Nick pokes his head out from behind a set of books on the bottom shelf. How the hell did he wedge himself in there? “Come here. I’ve got a treat for you.” I make thepsp, psp, pspnoise that the internet believes attracts cats. In my experience, it’s a complete myth. Not once has Nick come to that sound.
Nick cocks his head to one side and examines me. “It’s your favorite.” In fairness, his favorite is anything edible. And a few things that aren’t.
“Why is he back there?”
“Are you seriously asking me? Why that cat does anything is beyond my comprehension.” I’ll never understand Nick. It doesn’t stop me from loving him with my whole heart.
“Well, make him come out and go to bed.”
I pause for a moment to run through that comment again. “You know cats are nocturnal, right? Or rather crepuscular.”
“I don’t know what that means, but as long as it isn’t in my bed, I don’t care.”
Before I can argue with Chase, Nick saunters out and screams at me, demanding the promised treat. “Here you go, baby. You earned this.”
Nick licks up most of theChurowhile purring and giving me a loving look. It’ll be short-lived, but I soak up whatever I can get from him.
“Alright. You’ve seen him, so as long as you shut the door to the apartment, you should be safe,” I say to Chase. “The big scary beast is contained.”
“I’m not scared of the cat.”
“Sure.”
“I’m not. I just don’t think sleeping with animals is sanitary.”
“Of course.” He can use whatever words he wants; I know the truth. The incredible Chase is scared of a little cat.
Okay, a big one, but still.
Chase stays a foot behind me for a second, not moving. Maybe he’s waiting for something. “Chase?”
“Sorry. I’m leaving. Just keep track of him until I can get upstairs.”
“Sure.” I’m not entirely sure that’s a promise I can keep, but I’ll do my best. “Chase?”
He turns back around toward me. His face is now a more natural color, though his cheeks are still tinged pink. “I’m sorry about what I said. I was just teasing you, but I shouldn’t have said it.” With him around, I’m going to have to keep a better handle on the words that fall out of my mouth.
“Forget about it. It’s no big deal,” he says as he heads into the backroom, pulling the door closed behind him.
That’s what he says, but it doesn’t feel that way. “You got any good ideas?” I ask Nick as he licks the treat in my hand. He purrs contentedly, loving that whatever just happened means that he gets a special treat. TheChuruonly gets pulled out for special occasions. The rest of the time, he has to settle for smaller items. As a Maine Coon, he’s a big boy at baseline. When I got him, he needed to put on some weight, which he did quickly. Now, we’rewalking a fine line between him being healthy and venturing into chonky boy territory.
“You be a good boy, okay? Leave our guest alone.” I’m pretty sure Nick doesn’t understand me. Or, if he does, he uses his selective hearing. Doesn’t hurt to give him a good talking-to, just in case. “Don’t cause too much trouble.”
4
CHASE
The list of things I’m failing to do is getting longer by the day. Sure, there are the tough ones sitting at the top, like figuring out a new career path and getting my life together. Even a few months ago, when I was more optimistic, accomplishing those in a single twenty-four-hour period was unreasonable.
Getting curtains and asking Nix for the wi-fi password should be quick and easy. Yet, I’m waking up with the sun, again, and unable to do anything worthwhile on my computer. Watching movies on my phone isn’t as satisfying. The tiny screen is useless for more than a fewYouTubevideos.
Not that it’s stopping me. Even listening to a bunch of influencers talk about the newest running shoes is better than being alone with my thoughts, especially when they keep returning to last night with Nix. I’m not sure what it is about his upbeat demeanor that gets under my skin, but it’s been nagging at me since I got here.
When I first met him, he was a gangly kid wearing khakis a size too big for his body and nerdy t-shirts with math jokes I didn’t understand. As annoying as Nix and Russ were, I always appreciated how they refused to be anything other than themselves, even when people gave them shit about it.
I, on the other hand, was a sheep in high school. I did everything to impress the cool kids. That didn’t change much over the years; it just started to look different. The cool kids in my office focused on status symbols like watches and cars. The flashier the better.
It wasn’t the reason things with my ex-wife fell apart, but it didn’t help. Kelley hosted dinner parties for clients, dazzled people at work events, and always had the perfect thing to say in any situation. She’d been the perfect wife. Right up until she cheated on me. She wasn’t even sorry either.
