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Only to find Cato standing in the doorway with Eddie on the other side.
“Afraid you’re not quite up to playing baseball yet, baby,” Cato said, proving the man had insane peripheral vision because he hadn’t even looked over.
“Oh…” The air whooshed out of me as relief surged through my system.
Not, I had to admit to myself, because I wasn’t being invaded. But because I hadn’t been abandoned.
“Oh, my girl,” Eddie said, shaking his head sadly. “You give me names and numbers…”
“Eddie was bringing you some food. Soft stuff that you can get down without too much effort,” he said. “Since I can’t cook for shit.”
“Don’t worry, honey, I’ll make him learn,” Eddie said, giving me a smile, but there was tension around his eyes.
“You want to come in?” I asked, wincing a bit at the effort it took to speak. I needed a drink to soothe it.
“No, no, mami, I am gonna go back and make breakfast for the guys. Got new people to impress,” he said. “Feel better,” he said before turning and leaving.
“You didn’t have to make him do that,” I said as I went to the fridge to grab a cold drink.
“I didn’t. Levee must have been talking. Eddie shows his love with food.”
“I’m starving,” I admitted. Sure, I’d choked down some ice cream and icees the night before, but it hadn’t exactly been sustenance.
“Yeah you need some real food. We have to make it to Ama’s clinic before eight,” he told me. “But we’ll eat as soon as we’re back. Do they cats need anything?” I asked.
“Cats just need food and a clean litter box.”
“I’ll clean it after… why not?” he asked when I shook my head.
“I splurged to get them those fancy-ass robot ones that clean themselves.”
“No shit?” he asked, brows raised.
Were they each a thousand dollars a piece? Sure. But not having to constantly scoop litter was priceless to me.
Originally, one of them had been for Binx. But he’d been so enraged by its very existence that he’d gone to the bathroom on the floor next to it rather than go inside.
So, my girls each had their own in their little cat room.
“What’re their names?” he asked as one of them shamelessly slammed her body against his legs and started to rub up on him. She never did that to me. Apparently, she had a thing for men. The little floozy.
“That one falling in love with you is Sabrina. That one is Wednesday,” I explained, pointing my fork over toward where Wednesday was staring down a bird that had landed on the balcony railing outside of the sliding doors.
“Why all black cats?” he asked.
“No one wants them,” I explained. “And they’re black,” I added, waving around my apartment.
“Solid point,” he agreed before we started getting ready to get going.
Ama’s clinic was in the area where Cato and his friends had grown up. I’d passed it a million times, but it had clearly gotten a major upgrade recently.
Everything inside and out seemed new and state-of-the-art.
It was empty, though, save for the male nurse and a pretty brunette woman whose name tag said “Call me Ama.”
“I’ll take it from here, Cato,” Ama told him, giving him a small smile as she led me back to an exam room.
“How are you feeling?” she asked as she rolled an ultrasound machine over toward me.
