The Cat's Meow, page 26
“So, tell me the type of personality you’d like in a cat,” Isana said.
“Oh, well, um—”
“I want a lap kitty,” Heather said, shocking Lyle silent. “Actually, what I really want is a bonded pair. It wouldn’t be fair to adopt a kitty and then go off to work, leaving them all alone all day long, so I’d like two kitties. Playful and affectionate.”
“I have the perfect cats for you,” Isana said. “You’re going to love them. Right this way.” She led them up a ramp around and around.
As they walked, cats came flying up to the cage doors to get pets as they passed them by.
“They’re so cute,” Heather said. “I’m so sad I can’t adopt them all.”
Lyle rolled his eyes. Great. Apparently he’d have to watch his girlfriend for cat hoarding tendencies. Who knew?
The worst part was that they were wolves.
What kind of self-respecting wolf wanted to adopt cats?
“We had barn cats growing up,” Heather said. “Every spring, there would be a whole new crop of kittens and I had so much fun playing with them. One spring, I must have been about seven or eight, I sneaked a pair of kittens into my bedroom and I kept them in there for about a month before my parents discovered them. I was quite resourceful. I made litter pans from cardboard boxes that I filled with dirt and I fed them table scraps.”
“Did you get to keep them?” Isana asked.
“I did. When my parents saw how attached I was to the kittens, they took them to the vet and got them all their shots. I named them Spooky and Spike. They even went away to college with me. We were inseparable until they passed away at ages fourteen and sixteen.”
Lyle hadn’t known any of this.
“That’s the worst part of pet ownership,” Isana said. “They never live as long as we’d like. Well, here we are. This one is Madison and that one there is Max. They’re from the same litter and have been here at the center for over a year now.”
“Why so long?” Lyle asked.
“They’re black cats, honey,” Heather said. “Black cats never adopt as fast as other cats, do they?”
“Exactly,” Isana said. “Do you want to pet them?”
“Oh, yes, please!”
Lyle didn’t even have to see what happened next. It was totally predictable.
Of course, Heather fell in love with the two cats, who were almost indistinguishable from each other. The only differences came in the form of a single white toe on Madison’s left front paw and a tiny white dot on Max’s nose.
“They’re so precious,” Heather crooned as she cradled Madison in her arms. “She’s so soft.”
So was Max, not that Lyle was about to admit it or anything.
Instead, he stoically waited for Heather to finish fawning over the cats, so that he could go find Kate’s dog, then fill out the adoption paperwork for three animals instead of one, pay the adoption fees and get on with his life. A life that now included deciding where they would stash the litter boxes and how they would combat the cat fur.
It took a while, but they finally made it to the dog side of the center, where Lyle repeated to himself as they walked through the deserted animal clinic, the details of Kate’s description. There was no way he was falling for any other dog. He was there on a mission.
Golden fur, looks like a lion, ginormous paws.
Golden fur, looks like a lion, ginormous paws.
Golden fur—
Ruf! Ruf! Ruf! Ruf! Ruf!
“Oh my gosh, he’s so cute,” Heather squealed as she fell to her knees.
“What is it?”
Isana chuckled. “Some sort of terrier mix, we’re not sure. He won’t ever get much bigger than that.”
The dog leapt onto Heather’s lap, then bounded out of it to race around her and Lyle, then jumped back onto her lap, then raced around again. This time, the dog stopped in front of Lyle, stood on its hind legs and scrabbled at Lyle’s pants.
Lyle chuckled and settled down on the floor beside Heather. He scooped the dog up, which was met with ferocious excitement as the dog lunged forward and began licking Lyle’s cheeks, nose, forehead, chin and pretty much anything else he could reach.
Lyle laughed and passed him to Heather then watched as she crooned and pet and loved all over that silly dog.
Without too much regret, he got to work adjusting his mental plans once more, this time making room for a dog bed and a dog crate.
* * *
Mason left work early. He’d been thinking about Isana and the cats all day again.
The worst part was knowing he’d offended Isana with the offer of a donation, something he just didn’t get.
He had money, so why shouldn’t he share it with people and causes he cared about?
Still, he had to figure out how to make it up to her. Otherwise, he’d never convince her to let him adopt his cats.
If only he knew what her animal was. If he could figure that out, he’d probably know how to woo her.
For example, if she really was a bear, he’d try honey, but since she was a bear-not-bear, he was at a loss.
He walked into the center and screeched to a halt.
Lyle, the traitor, was standing in the reception area with his girlfriend, Heather. They were each holding a cat carrier and Lyle had the leash of a dog in his other hand.
Seriously?
Mason stormed forward, leaned over and peeked into each of the carriers.
“You’re letting them adopt Madison and Max?” he demanded.
“Hey, Mason,” Heather said. “What are you doing here?”
“I volunteer here,” Mason said. “I also have a vested interest in four cats at this center, but that woman—” he glared at Isana“—hasn’t seen fit to allow me to adopt them yet.”
“Oh, we still have to have a home visit once the cats are settled, just to make sure things are going well, but then the cats are ours,” Heather assured Mason. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll get your cats in time. Isana just has to make sure every cat goes to a good home.”
“Exactly,” Isana said. “Thank you, Heather.”
“Well, we’re headed out,” Lyle said. “Gotta get our new family members settled in.”
“Good luck, Mason,” Heather called as they walked out the door.
Mason didn’t answer. He was too busy glaring at Isana, who was busy shuffling papers and ignoring him.
Well, two could play that game.
He stormed over to where he’d set his boxes of Bear Necessities and started unpacking them.
Cinnamon rolls.
Brownies.
Bear claws.
Popcorn balls.
“Oh, hey, Mason.” Sarah came in from the clinic side of the building. “How’s it going? Oooh, bear claws. Yum.” She grabbed a pastry and took a bite, then froze and stared at Mason. “Wow. Isana, you have to try a bear claw. I’ve never tasted anything so delicious in my life.”
“It’s a family recipe,” Mason said. “One only shared with other bears.” He sent a pointed look Isana’s way. “It’s really too bad your boss doesn’t admit to being a bear. If she did, I could share the recipe with her, but since she insists she’s not a bear—”
“I am not a bear!”
“—as I was saying, since she continues to insist she’s not a bear, well, I’m afraid you guys are out of luck. When they’re gone, they’re gone.”
Sarah let out a huge sigh. “Maybe, Isana, you could—”
“I am not a bear!”
“Okay, okay, sheesh. I just came in here to let you know I spoke with Brad over at Underdog Rescue.”
“Uh-huh. What’d he want now?”
“So, the thing is they’re actually quite thrilled we’ve managed to adopt out two of their dogs. So now they’re wondering if we’d be willing to rent them the kennels on a permanent basis. They’ll pay more rent if we agree to continue handling adoptions for them.”
Isana scowled. “I’ll think about it. We’d need to hire at least one more person though because this is getting a bit much for just the two of us.”
“Agreed. Thank goodness we’ve had Mason the past two days. We’d be swamped otherwise. Thanks again for helping out, Mason.”
“No problem. Is that what this is about? You’re keeping my cats hostage so I’ll keep volunteering?”
Isana rolled her eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s because you’re a bear. I told you that.”
Mason scowled. “That makes no sense! I know you say that you’re not a bear, but you smell like a bear which means you’re probably a bear. Which also means that you’ve been taking care of cats for years so obviously bears can be trusted around cats.”
“How many times do I have to tell you?” Isana exclaimed. “I am not a bear!”
Mason threw up his hands in the air. “Fine. Fine. You’re not a bear. Can I please adopt my cats now?”
* * *
Bygul hadn’t checked in with Tivali and the others since he’d presented them with their Mason mission. He’d been busy helping cats left homeless after a hurricane reunite with their families or find new ones if necessary.
It was heartbreaking work and he was exhausted.
However, he knew he really needed to check in with his trainees, if only to make sure they weren’t destroying already existing matches.
You never knew with those three.
He could arrive and discover they’d managed to break up Jefferson and Kate or even worse, Jackson and Maggie.
It took longer than he expected to track down his trainees. He’d expected them to be at The Worcester Group, but everyone there was talking about how Mason Worcester kept leaving early to go visit some cat rescue in a human town called Pleasantville.
That was an interesting development for a bear known for never leaving his own town.
Bygul was now officially intrigued, especially once he arrived at the cat rescue center and had a frontline view of all the drama happening there.
“Bygul,” Tivali exclaimed. “What a surprise.”
“Yes, well, I’m just checking in. I don’t have a lot of time, but I thought I’d stop by and see how’s it going.”
“We’re failures,” Soraya wailed. “Epic failures!”
“What? Surely not.”
“We are! I wanted to match Mason with Sarah, but Tivali and Muezza said he’d walk all over her, so then we thought maybe Isana, but there’s no way that romance is ever getting off the ground. Isana hates him! We’re terrible at this, Bygul.”
“Oh, I’m sure it’s not that bad.” Bygul crossed the room and peeked into a side office where Mason and a woman—this Isana, perhaps—were squared off against each other, arms crossed.
Huh. That was some decidedly hostile body language.
Oh, well.
At least it wasn’t any of his former matches going at each other. With these three, you never could tell whether they were going to help a match along or completely annihilate it.
“Don’t worry so much,” he said to Soraya, even though from what he could tell, there was plenty to worry about. “There are always sticky moments in any romance. You just have to get to the other side. If they’re meant for each other, it’ll all fall into place. Trust me.”
“Are you sure?” Soraya asked.
“Positive.”
Muezza made a scoffing sound and Tivali just stared at him suspiciously, but Soraya looked relieved.
Bygul should probably feel guilty since the truth was the situation didn’t look good at all, but he really couldn’t find it in himself to care, not if it meant he’d never have to train another group of cats to matchmake again.
Even though Mason seemed a really nice guy and probably deserved both a cat companion and a love match, Bygul simply didn’t have the time to continue training and mentoring incompetent cats.
He’d taught them all he could and now it was up to them. Either the cats would fail and he could get on with his life or they wouldn’t fail, in which case, he might be expected to train another group of cats.
Dear goddess, he hoped they failed.
Chapter Six
KATE WAS FURIOUS. She couldn’t believe Lyle hadn’t come to work at all the day before.
He’d even ignored her phone calls and texts.
When she’d asked Jefferson what was going on, he’d just grinned and said, “Lyle’s spending the day with his girlfriend,” which was not the agreement.
Lyle was supposed to be adopting Kate’s dog and bringing him to her, not hanging out with his girlfriend.
This was why Kate demanded, “Where’s my dog?” the minute Lyle walked into the garage the next morning.
Lyle ignored her question and made a beeline for the Bear Necessities table where he started piling pastries onto a plate. He shoved a cake donut in his mouth and set about making himself a cup of coffee.
“Lyle!” Kate exclaimed.
“What?” His voice was muffled due to the donut.
“Where’s my dog?”
“What dog?”
Kate gasped. “What dog? The dog I sent you to Pleasantville to adopt. The dog for Maggie!”
“Oh, that dog. I didn’t see him there, sorry.”
“What do you mean you didn’t see him? Did you even look?”
Lyle let out a huge sigh, set down his coffee cup and turned to face Kate.
She took a step back at the look on his face. “What’s wrong, Lyle?”
“What’s wrong?” He stalked across the office toward her.
At that moment, the office door opened and Pete and Ryan trooped across the office toward the Bear Necessities table, but Kate was too focused on Lyle to respond to their greetings.
Lyle seemed awfully upset, which was pretty unusual for the laidback wolf.
“Do you know what I spent my entire day yesterday doing?” he demanded.
“Um, no.”
“I spent hours at a cat rescue center in the middle of a human town, then I spent hours inside a human pet store buying cat food and litter boxes and cat toys and dog beds and dog food. Do you know why I was buying those things, Kate?”
“Because you adopted my dog for Maggie?” She asked hopefully.
“Not even close,” he said. “But I did adopt a toy dog. Do you know why they call them toy dogs?”
Kate shook her head.
“Because they’re so small they look like little stuffed animal toys. Do you know what else I adopted yesterday?”
Kate shook her head.
“Two black cats.”
“Do you know what I didn’t adopt yesterday?”
Kate shook her head again.
“The mythical dog that looks like a lion that you sent me there to adopt! You know why I didn’t adopt him?” He continued before she could shake her head again, “Because I ended up with two cats and Heather fell in love with the toy dog within two seconds of us entering the dog room. I couldn’t risk exploring further in case she found another dog or two or ten that she wanted to adopt. So thanks, Kate. Brilliant idea. I now have two cats and a dog while you still have no gift for Maggie.” He turned, stalked over to the Bear Necessities table, grabbed his coffee and plate of pastries and stormed out.
The minute the door slammed shut behind him, Ryan and Pete, who had been off to the side, eyes wide, clearly barely containing themselves, finally burst into laughter.
Kate walked over to stand in front of Pete.
His hilarity died instantly. “Oh, no. I’ve seen the writing on the wall. Everyone who does this little errand for you ends up coming back with a dog and a cat. Lyle just came back with two cats. Well, I am one wolf who has no problem saying no. So here it is: No. No. No. No. I will not be going to the cat rescue center anytime this century.”
* * *
An hour later, Pete was standing in front of the cat rescue center, wondering how he’d gotten roped into this shit.
He drew in a deep breath for courage and went inside.
He recognized Isana from the description everyone had given him. He’d been hoping to find the other woman they’d described—Sarah—there instead.
Both Lyle and Pete had agreed if it weren’t for Isana, they might have managed to escape the cat rescue center with only a dog, but Isana was quite determined and somehow they’d ended up with cats too.
Unfortunately, Pete was doomed to follow in his co-workers footsteps because Sarah was nowhere in sight.
“Another wolf. What a surprise,” Isana exclaimed. “Come along. The cats are all in the Cat Tower.” She flung open a pair of doors and led the way inside.
It was exactly as Pete and Ryan had described it.
He’d been sure they were exaggerating or just pulling his leg, but there really was a tree in the middle of the tower.
“You go right ahead and wander around. Sarah’s in here somewhere. She can answer any questions you have about any of the cats. Just come find me once you’ve decided which ones you’d like to adopt.”
He blanched. Had she just said “ones” as in plural? He didn’t want to adopt a single cat, let alone multiples.
What was he supposed to do now?
Rather than head up one of the ramps, he decided to wander the playroom first. Maybe if he hid in there for a while, Isana would forget all about him and he could charm this Sarah woman into letting him adopt just the one dog and no cats.
He walked around the tree at the center of the room and discovered on the other side a wall of windows looking into separate rooms. These must be the individual playrooms Pete was talking about. There were three of them, all in a row, and a cat was sitting at the window of the third room.
He walked down to stand in front of the cat and that was when he saw the woman.
When the others had described Sarah, saying she had reddish blonde hair and green eyes, Pete hadn’t thought much about it. Now he realized they hadn’t done her justice because he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
She didn’t realize he was there, so he had the chance to observe her without her knowing. She had a cat toy in her hand, a wand with a long piece of fabric that she was using to entice the cats to play. There were two cats happily chasing her wand, but the third, he still stood at the window, watching Pete watch Sarah.
