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row at me as she tried to figure me out.
Good luck there. I hadn’t managed to figure myself out yet, and I had more than thirty years practice.
“You think you do,” she said after a moment. “But if the cards see something you’re not ready to face…”
“I’ll take my chances. I’m making the choice to trust you,” I added. “You could try trusting me back.”
She didn’t answer. And she didn’t laugh again as we finished the meal and paid—separate checks of course, despite my disagreement—or on the ride back to her place. Smoky was thoroughly tired of the carrier and meowed the whole way, but he saved the loudest one for when Ryan climbed out of my car.
I exhaled as I waited while she went inside. “I don’t like it any better than you do, Smoky.”
Returning to my house seemed even more hollow after having Ryan’s energy around me for so much of the day.
“Energy,” I muttered as I drove up the long driveway and parked. “Now who’s going woo woo?”
I collected Smoky’s many, many items from the trunk and grabbed his carrier for the trek inside. His meowing had turned into full-blown yowls now.
Either he was hungry or he was disgusted I was his new owner instead of Ryan.
I couldn’t even say I blamed him on the second point.
It took two trips to gather everything we’d bought him. Rather than letting him loose inside my place when I wasn’t there to supervise, I set the carrier on the floor while I toted in the rest. Then I stalled a little more, setting out his new fountain along with a bowl of wet food and one with dry kibble, both high-end brands I’d seen workers using at the shelter.
After some debate, I put his litter box in the laundry room and filled it up with litter to the very brim. Okay, so I overflowed it, but that was what the handheld vacuum was for. After vacuuming up the mess, I went to set the cat free, only to find him plastered to the back of his carrier, his eyes the size of saucers.
I opened the door and he didn’t come out, just stayed adhered to the back. I frowned. Was he mad at being caged for so long? Going to dinner with Ryan instead of taking him home right away hadn’t been ideal.
“Already I’m a failure as a pet parent. And it’s been what, a few hours?” I glanced at my watch. “Good sign, Shaw.”
At a loss, I picked up the carrier and tried to gently shake him out. He did not budge. Even with only three legs, he was hanging on for dear life. I’d have to remember to mind his claws if he became annoyed, because he clearly knew how to use them.
I set the carrier down and went to get his food dish. It probably wasn’t healthy to be bribing him on night one, and he was probably not as hungry due to his goodies from Ryan.
And I wasn’t thinking about any of her goodies anymore tonight.
I put the small dish outside Smoky’s open door. I waited five minutes, but he did not come out to investigate.
Okay, then. I had other things I could do with my time. Smoky would come out when he chose. If I was him, I’d need a while to process that Ryan wasn’t my new owner too.
Or something comparable to the plight of a horny human male.
Apparently, one of the things I had to do was to call my brother. It was hard to say which of us was more surprised.
“Pres, what’s wrong?”
I forced myself to relax in my leather wingback chair and studied the carrier on the floor. From the way Smoky had affixed himself to the back, you couldn’t even tell there was a cat inside. Considering his size, that was a feat. “Nothing. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because you haven’t called me since the last presidential term? Possibly before that. You usually act as if a text is imposition enough.”
I didn’t have an answer for that.
“Not to mention, it’s past ten. Aren’t you usually in bed by now? Early riser and all that. Up before dawn to make your mogul millions.” He laughed at his own joke, but I didn’t.
“I’m not that predictable.”
“Since when?”
Since a certain someone made me wonder if I shouldn’t be.
