“Thank you so much!” I said to Soren, not-Soren, and to Rob and Gunter. “Thank you. Oh, these babies must be so hungry. I should take them to the vet. Get them checked over and learn what to feed them.” I looked at Ro then. “I have to keep them. I’m the reason they’re orphans.”
She put her arm around my shoulder and nodded. “I know.”
“I’ll take them now,” I said.
“Yes, yes. I’ll stay here until you get back.”
“Thank you.”
Fishing the keys from my pocket, I unlocked my car and carefully put the precious box on the passenger seat. Then before I got in, I checked underneath my car for any more cats, which my entire audience found funny for some reason. Then I drove out.
The vet clinic was busier than I’d expected. Not that I’d given one single thought to how busy a small-town veterinarian clinic should be. But still. There was a man with acat in a carrier and a woman with a golden retriever who was doing his very best to smile at everyone.
So cute.
“Can I help you?” the receptionist asked, looking at the box more than me.
“Uh, yes. I don’t have an appointment, sorry. I came in last night with the cat that... succumbed to its injuries”—I cringed at the two people in the waiting room—“but here I have two kittens that I’m fairly certain are the babies to the ... now dearly departed momma cat.”
Recognition flashed in her eyes. “Oh yes, last night. I remember.”
“Yes. It was horrible and I still feel really bad. But these little babies were stuck under the floor or in a wall. I’m not entirely sure. Some firemen had to come get them out.” I put the box on the counter and opened the lid so we could see the two little kittens. “They’re very young.”
She nodded. “Hmm. Were you just dropping them off?”
Dropping them off?
“What? No, no. I want to keep them. I mean, I’m the reason they’re orphans so it’s only right, right? Out of guilt or moral obligation, I suppose. I was raised Catholic, so both probably.”
Someone snorted, and when I looked up, there was a man smiling at me. He was around fifty, at a guess. Handsome in a dad-next-door kind of way. And he was wearing scrubs with the vet logo on the breast.
“Hello,” he said, coming over to look in the box. “What have we got here?”
“Two little baby orphans,” I said. “The very nice fireman had to cut into the subfloor thing to pull them out.”
He lifted one out, and it gave the cutest little squeaky meow. “Orphans, you say?”
“Well, yes. I brought the momma cat in last night, butshe didn’t...” I winced again. “It was my fault. She must have been hiding under my car but I didn’t check. I actually didn’t even know checking for cats was a thing I should be doing, but anyway...”
He smiled. “Ah, I know someone who’ll be very happy to see these little ones.”
He does?
“You do? Do they have an owner? Oh goodness, did I kill someone’s cat? Please tell me I didn’t. Oh my.” I put my hand to my forehead, not feeling the best.
Still smiling, he nodded to a door off the waiting room. “Come this way.”
I took the box with the one remaining kitten and followed the vet into the room. There was another door, which he opened and called out, “Deacon? Room two, please.”
I scooped up the second tiny kitten, holding it to my chest. “Is Deacon the owner?” I asked, trying to put on my bravest face. “It was a terrible accident?—”
“No, no,” the vet said, just as Deacon came into the room.
I stared at him.
Deacon. Deacon was the guy who’d quotedNorwegian Wood.
He stood there, as awkward as I felt. He noticed the kittens we were holding and his wide eyes went to the vet. “Are these...?”
