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She didn’t seem bothered by the name change at all, just continuing her disgusting and a little endearing licking of my shirt. But I immediately felt bad, and had to correct the record. “I won’t really,” I said. “And I meandirty trash catwith the utmost respect for your time on the streets. I’m just saying, we need to get you to the vet and get you cleaned up a bit.”
I reached into my pocket for my phone, snapping a quick picture of Lenore that came out like a smudge of black on top of me. Still, I hoped Alison would understand what she was looking at as I sent it over to her. Her reply came back in minutes.
So cute!!!! Glad you decided to keep her.
I ran my fingers over my phone screen, feeling the jagged edge of one of the cracks. I sent my response back before I could second-guess myself too hard.Have no idea what I’m doing. Would you be able to meet up with me sometime after work to help me buy supplies?
If she said no, I wouldn’t be offended. She was probably really busy, between work and the lure of another Epcot food festival or whatever else it was that got Disney people all riled up. And I could probably figure out what to buy on my own—there may even be a list of suggested items in the library book. As soon as Lenore stopped doing her bizarre licking and kneading thing, I’d get up and check. My shirt was already soaked through.
But Alison’s reply came back with a gif that made me laugh, of Mr.Burns steepling his fingers together. I’d forgotten just how muchSimpsonswe’d watched in middle school. She said it washer day off, and could I meet her at the pet store next to the old Dunkin’ Donuts, the one that had the pink elephant and red camel statues out front?
I surprised myself by knowing exactly the place she was talking about.
SEVENTEEN
ALISON TRIED TOexplain to me some nuances of cat ownership as we stocked up on basic supplies—litter box, food, cat carrier—but it was hard to stay focused when I kept thinking about how I’d left things with Sam. Alison even had to take my phone from me and finish making the vet appointment, because I kept stuttering and stammering over basic information like how old did I think the cat was and what was the best number where they could reach me.
“Hey,” she said after she’d hung up and handed me my phone back. “You can do this. I promise it’s not hard. Cats are fairly low-maintenance, except when they’re vomiting up hairballs or knocking over your drink. Want me to go to the vet with you?”
“You’ve already done too much,” I said, when really I wanted to say,Yes, thank god, please help me because I’m drowning here. “But let me buy you a coffee, at least, if you think we have time before that cat destroys the entire house.”
“Oh, it only takes cats about point two seconds to do that,” Alison said, and then laughed when she saw my widened eyes. “But I highly doubt Lenore is getting up to much mischief right now. It sounds like she’s still intimidated by the new surroundings.”
We loaded all the supplies in my car and then headed next door to grab some coffee, Alison chattering on about cats the whole time. She showed me at least thirty pictures of hers at home by the time we got to our table.
“That must be Maritza,” I said, pointing to one picture of a woman making kissy faces at the gray striped cat. She had dark curly hair and a beauty mark on her cheek. “Good of you to slip at least one picture of your wife in there. She’s pretty.”
Alison smiled, swiping back to her phone’s home screen to show me a picture of the two of them together. They really were adorable. Ugh, would I have to add them to my suddenly growing list of healthy couples? It had been much more fun back when I’d been going down Wikipedia rabbit holes trying to figure out which postconviction relationships lasted after the inevitable book deal. Sondra London had dated not one buttwoconvicted murderers and written books about or with them. Now that was commitment.
“She used to make fun of me for all the cat pictures,” Alison said, “but then she moved in and ended up getting attached. I bet your phone will be just as bad in a couple months. It’s encouraging that Lenore was kneading on you like that. It shows she trusts you.”
“At least someone does,” I said.
Alison’s brows drew together. She was wearing another pair ofhip glasses today, these ones wire frames that made her look extra librarian-ish. “What are you talking about?”
I wasn’t going to talk about it. I hadn’t wanted Conner to know, and I didn’t see any reason to discuss my personal life with Alison, either. But she was a lot less connected to the rest of my life, and it had been bubbling up in me all day. I was dying just to get it out.
“I slept with Sam,” I said.
“Your hot neighbor?” she said. “I mean, I figured.”
“Yeah, it just—” I stopped, her words registering for the first time. “Wait, what?”
“The way he mentioned what you’d named the cat,” she said, lifting one shoulder. “I don’t know. I figured you were together.”
“Well, we weren’tthen,” I said. “And we might not be now. I think I fucked it up.”
There was a mom and her young son at the counter, buying donuts, and I suddenly got paranoid that they could hear every word of our conversation. I sank lower in my seat, but the mom just handed her kid a sticky jelly donut and a napkin, focused more on wiping something off his cheek with her own spit than anything we were talking about.
Alison gave me a dry look. “I am admittedly not an expert on heterosexual intercourse, but it has been shoved in my face in movies and books for years, so I think I can say with some confidence that it is highly unlikely you messed anything up.”
“I think he wants arelationship,” I said.
Alison’s eyes traveled from one corner of the coffee shop to the other, as though she were actually scanning the room for what the problem was. “And that’s bad?”
I enumerated the reasons on my fingers, as much for my benefit as for hers. “One, I’m here for only another month or so. After that, it’s back to North Carolina. And after I graduate in December, who knows where I’ll go—my advisor said it was best to keep my options open. I could do a postdoc at the University of San Diego for all I know. I could be an adjunct in Pawhuska, Oklahoma.”
“Well, they have... what does Sam do again?”
