I grab onto the dash as Hannah abruptly hangs a u-turn on the two-lane highway and heads back where we just came from.
“Hannah, what the hell?”
“I’m sorry!” she says, her focus on the road ahead. “I saw a cat back there, and I can’t leave it to die.”
She pulls over to the side of the empty road, live parks the truck, and hops out before I can stop her.
“Hannah!” I call as I jump out after her.
My phone is still in my hand, and I bring it to my ear. “Chance, I’ve got to go.”
“The parallels are unnerving, mate.” He chuckles proudly. “Now you’re picking up a stray pet?”
“Yeah, I don’t think this is at all similar.”
“I disagree. Tell her to name the kitty Chance,” he suggests.
“Fuck off,” I say and end the call before he can say more.
Hannah’s crouching down a few feet off the highway. As I join her, I grab her arm and urge her to follow me further off the shoulder. The cat is about five feet away from us, and it’s walking slowly parallel to where we’re crouching. It’s all black and looks quite young.
“Don’t get yourself killed trying to save a cat,” I say.
She turns to me with tears in her eyes. “We have to save her. She has no one, and she’ll die out here before long.”
I can’t disagree with her on that. It’s over ninety out with hardly anywhere to catch some shade. And I can’t imagine what a cat would find to eat around here.
“Do you think it’s a kitten?” I say.
“Definitely,” she says.
“Here, kitty! Come here!” she calls out.
The cat freezes in place, and it looks back at us suspiciously.
“Come here, kitty!” I try.
No response.
I take off my t-shirt. Hannah does a shitty job of pretending she’s not checking me out.
“Save the ogling for after we rescue your kitty,” I say.
She turns red. “I was not ogling.”
“Were too.”
“Was not.”
I’m already headed for the cat, so her retort fades away.
The kitten is tiny. She’s meowing something fierce, though.
“You’ve got a set of lungs on you, huh?” I scoop her up and place her into my t-shirt, which I then hold against my chest and carry back to Hannah. “Got her.”
With my free hand, I take Hannah firmly by the arm. “Stay out of the road. I can hear the traffic coming.”
I help Hannah into the passenger seat and place my t-shirt, with the kitten inside, on Hannah’s lap.
