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I snorted. “Good catch.”
I wanted to reach over and hold Cooper’s hand, and for God’s sake, that was weird. I wasn’t a hand holding kind of girl. That was the kind of thing people did when they were a couple. We werenota couple. I didn’t do couple-y things.
Just then, we heard some rustling nearby. We both stopped. Reflexively, I reached my hand over only to find Cooper reaching for mine. I squeezed once his fingers were laced with mine, whispering, “Maybe that’s him.”
We stood in complete silence as we waited. My heart pounded in anticipation of the hope that this was Humpty and startled at how good it felt to have Cooper’s hand grasping mine. His palm was warm and dry and strong. The link to him felt good. I wanted to step a little closer.
The rustling had stopped. I was about to tell Cooper to jingle the bell, but he did it anyway. A second later, we heard a distinct meow.
“Humpty!” I called. “Humpty!”
A moment later, we heard another meow, and we could see Humpty approaching us. Cooper lifted his phone, turning on the flashlight as I leaned down, releasing Cooper’s hand to scoop up Humpty.
“Oh, my goodness! You’re all wet!” Humpty was very wet and appeared to be covered in some kind of slime, which was now all over me.
“Do you want me to take him?” Cooper asked as he scanned the light over Humpty in my arms, careful not to shine it into his face.
“No need to take him. I’m already covered in whatever’s on him,” I said, wishing I’d thought to zip my jacket up. I could feel the moisture seeping through the thin cotton of my shirt.
Humpty let out a plaintive meow. Cooper lowered the flashlight, scratching on the top of his head, the only part of his body that appeared even a tiny bit clean.
“There’s a culvert between the parking area for our building and Firehouse Café. He must’ve gotten wet in there.”
“Did you go for a swim?” Cooper asked Humpty as we turned and began walking through the trees toward the parking area.
“He’s shivering,” I commented, holding the cat a little closer against me and pulling one side of my jacket around his body.
A few minutes later, we were walking up the stairs. “Humpty.” I looked down at him when we crested the top of the stairs. “You stink.” His shivering was starting to slow.
Cooper unlocked his door, gesturing me inside his apartment. I looked up at him. “We should just take him straight over to the kitchen sink and give him a bath. I shouldn’t even put him on the floor. Because if I do, this—” I gestured down at Humpty’s body. I wrinkled my nose as I looked back up at Cooper. “Slimy, wet, and stinky stuff will get everywhere.”
Cooper chuckled. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll change later. For now, go turn on your hot water.”
“I don’t have cat bath soap,” he added as he shut the door quickly and crossed over to the kitchen. He shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it on the counter with his keys. Seconds later, he had the hot water running.
I knew I was going to have to wash my shirt and my jacket, really everything I was wearing, so I just followed him over. “We can just use dish soap. We have to go with what we have at this point. Once I get him in there, go grab a towel. The dish towels won’t be enough to dry him off.”
Humpty appeared to realize what was about to happen when I stopped beside the kitchen sink because he began wiggling in my arms. “Oh no, you don’t! You escaped today and had quite the adventure, but you’re getting clean. You stink and you’re filthy.”
“Are you sure you don’t need help holding him?” Cooper asked doubtfully.
“I’m a vet tech. I can wrangle a cat who doesn’t want a bath. Go get the towel and be ready. We’re going to do this as fast as we can.”
Cooper reached down to close the drain and squirt some soap in the water as it filled the sink. I kept a firm hold on Humpty as I lowered him into the sink.
I moved swiftly, soaping him, then running the warm water over him before lifting the drain to rinse him. Cooper had returned quickly with a towel. When I was satisfied all of Humpty was clean, I turned the water off and ran my hands over his fur to swipe as much moisture off as I could.
I glanced up at Cooper, who was standing right beside me. “He’s not happy with me,” I offered. “But instead of freaking out and scratching or biting me, he’s taking the stoic approach.”
We looked down at Humpty together. He sat in the sink with my arm wrapped firmly around his body. He looked downright disgusted at the entire situation.
“If you hadn’t broken out and run away and gotten wet and muddy and gross, none of this would have happened,” I explained to him. Humpty wouldn’t even look at me.
Cooper helped me dry him off, then we finally let him go. He leaped onto the floor and made a mad dash for the back of the sofa where he eyed me suspiciously.
“You closed the bathroom window, right?” I asked suddenly, looking up at Cooper.
