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Laura stepped over and crouched down in front of him, waiting until he looked her in the eyes.
“The only thing you need to do, Mr. Chapman, is focus on your health tonight. We will sort out everything else one step at a time.”
He nodded and seemed to sigh, slumping further under the weight of his grief. “Thank you all for your kindness.”
CHAPTER4
Levi had a great time at Megan’s house. Her cats, less so. Having a big happy dog lying in the middle of the apartment’s tiny kitchen had soured the mood for the two spoiled cats.
Megan had talked with Laura when she had gotten back to the house. Laura had even swung by with some dog food, which had been great since Levi had eaten, drunk, and fallen asleep hard on the old pillows she had put down for him. No doubt he was still recovering from last night.
Her hands twitched, itching to pick up the phone and call Mr. Chapman to see if he was okay, but she didn’t want to disturb him or interrupt if the doctor was in treating him for whatever had happened. Laura hadn’t known any details, but his heart was erratic and they feared a heart attack, especially after viewing the ECG on the ambulance.
Just thinking about it, Megan had to stand up again and pace the apartment, even though she had just sat down. Feeling the need to settle herself, she began the process of making a cup of tea on autopilot, while her thoughts ran their course. He had looked weak and with poor color, but the lighting and the stress from the fire would’ve been reason enough. Still, if he’d had a heart attack, it was amazing he had sat up that long, insisting on watching the house as long as he could. There had been a sheen of sweat reflecting the fire, but again that too could be explained. It had been easy to miss, which proved the value in being taken in as a precaution. In her heart, Megan had a feeling he wouldn’t have gone without Levi being taken care of, even if it was by a stranger. As a matter of fact, that was evidence alone to his condition.
She reached past Lincoln into the cabinet to grab a tea towel from the stack under the sink and knocked the flashlight over by accident. There was a hiss, and four sharp claws sliced into her hand with searing pain. She jerked back and cradled her hand with a hiss of her own before peeking at the wound.
“You really got me deep, you know that? You should be ashamed,” she hissed while applying pressure to her wounded hand.
Lincoln, her orange tabby tomcat, lifted his leg and proceeded to lick himself without any concern for the blood streaming past the ruined dish towel and down the drain of her sink. Thank God she had already done the dishes last night, or she would’ve had a much bigger mess to clean up.
An affectionate nudge followed by a graceful smooth pass of fur along her leg had her looking down. Of course it wasn’t Lincoln ready to apologize. Popsicle, her smaller, chocolate-colored cat clearly felt her pain. She always was a more affectionate and understanding creature.
Megan looked down. “Thank you. And you better not give me the same reaction when I have to give you medicine.”
The big green eyes stared up at her with nothing but curiosity and obedience. Popsicle sat down next to her foot and flicked her tail right around, waiting and eyeing the cabinet over the coffee pot.
“For you? Yes. Becauseyoulisten.” Ever the sucker, Megan tied the towel around the nasty four scratches on the inside of her hand and retrieved the box of kitty crunchies.
A deep meow signaled the approach from Lincoln, who turned his big yellow eyes on her in a complete farce of innocence.
She eyed Lincoln, almost tempted to give in despite her throbbing hand.
“None for you, Mr. Attack Cat,” she said, heading to the bathroom in search of a first aid kit, taking care to tiptoe past Levi, who was snoring.
The trip wasn’t a long one as her whole apartment was smaller than a thousand square feet. The layout was a little odd as she lived in an old downtown bank building, which was close to everything—a luxury that she paid a lot for.
True to form, the kitchen had an exposed brick wall that faced the island and the living space where two windows with arched tops looked onto the street below. Her bedroom and bathroom were blocked off by walls installed much later than the original construction, but the plumbing was a creative journey.
“Hi guys,” she said, using her good arm to pull an old towel off the cage in front of one of the windows next to an old, secondhand, pull-out couch.
Salt and Pepper squawked hello as she passed the two parakeets. Both of them hopped to the side wall when she walked by, hoping to be let out for a quick zoom around the place. Megan had let them out before when they had careful supervision in case Lincoln and Popsicle decided to get hungry for something other than kitty crunchies. Neither one had even taken an interest in the birds, preferring to sleep upside down on their cat beds scattered around the floor.
Her bathroom was a war zone of laundry, hair care products, and Leo’s tank. Leo was short for leopard because of the pattern on his shell or for Leonardo from theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles—the previous owner wasn’t exactly sure. Either way, Leo was her box turtle she had inherited from a local science teacher a few months earlier. He had outgrown the tank in the school and was about to outgrow this one. It was another thing she’d have to worry about later.
“Come on, you stupid thing.” Megan wrestled with the first aid kit’s overprotective latch until the lid flew open with a flurry of Band-Aids everywhere.
Megan let out a stream of words her grandma would not have approved of at all, even though she had heard her say more than a few when her grandma had thought she was alone.
Trying to clean, treat, and wrap four deep scratches with her nondominant hand left her sweaty and ten minutes behind schedule.
A small tube popped out and flew onto the floor behind the desk. Not a total pig, Megan finished up, gathered the Band-Aids, and retrieved it only to laugh when she saw what it was.
“Burn cream. That’s hilarious. Won’t be needing this. Guess I should clean this out more, shouldn’t I, huh, Leo?” She tossed the expired ointment into the trash can next to her desk, stopping to right the pictures she kept there.
If anything, her desk was more of her keepsake area, since all of her banking and email happened on her phone. Since she wasn’t in school right now, her computer normally sat in the drawer, but it was out as she had been completing her applications for vet school, hoping to get contacted for an interview in a few weeks. Assuming they liked her portfolio, the interview would be the last step, and she could realize her dream of being a vet. Just thinking about it made her anxious. She had wanted this for so long, and with every step closer it all became so nerve-racking.
Animals had always been her companions, and Laura and Ash had learned not to go to the park with her, unless they wanted to greet every animal that walked by.
