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When we step inside, I see Annie sitting at the kitchen table with Norman curled up on her lap. He clearly prefers to be an indoor cat. I’ll have to make sure whoever adopts him is committed to keeping him in the house. I’d feel horrible if he wound up stuck outside again.
“Hey, Annie.” I keep my voice down because, like a little kid who’s finally fallen asleep, I don’t want to wake Norman.
She smiles happily and strokes a hand down Norman’s back. “Hello, dear. How was your day?”
A genuinely happy smile spreads across my face. “Much busier, thank you.”
“You two are terrible,” Matt mutters, and I wonder if he realized how long we talked this morning.
“She’s not stupid, Matty. She figured out something was up when you barely got any customers yesterday, and she cares about you.” I give her a pointed stare, and she tacks on, “And your business.”
“Just wanted to make sure she wasn’t completely overwhelmed on her first day.”
I’m fascinated by the faint reddening of his cheekbones and Annie’s good-natured meddling.
“Who’d you have to pick up this morning, Al?” Matt’s question is definitely an undisguised attempt to change the subject.
“Some city guy who bought a hobby farm got his tractor stuck. Pulled it out of a ditch and back to their barn to work on fixing it. There wasn’t too much damage, so hopefully, they’ll figure it out themselves.”
Matt and Al fall into a conversation, and I'm quickly lost in the technical details.
“How’d he do today?” I ask Annie.
Matt and Al gather Norman’s things while they talk.
“Not bad at all. He was scared of the carrier, so we just let him ride in the car with us, and he seemed much more comfortable. The harness would definitely be the way to go.”
He stretches slowly and blinks his eyes open.
“I wonder if something happened before with a carrier.” I watch as he yawns, completely relaxed, and pops a leg out.
“I guess we’ll never really know for sure.”
We both watch him as he sleepily gazes back at us.
“The vet said you should probably get him fixed soon, but he did all the vaccines today and checked for parasites.”
I hear the back door close and turn to see Al helping Matt carry everything to the truck. I hadn’t even noticed their conversation growing quieter.
“Thank you again for all your help.”
Annie smiles happily. “I was so glad you called. It certainly kept me busy today, which is a nice change of pace.”
“Oh, please. I think you and Al do more than most.” They don’t seem like they ever have much downtime, especially with Al being on call twenty-four-seven.
“Yes, but ever since I retired, if Al’s having a busy day with calls, there’s not much for me to do here. Plus, who doesn’t need some excitement in their lives?”
I think I’ve had a little too much excitement this week, but I don’t want to ruin her good mood with my troubles.
“You want to carry him out?” Annie asks.
“Sure.” I try to be as gentle as possible as I scoop him up from Annie’s lap. His body is noodly and limp, and he’s so relaxed I can fold him up into a more comfortable position before heading to the back door.
“Did the vet say anything about his size?” He really is a small cat, in weight and in stature.
“They don’t think he’s going to grow much more, but they want him to put on some weight. Matt and Al already grabbed the bags of food.”
“Bags?” We only bought one this morning in case he didn’t like it.
