AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Rebelle jerked next to him at the sudden increase in volume. She darted around him and grabbed the box with the now hissing calico and headed towards the shelter, shrinking away from him. He’d noticed before she didn’t like yelling. He huffed, annoyed with himself for his uncharacteristic outburst.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell. I was just shocked,” he said, trailing after her.
“I’m shocked too but I’m not yelling,” she muttered. She placed the box in the kitchen and dug in one of the cabinets for some cat treats and offered them to the calico who greedily accepted them. “This is what I wanted.”
He shifted behind her and watched as the tension crept back into her shoulders. “What do you mean?”
“Someone has taken care of her, see? She’s in good condition. She was loved and now for some reason, someone isn’t able to care for her and brought her to the one place that could look after her,” Rebelle said, meeting his eyes.
“Some idiot-”
“Somepersonwho for whatever reason, financial, medical, whatever, has left her with us. I want people to feel like they can turn to us for help.”
“Us?” He smiled.
She shook her head. “Me. The shelter.”
She had a point. This result was much better than a potential alternative that he didn’t even want to think about. While he ruminated on this, Rebelle stroked the calico whose purr vibrated off the cardboard box walls. When Rebelle reached the cat’s incredibly large stomach the calico patted her hand in warning, but Will noticed her claws remained retracted.
“She’s also about to have kittens,” Rebelle sighed.
“She is? We’ve got a baby mama in the house?” Will could barely keep the excitement out of his voice. He freaking loved kittens.
“I need to get her to the vet to get her checked out, but I haven’t fed and cleaned the animals yet.” Her eyes swung up to Will’s. This was a big moment, he could tell. She wasn’t asking him for help, he didn’t think she would be able to do that, but she was signaling for it.
“I can do it, assuming I’m allowed to volunteer again?”
Her brows knitted and her rosebud mouth puckered in her telltale frown. “You’re still here, aren’t you?”
He fought back the smirk at her graciousness, damn he loved their verbal sparring. “I am, I got this. You take Parfait to the vets.”
Her button nose wrinkled adorably. “Parfait?”
“Yes, Parfait. Just look at that face, it’s perfect.” He folded his arms over his chest defiantly, he named the cat and he wasn’t afraid to own it.
“It’s not a good idea to name them,” she murmured, stroking Parfait’s rounded belly, this time without any warning from the cat. He was amazed at how quickly the little calico had been won over by Rebelle’s touch.
Before he could get her to elaborate, she added, “I haven’t left anyone here alone before. I’m trusting you.”
His chest swelled with pride at the fact that he had earned enough of her trust that she would leave him here, even if only for a short time.
“I won’t let you down,” he said.
She opened her mouth but then closed it and left without another word, carrying the box that held a purring Parfait.
He sped through the cleaning, eager to impress Rebelle, and had some time to play with the dogs afterwards. When he came back inside the building, he found himself drawn to the storage room. He glared around the dank concrete space, eyeing it with disgust at what she’d had to do before he realized it no longer contained any of her belongings: she had stayed in the trailer. Relief, followed swiftly by joy flowed through him.
He set to work clearing out the space and tidying it. Restacking all the towels and bowls, he found a couple more dog toys and put them on the side to wash before handing them over to new recipients.
Betty and Veronica came and investigated the space with him, weaving around him and sniffing everything, sneezing when they put their noses in the dust and cobwebs tangled around their whiskers.
When he was finished, he grabbed the toys from the table but stopped when his eye caught the invoices sitting on top. Will flicked through them, seeing how much she was paying for pet food and delivery. His eyebrows winged up at all the additional charges the company was billing her for and he got out his phone, ignoring the missed calls from his mom, and immediately started looking for a new supplier.
He made a note of some companies and called them up, discussed costs over the phone, negotiated his way to a better bulk order price with free delivery included.
He waited for the adrenaline high he usually got from closing a successful business deal, but it never came. Instead, he was excited for Rebelle to come back so he could tell her how he’d managed to switch the suppliers and save the shelter more money.
Will was waiting for her as her old truck pulled up outside the shelter and she got out, the cardboard box in her arms.
