“Oh my God, I just got your message. What happened? Is Racer all right? Did he get away? He wouldn’t know what to do outside.” The words came out like machine-gun fire.
“Hi, Brook. I’m…” I searched for the right word. “A friend of Luke’s. He’s getting stuff out of his van to fix your window. He should be back in a minute.”
“Tell me. Is Racer okay? I hope he didn’t get out,” she said.
“He’s fine. He’s in my lap right now. We’ll take good care of him.”
She let out a sigh. “Thank God. He’s never been outside.”
At the sound of the door opening, Racer leaped off my lap and hid under the sofa again.
Luke came through the door carrying a piece of plywood and some tools.
“We’ll take him back to Luke’s place to make sure he’s safe,” I told Brook. “Here’s Luke.” I offered him the phone. “It’s your sister.”
He put down what he was carrying and took the phone. “Hey, Brook… Yeah, the cat’s still here… It’s sort of a mess… Nothing obvious missing, but you’ll have to figure that out when you get back… I’ll cover it with plywood and you can get it fixed when you get home… She’s just someone helping me with the cat… Debbie… Like I said, just helping me with your stupid cat… Yeah, love you too.”
There it was: I was just someone helping with the cat. But what else would he say? Oh, she’s a stray I took in. Or, Oh, she’s a pathetic girl who got her ass kicked behind the gas station. Or maybe, I felt sorry for her, so I’m letting her stay a few days. I realized what I’d wanted him to say was: Oh, she’s the one I’ve been stopping by the Minimart to see. Or maybe more, but no such luck. Dreams were for losers. The odds of that were like Dom winning the lotto for real.
Luke hung up, and in a few minutes he’d cut a piece of wood to fit the window and attached it in place with some screws.
He stood back to admire his handiwork. “That should about do it for now. Let’s get outta here. Brook can deal with the mess later.”
“Does your sister have a cat carrier?”
Luke wagged a finger at me. “No way.”
“We have to take him with us,” I said. “I promised her, and it’s not safe here. What if the guy comes back?”
“Whoever it is didn’t take the cat last time, and they’re probably smart enough not to take it next time.”
“But I promised her.”
“No way in hell.” Luke shook his head and hefted his bag of tools. “How about you feed the monster while I take this stuff back to the van, and we can lock it in the bedroom or bathroom or something if you want it to be safe.”
He kept referring to Racer as it.
After Luke left, I searched the rooms for pet supplies. Everything was a mess. They’d even overturned the cat box. I located a bag of dry and several cans of wet cat food in the closet and loaded them into a shopping bag with the extra cat litter. Then I grabbed a towel from the bathroom and lured Racer out from underneath the sofa with the same clicking and finger rubbing as before.
He trotted right out and jumped into my lap to be scratched.
“We’re going on a trip to your Uncle Luke’s place,” I told him. I wrapped the towel tightly around him and carried my furry little bundle under my good arm and out the door.
Luke met me in the hallway with eyes wider than I’d seen on him before. “You have got to be shittin’ me. I said no.”
I walked right past him. “He’s coming with us. I told Brook we’d take him to your place. There’s a shopping bag on the counter with his food that you’ll need to bring along before you lock up.”
“No way.”
I stopped and turned. “Then call your sister and tell her we’re going to leave him in the apartment with the broken glass and no cat box.”
He sighed. “You have to take care of the monster.”
I was done letting people constantly boss me around and having nothing to say about it.
Chapter 18
Luke
My God, this Debbie girl was stubborn. I’d told her three times to take the cat back into the apartment, but didn’t get anywhere. She had promised Brook she’d take care of the creature, and as far as she was concerned, that sealed it. The cat was coming with us.
In the end, I had to admire that about her. She had principles.
The whole drive back, I wondered how she’d managed to corner the cat and get it bundled up like she had. I couldn’t get within five feet of the stupid animal.
I looked over. She was still carrying it cradled against her chest. The demon cat’s head was nestled up against her braless boob—a position I wouldn’t mind occupying.
Back at the house, she released the critter before I had a chance to tell her to lock it up. The wicked thing disappeared under the couch.
I set my phone and keys down on the table. “I’ll take you out to dinner tonight,” I offered. “Where would you like to go?”
She turned without the smile on her face I’d hoped for. “No thanks. I’m supposed to cook for you to earn my keep. Remember?”
I moved toward her. “You’re still nursing a bad shoulder. That can wait a few days.”
She shook her head and backed away. “No, thanks. I’d rather have dinner in.” Something about her statement wasn’t complete.
I moved closer and locked eyes with her. “You promised to trust me, remember? That means telling me the truth.” I didn’t let her look away.
She shifted her weight, and her gaze fell to the floor. “It’s not a lie. I do want to eat in.”
With a finger, I pulled her chin up to make her look at me. “The full truth, Red. Why don’t you want to go out?”
A smile grew across her lips. “Eating in would be more romantic, don’t you think?” She still wasn’t telling me everything, or hell, anything. But her willingness to add romantic to her deception was interesting.
I moved forward and backed her the remaining two feet to the wall. I brought my face mere inches from hers. “I thought I’d made myself clear. You have to be truthful with me.”
“I haven’t…lied to you,” she said breathlessly. She didn’t get it.
Since she’d mentioned romantic, I was so very tempted to close the distance, kiss the living daylights out of her, and forget the argument, but I couldn’t drop it now. We had to settle this.
“You haven’t told me the whole truth, either.”
She sighed. “Okay, already.” She put her good hand on my chest but didn’t push me away. “I don’t want to be seen around town.” Her fingernails scratched at my shirt.
I took a guess. “You want them to think you’ve left and not look for you.”
She nodded. “Exactly.”
I shifted up, briefly kissed her forehead, and backed away. “Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?” I’d gotten past her first line of defense, and she needed to feel okay about it.
The only answer I got back was an eye roll.
I turned for the garage. “We can do dinner here if you promise to tell me the rest.”