“Oh definitely. Bennie has it the hardest, but from what I hear, he’s made it a whole part of his personality.” Jack stood in front of me, rocking back on his heels.
“Definitely. Did he ever try to change the IE into a Y?”
“It wouldn’t matter if he told why he was called that, you know.” He smiled. “The song title is typed either way depending on where you see it.”
“Huh. Never thought of that.” Then, because it had stuck to my ear, I asked, “You talk about your parents in past tense?”
“Yeah. Mom died about two years after we were taken away. We were the only ones home at that point, mind you. Dad passed away from some sort of cancer about five years ago now.” He didn’t seem to have big feelings about any of what he was saying, but sometimes that was how people dealt with shit.
“My mom’s dead too,” I blurted out for some fucking reason. “When I was twelve.”
He frowned, looking more upset about my mom being dead than both of his parents. “Oh, I’m sorry. That can’t have been easy. Do you have any siblings?”
“No, just me. She was allergic to nuts and died of anaphylactic shock while she was on a run. I think she bought a shake from somewhere and it had something in it.” I shrugged. “I’m sure they know, but it made no difference to me back then.” Because my mom had been there when I left for school and then she’d been gone when I got back.
Suddenly a donkey came around the corner, with Theo trailing behind it, holding a long lead rope.
“Hey, who’s this?” I held out my arms and the donkey walked right into them, front hooves on the bottom steps and all.
“That’s Teddy. He’s a bit of a jester, but since we talked about the ears last time and I was moving him into a more…let’s say secure location, I thought I’d bring him to you.” Theo looked exasperated, but mostly amused.
“Escape artist?” Jack asked, coming to scratch Teddy behind his enormous ears.
“Oh yeah. It’s that goddamn pony who taught him all the tricks.”
“You’re a rascal, aren’t you?” I cooed at the donkey who pushed against my chest hard enough to topple me over in the doorway.
“All right, that’s enough. Let’s get a lesson in donkeys in, shall we?” Theo reeled him away from me and turned him so that he was perfectly in the sun.
“I’ll be the audience,” Jack said, going to sit on a lounger.
“Well, all right then.” I got to my feet and went to learn more about donkeys.
* * * *
When we went inside half an hour later, I realized I hadn’t panicked while we were out. I’d gotten much farther than I would’ve thought I was able to today.
I was smart enough to follow Jack’s cue of not mentioning it, though. I didn’t concentrate on it, because I knew how quickly that could change.
The front door opened, and Sierra came in brandishing a stack of papers.
“What’s that?” Jack asked, already heading for the coffee maker.
“This is Rey’s homework.”
“My what?” I asked as she pushed the stack into my chest.
She looked fiercely efficient and went right toward the coffee as usual. “These are all the people who want to adopt a kitten. Go through them, figure out how to narrow it down, and then see if you want to talk to any of them some more.”
“Uh…” I grimaced. “I’m not sure I can call strangers…”
“I can do that for you if you need me to. Just narrow. Them. Down.” She accepted a mug and inhaled the fragrant steam like it was perfume.
“I can do that!” I widened my eyes at Jack behind her back, making him grin.
“Go hang with your babies,” he told me. “I’ll do a couple of things for dinner prep and then nap on the couch until I need to start cooking.”
“Sure!” I turned to go, then remembered my manners. “Jack?” When he looked at me, I said, “Thank you. A lot. I mean it.”
