One thing I was absolutely sure of?
We were bothwaybetter off without Selena.
“So, wait—whois this guy again?” My sister Maureen surreptitiously watched Eric carrying a few things out to his car.
“He’s a friend,” I insisted.
She turned a skeptical look on me. “A friend… who you’ve never mentioned before, is living with you, and you’re suddenly taking off with him for three weeks…rightafter you broke up with your girlfriend?”
The heat in my face said I wasn’t playing this as cool as I’d hoped. “Afriend.”
“Mmhmm.” She eyed me but apparently figured out she wasn’t going to pry anything more out of me than that. With a huff, she rolled her eyes. “Fine. And the boys have enough food?”
I nodded. “I stocked up yesterday. The automatic feeders go off three times a day, and they just need to be filled every couple of days. I also just did a deep clean on the water fountains, so just rinse those out every few days and they’ll be fine.”
“And otherwise just hang out with them, spoil them rotten, and steal their affection?”
I laughed. “Good luck with that.” I gestured out the window. “I’m pretty sure Chili has completely fallen in love with Eric.” I regretted that the instant it came out of my mouth. My sister’s eyebrow flicked up. I pointed at her. “Don’t start.”
She showed her palms. “What? I’m just saying—it doesn’t sound like?—”
“Hush.”
Right then, Eric came back inside, and fortunately Maureen knew when to shut up. Unaware of our stupid conversation, he gestured over his shoulder. “I loaded up the car with just about everything. Do you want me to take any of your stuff out?”
I could feel my sister’s“just a friend, huh?”look even though I was focused on Eric. “Uh. No, no. I’ll take it all out in a bit.”
He flashed me a quick smile, and I hoped to God the rush of warmth it gave me wasn’t visible to him or my sister. Then he disappeared into the guest room, Chili trotting along beside him.
When I faced Maureen—oh, yeah. Her eyes screamed“just a friend, huh?”
I huffed. “Shut up.”
She laughed and didn’t say anything more, but I knew her. This wasn’t over. She was going to grill me when I got back from Maine.
In the meantime, I made sure she knew all the particulars about the cats. She took care of them whenever I was out of town, but Clyde was on a new medication for his asthma, so I wanted to make sure she knew all the ins and outs with that.
“He’s okay, though, right?” she asked.
“Oh, yeah, he’ll be fine. It’s really mild, and this new med is working great.”
As if on cue, both boys went thundering through the condo, Clyde hot on Chili’s heels. A second later, they zoomed back the other way.
“Like I said…” I gestured in the direction they’d gone. “He’s fine.”
She laughed and shook her head. “Yeah, I’d say zoomies are a good sign in an asthmatic cat.”
“Definitely.” Prior to the new meds, he’d be winded after his zoomies, but lately, he hadn’t had any issues. And I trusted Maureen to check on them frequently while I was gone. She knew what signs meant he needed to go to the vet. If not for her, I doubted I’d be able to go out of town without worrying myself senseless over him.
I also showed her the new wet food they’d gotten from the vet. “They’ll insist they’re starving after a quarter can apiece, but that’s all they get. If they’re still hungry…” I pointed to the feeders stocked full of kibble.
“But what if they’re out of wet foodandthey can see the bottom of their dishes?” She put a hand to their chest. “I can’t just… not feed them!”
“Yes, you can,” I said. “Or else you can explain to the vet why they both look like beach balls.”
We wrapped up the kitty logistics, and I showed her to the door. “Thanks again for looking after them.”
“Don’t mention it. It’ll be nice to get out of my house for a bit.” She grimaced.
