When the meeting ended, she rushed to the door, past some friends who waved greetings and away from Simon, who looked like he might approach her again.Part of her wanted to spend more time talking to him, but she knew things between them needed to stay firmly in the acquaintance zone.Between working and raising her daughter, and now the possibility of cat duty, there wasn’t much room for anything else.Besides, every decision she made now had to include Riley.If she got to know Simon on a more intimate level and it didn’t work out—which, given her recent track record with men, seemed likely—it might ruin her daughter’s friendship with Sally.And that was something she could not risk.
She could not open herself up to another mistake like she’d made with Graham.She had once believed she knew what forever looked like.
She’d been wrong.
Dead wrong.
So, she slipped out and drove straight home.
“How’s everything going?”she asked when she walked into the kitchen.Eileen King was brewing a cup of camomile tea, part of her evening routine.
“Riley didn’t have any homework.There are only four days of school left.So we read our book and I let her watch that kitty cam for a bit before she went to bed.”
“Ah, the kitty cam.”
“I should warn you,” Eileen said, biting her lower lip as she paused.
“Warn me?”Sarah said, waiting to see what her mom was going to say.
“She told me the real reason she wants to go to the bookstore next weekend is to view the kittens in person.She wants one, and they’re doing some kind of adoption event that day.”
“It’s okay, Mom.”Sarah laughed, and her mother’s shoulders visibly relaxed.“The woman from the cat shelter gave a talk at the meeting tonight, so I figured that was why she wants to go.”
“It’s going to be hard to say no.”
Sarah groaned.“I know.But a cat is a lot of responsibility.”
Her mother picked up her tea and walked toward the door that led to her suite.“I expect to be back by the end of September, so if you say yes, I’m happy to help.”
“And in the meantime?”
“In the meantime, I suggest you pick up any breakables and close the door to anything you don’t want scratched.”Her mother was chuckling now, Sarah was sure of it.
“But what do I do when she’s in summer camp and there’s no one here?”
But she got no answer, because the room was now empty.
“Argh!”Her question reminded her that she still needed to confirm the start times for Riley’s day camp, so she padded upstairs to her office and switched on the computer.
Summer camp started the following Tuesday, right after Canada Day, and she had to figure out how to get Riley there on time.A cat—no matter how cute—would add a whole new twist she wasn’t convinced she needed.
ChapterFive
Raven’s phone rang as she left the meeting.She stopped to answer it, hoping it was Wren.She hadn’t heard from her daughter in nearly three weeks --other than an occasional text -- and was beginning to be concerned about the lack of contact.But she was to be disappointed.Instead of Wren, it was her friend Rosalyn.
“Hey Roz, I was just going to call you.”
“Well, things are a bit busy here.”Rosalyn sounded distracted, probably multitasking as usual.
“Anything I can do to help?”Raven unlocked her car, slid into the driver’s seat, and tossed her bag to the seat beside her.
“Was hoping you’d ask.You know those kittens I’ve been keeping in the back?The ones I said I could keep for a week or so?”
“Kittens?”Raven searched her memory then said, “Right the ones that were rescued.Too young to leave their mom.Mal told me about them earlier.”
“Those are the ones.Sorry to do this, but could you take them now?We just had a small hoarding incident—ten kittens were found at one of those old seaside cabins when the owner had to go to hospital.We’ve taken five and one of my colleagues took the other half.”
“Oh dear.How bad are they?”Raven hated to see cats in these situations.They were often in bad condition when they came to the centre.
