“Yes.”
“And you have the kittens with you at the store?”
“Uh, yes? I didn’t really have a choice. They need feeding every five hours and I can’t leave them at home. They’re too little and I need to check on them constantly, and I brought everything with me. I have too much to do in the next three days to not to be here. The store is heated, obviously, and I have a hot water bottle in their basket, and they have blankets. I did everything I could think of. Everything you said. I can send you photos, or you can come by and check on them.” He made a humming sound. “Oh no. How do I know if I’m not doing something right?”
“It sounds like everything you’re doing is great. Warm and fed is about all they need right now.”
“And cuddles,” he added. “I’m trying to get them used to being held and to know that they’re safe with me.”
That made me smile.
He offered for me to come check on them...
“Unless you think I should come past. My lunch break is at twelve and I have forty-five minutes.”
“I don’t want to be a bother,” he replied.
“It’s no problem. I must go help my dad with ferrets now. They bite and squirm.”
“Oh, okay. Well.” He made a funny noise. “Good luck with the ferrets. I’ll see you after twelve. It’s fine if you can’t make it. If there’s an emergency or something. If there’s a ferret calamity. Don’t worry too much; I’ll understand. If I don’t see you today, I’ll call you later, if that’s okay? Is this an office number you’re calling from or your phone?”
“My phone.”
“Then I have your number. If I have a kitten calamity, I’ll call you.”
“Yes, of course.”
“Thanks again for calling. I really do appreciate it,” he said. “I should go while these two little monsters are sleepy and get as much done as I can.”
“Okay,” I said, and ended the call.
I was still smiling when Dad came in.
“I take it by the look on your face that it went well,” he said.
I nodded. “He called them little monsters. The kittens.”
Dad’s smile widened. “Then it sounds like they’re all doing well. The felines and Winter.”
“He was feeding Merry when I spoke to him.”
“Merry?”
“Yes, Merry and Bright. He kept the names I gave them. And he said Bright was a bully to his brother.”
Dad chuckled, and he did that thing where he moved his head into my line of sight so I’d look him in the eye. “You feel better now?”
I nodded and held his gaze for a beat before looking away. “Yes. I think my tummy ache is gone.”
“Tummy ache, huh?” He found that funny for some reason, but then he nodded to the waiting room. “Good. Glad to hear it. Because we have six ferrets?—”
“I told him I’d go see him during my lunch break,” I said. “Winter, I mean. He’s very busy and he had questions, and he wasn’t sure if he was doing everything right. I told him I could go there. I have forty-five minutes, and I won’t be late coming back.”
Dad paused for a second, studying my face. I didn’t dare catch his eye again because I wasn’t sure what he’d find in mine. “Only,” he said sternly, “if you bring back something sweet from the diner for me. And if you don’t tell your mother. And you better get one for Courtney as well.”
Courtney called out from her receptionist desk. “Yes, please.”
I laughed. “Deal.”
