“Oh, good,” Kaden said. “He’ll keep me on my toes, then.”
Griffin put the kitten in a carrier and handed it to Kaden. The kitten screamed in defiance and stuck his clawed toes through the wire gaps in the door.
“I think I’ll call him Trouble,” Kaden remarked. “Because I can already tell that’s all he’s gonna be.”
“You better take pictures of him all the time,” I said. “And send them to Skylar and me.”
“I will,” Kaden promised.
As Kaden and Trouble left, only one kitten remained. She sat up, quietly watching the street, almost as if she was sad to be alone. The anxious pit in my stomach deepened. Where was her new owner?
“Why don’t you text him and see where he is?” Griffin asked.
Nodding, I pulled out my phone. “I think I will.”
I shot off a text to the black kitten’s owner - a young beta who saw the ad online. We talked on the phone and he seemed like a good guy, but now I was beginning to worry.
A few minutes later my phone vibrated in response. I read the message with a frown.
Can’t make it. Sorry. Give it to someone else.
“What?” I snapped. “Asshole!”
“Jake, what’s wrong?” Griffin asked. When he read the message over my shoulder, he gasped. “Oh, no.”
“Shit. What are we gonna do?” I cried. I glanced down at the tiny black kitten and felt a wave of sadness for her.
“We’ll take her back home with us,” Griffin offered. “At least until we can find a new owner for her.”
I sighed in defeat. “Okay.”
We began to pack up our things. As Griffin loaded the pen into the car, I entered the café to thank Skylar and to tell him we were leaving.
“Hey!” Skylar’s smile fell when he saw my face. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
“Some asshole was a no-show for the black kitten,” I grumbled.
Skylar gasped. “Oh no… What are you going to do?”
“Take her home for now,” I said with a shrug. “I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. People just don’t like black cats, I guess. Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for letting us do it outside. See you at home, Sky.”
Skylar’s brows knitted in concern and sympathy. As I turned to leave, he grabbed my shoulder. “Wait. What if I kept her?”
“You?” I said. “But I thought you didn’t want one.”
Skylar shrugged. “I never said that! It just seemed like you found homes for all of them already, so I didn’t ask.” He glanced down and added, “And that was before I knew you were moving out. So this way, I’ll get to keep a little piece of you and Lilith.”
“Oh, Sky,” I murmured before hugging him. “I’ll always be your best friend, no matter where I am. I won’t even be far. We’ll see each other all the time.” I smiled. “The baby’s gonna want his uncle around, right?”
Skylar laughed and wiped emotional tears from his eyes. “Right. How could I forget?”
“Let’s go tell Griffin the good news,” I said.
Outside, Griffin was leaning on the car with a bit of a disappointed expression. He looked surprised to see Skylar and I.
“Saying goodbye?” he asked.
“Nope,” Skylar said. “Saying hello.”
