“How do we get them out?” I asked, trying not to panic. “I don’t know if I can start cutting holes in walls.”
The guy who’d tried to stick his arm through the gap shook his head. “Nah. Through the outside would probably be easier. Gonna need an angle grinder though.”
An angle grinder? I wasn’t even sure I knew what that was. I mean, I knew what Grindr was...
“Could Soren do that?” Gunter asked Doctor Rob.
I hadn’t even noticed Rob was in the room, but he took his phone out in a flash and grinned as he spoke into it. “So I know firemen rescue cats from trees, but what about from crawlspaces or walls?”
Firemen?
Oh god.
Rob chuckled. “And an angle grinder... Okay. Yep, the new bookstore across from the rec center... Okay. See you soon.”
He disconnected the call and smiled. “They’ll come take a look.”
“Firemen?” I asked, trying not to show how horrifying that was. “We don’t need the whole flashing-lightsand sirens thing, do we? Loud and attention-grabbing so the whole town comes to see really isn’t my thing.”
It actually made me feel a little ill.
Rob and Gunter both laughed. “Ah, no, they’re just around the corner,” Gunter said.
Then my aunt Ro arrived, curious about the small crowd in the store and why we were all looking at the wall and why one man had his ear pressed to the floor.
“What are we doing?” she asked. She looked fabulous with her bright green glasses and matching sweater today.
“There are kittens stuck,” I said. “Orphan kittens.”
She put her hand to her heart. “Oh.” Then she realized, her gaze shooting to me. “Oh.”
I grimaced. “I know.”
Then two very fit, very gorgeous men in Hartbridge Fire Department coveralls jogged into the shop.
“Oh,” I muttered. “Well, this isn’t terrible.”
“No, no, it’s not,” Ro whispered.
Gunter chuckled beside us, and Rob was grinning. Fireman number one went to him first. “What have we got? Kittens stuck, you said?”
Doctor Rob gave him a nod, then he turned to me. “Soren, this is Winter Atkins. He owns the bookstore. Winter, this is my partner, Soren.”
Partner . . .
“Oh,” I said, clueing in far too late. I looked between Gunter and Rob. “I thought you two were...”
They both shook their heads. “No,” Gunter replied. Then he waved me off. “I’ll explain it all later.”
Okay then.
It was determined that yes, going into the crawlspace from the outside would be best, and yes, the angle grinder was required. But Fireman Soren and fireman not-Soren made short work of that. Soren got down on his belly and,armed with a box, went in while not-Soren held a torch. He shuffled in until only his legs and boots remained, and after a few minutes of grumbling, grunting, and an expletive or two—while we all stood there, watching—Soren shuffled backward and not-Soren helped pull him out. He got to his feet, covered in dirt and spiderwebs, grinning, holding the box.
“There were only two. Unless one wandered off, but I couldn’t see any others,” he said, handing the box to me.
Inside were two very dirty, very tiny, very cute little orange-and-white kittens. “Oh my goodness,” I whispered. They were scared and meowing for their momma. “You poor little babies.”
“Oh, they’re just the sweetest,” Ro whispered beside me.
