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“Of course.” Jack unlocks the door, and we get in the car.
“You’d get Jamie,” I continue as he starts the engine. “But splitting up the kids is always tough on their development.”
“We have to think of the children.”
That’s how we talk ourselves right back into the friend zone.
There’s a suspicious creature in the window when we get home close to suppertime. Walking up the sidewalk, I spot a blur of orange before the curtains sway. I glance at Jack to check that I’m not hallucinating. His dark-blond eyebrows shoot up, confirming he saw it too. As we let ourselves in the door, the blur scurries across the foyer.
“What is that?” demands Jack. “A ferret?”
“I don’t think ferrets are orange.”
We kick off our shoes and hang our coats, then creep into the living room.
“Anyone home?” Jack calls.
No answer.
I walk around with slow steps, peering under the furniture. Under the sofa, two glowing eyes shine back at me. The creature’s body is crouched in the shadows.
“I see it.” I get on all fours, plaster myself to the floor.
“I wouldn’t do that.” Lee appears in the doorway behind us.
After being MIA all weekend, it’s a relief to hear his voice. When I glance over my shoulder at him, the first thing I see is the bandages on his hands.
“He’s quite feral,” Lee warns.
“Let me grab a broom,” Jack says. “I’ll get it out of here.”
“What? No. He isn’t a stray. I adopted him. His name’s Hugh.”
“Seriously, mate? Are you mental?”
Still lying on the rug in front of the sofa, I try to coax Hugh the semi-feral cat out from underneath. He stares at me, unblinking.
“Give him a chance. The girl at the shelter said he just needs time to acclimate to his surroundings.”
“Mate, you’re boggled if you think that thing’s staying.”
The front door opens, and now Jamie is standing in the clump at the threshold of the living room, watching me silently wrestle this cat in a battle of will. I’ve never felt so disrespected than engaging a cat in a staring contest.
“What’s happening here?” Jamie asks curiously.
“He’s gone and gotten a damned cat,” Jack snaps. He’s fully pissed, and it’s a strange phenomenon.
“Really? When did we talk about taking on a pet?”
“Exactly,” Jack growls.
“Right, I know I should’ve asked first,” Lee speaks up, uncharacteristically sheepish. “It was sort of a spontaneous thing.”
“What?” Jack demands. “You got lost and wandered into an animal shelter? Mate, come on. That thing can’t stay.”
Jamie comes to kneel beside me at the sofa. “Not so friendly, is it?”
I turn to grin at him. “Misunderstood, maybe.”
