanted to keep they could bring them in for services.
“Of course that requires a vet and we don’t have a budget for one, so we’ll have to see if we can find someone to volunteer their time.”
“Maybe a retired large-animal vet in the area would be willing to help out,” River suggested.
“Large-animal vet, yes. Wyoming. Of course. See, this is why I need you!”
River made an aw-shucks face and waved Rye away.
“Okay the other thing is. You know the bedroom upstairs?”
“Course.”
“You want it?”
River’s eyes narrowed.
“What?”
“It’s already got a bathroom since I was gonna sleep up there. Now...” Rye shrugged. “I’m, uh. I’m gonna be staying with Charlie, so. It’s there. You hate staying with your parents, so I thought...” He shrugged again.
River blinked blankly for a moment.
“We’ll put a lock on the door so no one can get in there and you’ll have your privacy. And really it’d be you doing me a favor because if you’re here at night and anything goes wrong with the cats, then—”
River hugged him with a desperate relief Rye recognized down to his bones. It was the relief he’d felt when his friends let him stay on their couches; the relief he’d felt when Charlie pulled him out of his sleeping bag and gave him a home. The relief he felt now, knowing that he could provide a safe place for someone else who didn’t have one where they should have.
“Thank you. Fuck, thank you so much,” River said.
* * *
Once River was on board everything seemed more real. Rye finally let Charlie do what he’d been wanting to: tell what seemed like every person living in Garnet Run (and a few who lived outside it) about the new business that would be coming to town.
