“Great. Let’s go find them.”
With the kitten off my back, I straighten too.
Laney’s already on her feet, holding out a hand like she thinks I need help up.
If half my kittens weren’t missing, I’d take that hand, haul her onto the bed, and kiss her until I was sure this was real.
Not just a temporary dream state in paradise before her parents get here, before we all head back home, before reality pulls her back into that safe, predictable,boringbottom-line world that she lives in.
Instead, I take her hand and rise slowly, my thumb brushing over the back of her hand, not using her for leverage at all. “Thank you.”
“M-my pleasure,” she stutters.
“Thank you,” I repeat.
She smiles softly at me. “I’m kinda good at fixing problems.”
And I’ve never been more grateful.
“I didn’t open the door the last time I was in here,” she says as she leads me out of the room. “I promise.”
I jiggle the handle while I follow, then close it behind us. “Miss Doodles can probably operate one of these.”
Just has to hit it right.
“Oh! Look! Kitten in the sofa.”
I flip on the flashlight on my phone and aim it under the hide-a-bed, still sticking halfway up. “Two kittens. Blinky and Panini.”
I’m breathing easier with every passing minute.
My kittens are okay.
“Six, then,” she says. “Who’s missing?”
I head to the back porch to check the door while I answer her. “We have Jellybean, Snaggleclaw, Fred, Blinky, Panini, and Cream Puff. Miss Doodles and Widget are missing. Wait. Correction. Only Miss Doodles is missing.”
Widget is climbing the curtains covering the door.
Laney’s right on my heels. I untangle Widget, turn, and drop the furry little gray beast into her hand.
Balcony door is locked still.
So Miss Doodles— “Found her,” Laney says.
She points to the kitchenette, where I swear there wasn’t a cat a minute ago.
But Miss Doodles is there now, sitting on the counter and grooming her butt.
She pauses to look at me—stupid human, you think I’d give up a cushy place like this with toys and food and clean litter—then goes back to licking herself.
I’ve never in my life been so glad to see a cat licking her own butt.
“I’m locking your kittens in the bedroom,” I tell her.
She keeps licking, one foot up in the air.
“Oh, that’s a relief,” Laney says. “I’ll look at the door and see if I can figure out how to—”
