Chapter
One
CATALINA
“Oh shoot!” I exclaim, eyeing the clock on the kitchen microwave. “I’m going to be late back to work. Anything else I can get you before I leave, Gran?”
The stately older lady looks up from her knitting, pausing in thought. “Dumpling.”
The grumpy, mandarin poof meows languidly, recognizing her name. She stretches, standing and stalking imperiously to the kitchen slider that lets out onto the covered back porch.
Without thinking, I rise, opening the slider and letting her out before I beeline for the kitchen to grab her meds. A sultry whoosh of air fills the kitchen as the outside porch door whacks against the side of the house.
“Oh no!” I turn quickly on my heels, racing toward the source of the breeze. The outside porch door is somehow wide open, letting out onto the backyard. Dumpling saunters towards it.
“Don’t you dare,” I warn, stalking behind the housecat. My pace is a careful balancing act between moving slow enough not to spook her and going fast enough to hedge off escape.
Ruff! Ruff! Ruff!
Teddy, the neighbor’s Weimaraner, barks, and Dumpling transforms into an orange comet, streaking across the verdant, sun-warmed lawn. I kick off my high heels, sprinting after her.
Gran has become forgetful since Grandpa’s death, unlocking and unlatching the porch door so that he can find his way home. Some days, I have the strength to remind her that he’s not coming back. Others, I let it go with a bittersweet smile.
No matter what, I should’ve checked the porch before letting Dumpling out. But I was too busy thinking about getting back to the DMV, where I work, before lunch ends.
I really don’t want to be late back because the office experiences steady traffic, although it’s not at the pace of a big-city facility. It helps that we offer limited registration services exclusively for Gold County residents, so much of my day is spent redirecting people hoping to dodge the bigger lines in Sacramento.
In a distant tree, near the back of the property, I catch sight of the furball escapee, like a lumberjack sprinting to the tippy top of one of Gran’s emerald evergreens.
“For heaven’s sake!” I mutter, starting up the ancient pine behind her. I used to scale this tree like a champ with my brothers, still finding trusty footholds and handholds from my youth. While further apart these days, I’ve done enough growing to make them work.
“Cat, what in the world are you doing?” Gran laments, shaking her head as she carefully picks her way down the porch steps and across the lawn toward me.
“Just trying to get Dumpling before I go, so I can medicate her.” The diabetic cat is in fragile health, so I don’t want to take any chances.
“Tilly can handle it,” she scolds, craning her neck.
“Yes, she can very much give her the shot,” I grunt, scaling higher and higher. “But she’s not going to climb a tree to do it.”
“And neither should you,” Gran scolds. “Why aren’t you using a ladder?”
That’s a very good question. “Because I didn’t want to dig through the garage. Besides, I’ve got this. Piece of cake.”
I laugh, breathing harder and pulling myself onto the next branch. The tree has to be at least a century old, with large, thick limbs.
“You were always such a tomboy,” she scolds, disdain in her voice.
“I know,” I counter, enthusiastically. In childhood, I took pride in keeping up with my brothers. They would go after Dumpling, too.
Of course, they wouldn’t be wearing a dark gray tweed, A-line skirt with less than forgiving stretch, and a pale pink knit blouse that really shouldn’t be near dirt, tree bark, or sap. But I’m out of options and time.
I spy Dumpling a few branches up from me. Just a couple more feet, and I can stuff her under my shirt and climb back down.
Apart from occasional issues with spooking, Dumpling is really a sweetheart. She’s de-clawed, so she won’t skewer me on the descent. That said, I’ll have to change shirts before returning to work, but that’s a small price to pay for a healthy cat and a happy grandma.
Riiiiip. The slit in the back of my skirt tears. Wonderful! Give it a few more branches, and I’ll be flashing the whole neighborhood with my hot pink satin undies.
“Oh, be careful, Cat!” Gran exclaims. I look down, catching her clutching her face with her hands dramatically.
