Makai nodded, feeling bad for asking now. “Sorry for your loss,” he said in a serious tone.
He felt like he should’ve outed himself somehow, just out of solidarity, but he couldn’t find a neat way to fit it into the conversation, and then the moment was over anyway.
“Thank you. So, here’s your total for this visit,” the doc said and took a paper out of the printer.
Makai paid, took a business card with the information for the clinic on it, and his cat, and promised to call as soon as there was news.
“And I swear my sister will help you find a home for the kittens. She’s a good woman, loves cats, just….”
“Yeah. I get it. Thank you, though. We’ll see how it goes.” Makai smiled at the man.
They said bye, and Makai headed home with the purring feline in tow.
THE NEXTmorning, Makai decided to trim the grass around the house. He left the cat inside so as not to scare her, and used the scythe—boy was that a learning curve—to get the worst and then the weedwhacker for the rest. Then he took the ancient-looking lawnmower and managed to get it to work enough to mow the yard, before it promptly sputtered to a halt and died.
Makai counted it as a blessing and resolved himself to getting a new one soon. At least everything looked nicer now, and he could tell what his property looked like. The house and the shed needed a coat of new paint, the roof seemed to be in good condition in both, and everything else looked… nice, actually.
Makai went inside for lunch and a shower. He ended up napping on the couch with a purring cat on his chest for a while afterward.
“Hey, lady, you wanna go outside?” he asked the cat once he decided it was time to go look at the boat shed and the little dock by the shore. “I don’t think you’re going to run on me, mostly because you’ve not been fed since morning and those babies seem to take a lot out of you.”
The cat had adopted him, and even though he wasn’t 100 percent sure she wouldn’t just up and leave him, he didn’t want to keep her inside alone, either.
“I could take you out in the carrier, maybe?” he pondered out loud, then nodded to himself. “Let’s do that first.” He gently scooped her up and placed her on the couch, then redid his sloppy ponytail and went to get the carrier.
Soon enough they were down by the dock, and for the time being, the cat seemed content inside the carrier. The sun was shining, and Makai lifted his face to it, soaking in the scent of the fresh air and the warm rays. He’d look even more brown soon, most likely. That’d make the racists in town happy for sure.
Brushing the thought away, he made sure the cat was in the shade and still comfy, then walked to the little pontoon dock to test it. To his surprise, it seemed that he would only have to replace a few boards and tighten the screws on the ladder. The cables that tied the dock to the metal poles on the shore were still in good condition, so he could leave those be as well.
Makai felt the water, letting it lap at his fingers as he moved them, enjoying the caress. It was too cold for his tastes, swimmingwise, and he wondered how warm it would get. Lotte might know. He glanced toward the opposite shore and saw what looked like Joie with an adult, walking by the lakeside, deep in conversation. It didn’t look like Lotte, but then again, with a shapeless hoodie with the hood up, it could’ve been anyone.
He checked in with the cat again, wondering if he was annoying the animal with his fussing. He left her alone and walked the maybe thirty yards to the boat shed, or what was left of it, anyway.
The idea was great. The thing had extended over the water just enough that you could steer your boat inside through the open doorway on the lake side. The structure’s bones were still there, but the roof had started to cave in. It looked bad enough that Makai didn’t want to even step inside. The door had had a lock, just like Mr. Kelly had said, but since the door itself had crumbled into two over time, it was useless.
He went to the closest corner and kicked the support beam through the partially rotten boards the building was made of. The whole thing shook, and parts of the ceiling fell into the water with splashes. Frowning, Makai decided it would be best to tear the thing down during the early summer. It was a hazard for anyone or anything who might go inside, and he didn’t even have a boat, so he didn’t need it anyway. If he got a boat later, he could make a new shed or figure out something else to cover it with.
He turned to go back, making a mental list of things he still needed to buy for the renovations. There were some tools in the shed, but he didn’t trust the wooden handle of the sledgehammer as far as he could throw it, so maybe he should get a new one of those, too, for the demolition. He needed to ask Mr. Miller if there was somewhere he could dump the remains of the shed, or maybe he could burn them or something.
Being from a suburb and having spent basically all his adult life in jail sure gave one gaps in knowledge, especially when it came to living in the hicks.
“Makai!”
He looked up and saw Joie bouncing toward him, still a ways away on the shore.
“Hey, be careful, the rocks might be slippery!” he called back and walked briskly to the dock to meet Joie and the person they were with.
“Sure!” Joie called back, and Makai could see what looked like leggings with a dress or a skirt and a T-shirt.
“Hi, Joy,” he said and steadied her by the shoulder when she almost stumbled over her own feet. The rubber boots she had on seemed a little too big on her.
“Hi!” she said brightly, then looked back at the adult tagging along in an almost cautious way. “This is my friend Emil. He’s looking after me while Mom’s at work!”
“Oh, okay,” Makai said slowly, and tried to get a reading on the boy.
Because Emil was a teenager, probably. Maybe older than that, but it was hard to tell with the hoodie and the skinny form in skinnier jeans.
“Hey,” Emil said but didn’t really look at Makai at all, just ducked his head and stared down on the ground instead.
