“I know, but I promise it’s going to be fun. We’re going to Lea’s house. There’s going to be so many things to sniff and explore. She’s got big windows with tons of sunlight you can nap in. Won’t that be nice?”
I almost wanted to cry when I got in the driver’s seat and they cried at me from the backseat. “It’s only going to take a few minutes.”
The ride wasn’t fun, but at least they stopped the loudest wailing and were staring out the window and batting at each other by the time we got close to Lea’s apartment. It must have been my lucky day because I scored one of the coveted guest parking spots.
“We’re here. Ready to go up?” I’d brought the stroller with me to transfer them from the car to the apartment and to carry everything I needed to bring with me. It was a lot of stuff for an afternoon. Was this what it was like to have a baby? I wasn’t even going to think about that.
I sent Lea a message that I’d arrived and would be coming up with the kittens, and I was just reaching the front door when she came out, a smile on her face.
“Hey, I figured you probably needed a hand. Oh my god, this is so cute!” She leaned down and squealed about the stroller and said hello to the kittens, who were beginning to protest their cruel prison.
“Come on.” She led me through an old brick building that had probably been a factory or something before it had been transformed into modern, bright apartments. They’d left a lot of the original wood and brick and even exposed pipes that gave the place a sense of history. The ceilings were high and the windows massive. Sunlight glowed everywhere.
It was just the kind of place I would have been drawn to if I’d been looking for my own place. We rode the elevator to the third floor, and I followed Lea down the hall with the screaming kitties. Hopefully her neighbors wouldn’t think I was torturing them or something.
“Here we are.”
Lea let me in, and her place was stunning. The windows let in the afternoon light that spilled all over the floors. She’d hung strings of crystal beads from the curtain rods that caught the sun and sent little rainbows everywhere. The kitties were going to lose their minds.
In addition to that, there was a pile of cat toys, a bed, two scratching posts, and a number of other cat items that I recognized.
“Did you raid a pet store?” I asked. “This was really unnecessary. I brought their favorite toys with them.”
She’d gone way overboard, and I didn’t know what to make of that. Had she done it for the kittens or for me? Both?
Lea’s smile was sheepish. “Yeah, I think I did go a little too far. I couldn’t help myself.”
I knew what she meant. I’d done the same thing when I’d gotten them.
“Okay, let’s let them out to explore.” I released the beasts from their stroller prison and set them on the floor of the living room. It didn’t escape my notice that she’d pulled the curtains up and away so they didn’t drag on the floor, and she’d even covered the electrical outlets. Or maybe the previous tenant had just left the covers when they moved out.
Lea and I sat on the couch as the little kitties wandered around, sniffing at everything and being both scared and ready to attack their new environment. I set down some of their toys and a small blanket so they’d have something familiar.
“It must be so scary to be them. Everything is so big.” Lea got down on the floor with the kittens and pushed one of their sparkle pompom toys toward Brit, who scampered over and pounced on it, rolling around and making Lea laugh.
“I know. I think about it all the time. I’ve even changed the way I walk around my house so I don’t accidentally step on one of them.” Walking to the bathroom at night had become a hazard.
I joined Lea on the floor, sitting next to her. “How was your day?” I asked. This scene tasted domestic in a way I couldn’t articulate, but it felt…good. I liked it.
“Oh, fine. I had to do a bunch of admin, which is one of my least favorite things, but it got done. It’s better to spend time now getting all my financial documents and receipts together than to wait and have to scramble. Besides, I like knowing exactly how well I’m doing and if the numbers are looking the way I want them to look.”
Tana crept over to me and started smashing her little skull against my leg. Silly thing.
“That’s why I have an accountant. I just send her everything. I can’t be bothered to manage all that.” Laying on the rug, I made myself a target for kitten attacks.
“Smart. I have one for tax time, but I like having control of everything else myself. Maybe that’s foolish and I’m wasting my time, but I don’t care. I like being in control.”
We talked a lot about owning our own businesses and what that was like. I was always eager to hear anything she’d learned. For someone who was raised with endless money, Lea was financially smart. Smarter than I was, in any case. She’d at least dropped out of college when she decided it wasn’t going to work for her. I probably could have done with an alternative education of acting classes and community theater and book clubs instead of wasting tens of thousands of dollars and then skipping a lot of classes because I was bored out of my mind.
I’d never been good at doing what people told me to do. My brain always put up an immediate fight no matter what the task was. Even now I had to talk myself out of getting all bent out of shape about silly things.
“How’s your latest book?” she asked, and I got to pronounce some of the fantasy names for her.
“You would get along well with James. She’d probably pump you for the best names you’ve come across so she can use them for her clients.”
Guess we’ll have to do that at the party. It’s not that I was dreading it, but parties were always fraught for me. So many things to keep track of, so many things to remember. When I was younger, my mother prepared me for parties like she was preparing to go to war, and learning that young left a mark that you couldn’t just wipe away or ignore.
To distract myself, I played with the kittens. Lea and I carried them around the apartment, showing them things they couldn’t see from the floor. They got curious about the stove, and very curious about the fridge. The freezer produced hissing.
