The Lost Cats and Lonely Hearts Club

by Nic Tatano

  “Okay,” says Tish. “So, then you watched a movie.”

  I look down at my plate. “Uh, not exactly.”

  Rory reaches over, takes my chin and tilts it up. “What do you mean, not exactly? Was it a bad movie?”

  “We, uh, didn’t get past the opening credits before I asked him to kiss me. And then, we uh …” I look down again. “We made out for about two hours.”

  “Whoa!” Another chorus.

  “And then about ten o’clock he says he has to get going because he has an early flight. I figured this was totally bogus and he was using that as an excuse in order to leave. So I used Tish’s trick to see if he was lying by offering him a ride to the airport. Turned out he actually had an early flight to Washington as he’s going to Arlington, Virginia for special training. So I ended up driving him to the airport Sunday morning.”

  Tish starts laughing. “And after two hours of making out the night before, what sort of goodbye did you have at the airport?”

  “He gave me a big hug.”

  She nods. “And then you felt guilty on your way to Jersey.”

  “Big time. Anyway, I took the water taxi and Jamison was waiting for me with this Mercedes convertible. He took me to what he had called a little sailboat, which looks like something from one of those Kennedy home movies. Spectacular. Then he took me to his gorgeous home on the ocean and cooked dinner for me. As since he was really shy about asking me for a second date, I simply answered by kissing him.”

  Rory rests her head on her chin. “Hmmm. Interesting.”

  “I wasn’t finished. On the boat ride home I got a text from the cop thanking me for the ride and saying he can’t wait to see me again.”

  A.J. grabs her wine. “Guilt city.”

  “Big time again.”

  “So who do you like better?” asks Tish.

  “Too early to tell. Both are gentlemen, both interesting guys. But very different. Time will tell.”

  “So you’re going to juggle these two guys,” says Rory.

  “I’m not juggling anything. But after a bunch of bad relationships it’s a nice problem to have. Though I realize I have to be careful.” I turn to A.J. “So I need your advice.”

  She leans back a bit, eyes wide. “What are you lookin’ at me for?”

  Tish rolls her eyes. “Oh, please.”

  A.J. turns to her. “What?”

  “Seriously, A.J.? Have you forgotten you once got two proposals of marriage in the same week? From two different men?”

  “Yeah, but I liked the third guy I was dating better.”

  I frantically wave my hands. “Okay, enough. I’m in need of help here, guys. I don’t know what to do. I like two guys and one is gone for a month. If I only date Jamison for a month he’ll have an advantage over Nick.”

  Tish puts up her palms. “Hey, love isn’t fair, sweetie.”

  “I know, but my journalism fairness made the jump in your Freaky Friday scenario. If I’m going to compare them, I can’t do it if I see one four weeks in a row while the other is out of town. It might be out of sight, out of mind.”

  “Or it might be absence makes the heart grow fonder,” says Rory.

  “You’re not helping.”

  We go back to eating. No one says anything for a minute or so.

  Then Tish stops. “I’ve got it. Okay, here’s what you do.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  I’ve got a few hours to kill on the train from New York to Washington, D.C. as I head to the Capitol on this Friday to testify in front of Congress on a new adoption program. I’m not sure why it’s called “testifying” since that implies I’m involved in some sort of crime or lawsuit. But there’s an oath involved and a hand on a Bible, so it’s the only choice. I’m not wild about doing this, as it will dredge up bad memories (which kept me up all night) but if it will save even one kid from being shuttled around it’s worth it. My friends all offered to come along, but somehow this is something I need to do alone. Besides, if they were here I’d break down after testifying in the hallway in front of all the cameras, and if I’m going to appear to be the poster child for this, I have to put up a strong front.

  Too bad I couldn’t bring a kitten. The purring from those little guys relaxes me more than a bottle of wine. I read somewhere that a purring cat can actually lower your blood pressure. If that’s true, everyone in Washington should have a kitty. Of course the President has been “using” his cat in photo ops and the thing now has an Instagram account. Trying to cultivate the “cat people” vote, I suppose. Anything is fair in politics. This has, of course, resulted in some of the other candidates featuring their pets in campaign commercials.

  And as if I don’t have enough stuff bouncing around in my head, there’s the matter of the two guys on my aforementioned dance card. That “nice problem to have” had better resolve itself eventually, since I have no desire to resolve it myself. Hopefully one of the guys will rise to the top. Though maybe neither one will. I’ve only been on one date with each, after all. But something feels different this time. Like I’m ready for the real thing.

  Tish, meanwhile, came up with the solution to the problem of the cop being away for a month as she reminded me of this trip and the fact he’s training in Arlington, which is next door to the nation’s capital. So after I’m done with Congress we’re going to meet for dinner before I take the train home tomorrow. By the time I go out with him at that charity dinner in a few weeks, I will have been on three dates with each man. Assuming the relationships don’t implode after the second date.

  The shoe is on the other foot as I run the gauntlet of media people on my way to the hearing which starts in five minutes, telling them I’ll be happy to answer their questions after I’m done. I’m about to enter the room when a skinny teenage girl with stringy blonde hair lightly takes my arm.

  “Excuse me, Miss Shaw?”

  “Yes?”

  “I’m a foster kid and I just wanted to personally say thank you for coming here to speak on our behalf. It really means a lot.”

  “Thank you, I appreciate that.” I note the sadness in her expression. “You in a bad situation?”

  She nods, her blue eyes filled with hurt. “Yeah.” She rolls up her sleeve and I see a series of bruises. “I was hoping you might have some advice for me about what to do. I’m sixteen and I’m stuck for two more years. I don’t think I’ll make it.”

  Not good.

  And I can’t walk away.

  I grab a pad from my purse and hand it to her. “Write down your name, address and phone number and I’ll have someone take care of it.”

  “You’d do that for me?”

  “Hey, we gotta stick together.”

  She writes her contact info on the pad and hands it back to me. I see she came all the way from Newark. “Thank you for caring.”

  “Not a problem.” I hand her a business card. “You need anything else, call me. Call collect if you have to.”

  Her eyes well up. She moves forward and gives me a strong hug, hanging on longer than normal. Which is, of course, captured by the cameras.

  My heart pounds as I sit down after taking the oath. I’m about to tell my life story in front of millions of people.

  Julianne Flint, the fortyish United States Senator from Florida who asked me to testify, puts on a pair of wire-rimmed bifocals, brushes her brunette hair back and nods at me. “Miss Shaw, first, we’d like to thank you for coming today. I’m sure some of what will be discussed might be unpleasant for you, but your perspective will be instrumental in getting passage for this bill.”

  “Thank you, Senator, but I’m no different than any other foster child.”

  “But your experience is different than most, as you have risen to the top of a very high profile profession. If you wouldn’t mind, can you give us an overview of your personal experiences, as I understand your childhood was spent in six foster homes.”

  I note my fists are clenched, so I put my hands in my lap. I tell my
story, what it was like to grow up with six different families. How some cared and some didn’t. What it was like in school when classmates found out your background. The room is silent with the exception of my voice and the auto-winders of cameras. After about ten minutes with my mouth now dry as a bone, I’m done.

  The Senator slowly nods. “Thank you for sharing that, Miss Shaw. I’d like to ask you about the makeup of your various foster parents. What they were like, how they treated you. If you actually considered them parents in the traditional sense.”

  “Well, I’d classify four of them as basically in it for the money. The State would give them a certain amount which was supposed to be earmarked for each child, but very often little of that money ended up being used that way. To them it was a career and taking care of us was a job, not parenting. Two of my families were wonderful, people who sincerely wanted children and in both cases probably spent a lot more than the State provided.”

  “And yet you were still moved around?”

  “Yes. The first good parents I had were both killed in a car wreck, so I was moved immediately. The other nice people simply felt they were getting too old to take care of children, and got out of the program. I still keep in touch with them. But look, I don’t want to disparage all foster parents. I know other people who grew up in foster homes that were terrific and had a good experience. And there are plenty of couples who take in children because they genuinely want to parent them.”

  “So, mind telling us how you turned out so normal?”

  I need to lighten things up a bit, for my sake and to break the tension in the room. “Senator, anyone who works in television news isn’t remotely normal.” Everyone laughs and I relax a bit. “But the guiding force in my life has been my best friend, Rory Callahan. She actually took me under her wing in high school and her parents moved me in with them when I turned eighteen. I am also blessed to have two other very close friends, and I consider them all family. Many times your friends are your family when you’re a foster child.” I’m thankful at this moment that they’re not here, as the mere sight of them would make me tear up.

  “What’s your opinion of the new program we’re proposing, offering free college tuition to a child provided the adoptive parents raise the child till eighteen? Without those monthly State checks along the way. Do you think this will work and be an improvement from what we have now?”

  “I think it’s a great idea. You wouldn’t get the people who simply took a child in for the money. You’d get people who honestly wanted to raise a child. And I’ll tell you this … to spend eighteen years in the same house with the same parents would be a dream come true for any kid in the system. Adoption is a lifetime commitment.”

  The Senator smiles at me and leans back in her chair. “Thank you, Miss Shaw. I yield to the Senator from New Mexico. Oh, I almost forgot … how are the kittens?”

  I can’t help but smile. “They’re great. And adopting a pet is a lifetime commitment as well. So the President had better not get rid of that cat after the election.”

  An hour later I’m done after taking questions from five Senators. I greet the waiting media horde in the hallway and answer ten more minutes of questions. And when I’m done I smile and thank everyone.

  The media packs up and starts to leave while I head down the hall to the ladies room. Thankfully it is empty.

  I go into a stall. The emotions I’ve held inside explode and I throw up.

  My last stop in DC is the office of a Congressman from Long Island who has tipped me off to a bunch of good stuff over the years. Brad Dexter is known as a scrupulously honest politician who made his bones as an FBI agent, then became a household name when he blew the whistle on some illegal stuff going on in the Justice Department. He resigned and used his notoriety to win election to the House of Representatives. It didn’t hurt that the forty-eight year old legislator possessed classic good looks; his tall, solid stature and steel jaw making him seem like the poster child for law enforcement.

  He greets me with a smile and extends a hand as I enter his office. “Madison, good to see you again.”

  “How you doing, Congressman?”

  “Oh, stop with the formalities, will you?” He takes a seat behind his desk as I sit in front, studying me with his gray eyes. “More importantly, are you doing okay? I could tell you weren’t terribly comfortable during that hearing.”

  “It was painful, I will admit. But it will help a lot of kids. If the bill passes, that is.”

  “It will raise awareness whether it passes or not. I will tell you it has a lot of support in the House and I’ve been lobbying for it.”

  “Thank you. Speaking of kids … you got any good contacts in Newark?”

  “I’m good friends with a Congresswoman from that district. And I know a couple of agents in the FBI field office there. Why?”

  “Need a favor.” I hand him the slip of paper with the teenager’s name and address. “I met this girl in the hallway before my testimony. Foster kid with a lot of bruises who says she needs help. She needs to get into a good home.”

  He nods as he looks at the paper. “Consider it done. What else you need?”

  “Well, you’re not gonna believe this. As you may have heard, our old network CEO has reached room temperature and his replacement wants me to take down Senator Collier.”

  His eyes widen. “Seriously? Your network is going after Teflon Joe?”

  “Yep. And as you know, many have tried but no one has ever found the smoking gun that could put him away. I could sure use your help since you have access I don’t.”

  “Well, this makes my day. I hate that sonofabitch. Whatever you need, I’ll get. Any idea where you want to start looking?”

  I pull a manila envelope out of my briefcase. “Right here. As Deep Throat said in All the President’s Men, ‘Just follow the money’.”

  Seeing my friends and the kittens cheers me up. Of course it’s via a video chat with the gals, who are having a slumber party at my house while taking care of the fur babies.

  “We’re really proud of you,” says Rory, sitting on the floor between A.J. and Tish while the kittens run around. “I know what you did was hard.”

  “You have no idea.”

  “You okay?” asks Tish.

  I shrug. “Just wrung out. I want to put the whole thing behind me.”

  “Well, what time is your cop picking you up?” asks A.J.

  “In a few minutes. But to be honest, I don’t even feel like going out.”

  “You need to,” says Rory. “Oh, say hello to your favorite.” She holds the tortoiseshell up to the camera.

  I wave at the kitten. “Hey, little fella!”

  He meows and puts one paw up to the camera. “See, he knows his special person,” says Rory.

  The hotel room phone rings. “Hang on a minute.” I answer and am told Nick is in the lobby. “Send him up, please.” I hang up and turn back to the video chat. “Okay, he’s here. Gotta go.”

  “Try to relax,” says Tish. We all wave and end the chat.

  I take a quick look in the mirror and can see I look fried. It will be all I can do to force a smile and be cheerful tonight. Because right now I look like the death stare girl in high school.

  I’m beginning to think meeting Nick like this was a bad idea. Just what the guy needs is a night with a depressed woman.

  Too late now.

  A knock on the door tells me he’s arrived. I take a deep breath as I open it and find him dressed in a suit, giving me a comforting look. “Hey, Marino, c’mon in.”

  He moves into the room, saying nothing as he studies my face, then opens his arms wide.

  He knows.

  I move into his arms and hug him tight while he gently strokes my hair. My eyes well up as I rest my head on his shoulder.

  We don’t say a word for about two minutes.

  Finally I compose myself and lean back as his hands slide down to my waist. “How did you know exactly what I needed
?”

  “I’ve been a cop a long time. You learn to read body language. I watched you on TV today. Listen, if you don’t want to go out—”

  “No, I’m feeling better now. Just seeing you cheers me up.”

  “Just another part of my job, ma’am.” He lets go and looks around the room. “Damn, nice suite. Your network pay for this?”

  “Nope, they had booked me a regular room. But the hotel manager is a cat person and upgraded me.”

  Nick offers a slight smile as I sip my wine in the restaurant. “You’re a brave woman.”

  “Oh, please, what I did was nothing compared to your job. You’d take a bullet for a complete stranger.”

  “Bravery is more than physical, Madison. What you did today … I can’t even imagine what you went through as a child. Anyway, I’m really glad I didn’t have to wait a month to see you.”

  “Yeah, I guess the logistics worked out in that department. So, enough about me, tell me about that special training you’re going through. Is it like an episode of CSI?”

  “In some ways. It’s about half in the classroom and half in the field. I’m learning a lot. Some different ways to approach investigations, how to consider other points of view. And how there are sometimes more than two sides to a story, but I’m sure you know that from the news business. We’re each given a fictional case to solve during the week and I’m supposed to work on it this weekend.”

  “Sounds fascinating. The network just put me on a big investigative story. Maybe when you get home we can share strategies. I’d love to know how cops work a case.”

  “Hey, we could be like the partners in Castle. The detective and the writer. Except we’re the officer and the reporter.”

  “Yeah, really. Would make a good buddy cop movie.”

  We’re interrupted by a nicely dressed couple around thirty. The woman clears her throat. “Excuse me, Miss Shaw?”

  I look up and smile at her. “Hi.”

  “Sorry to interrupt your dinner, but I wanted you to know my husband and I have been on the fence about adopting. Until we saw your testimony today.”

  The man smiles at me. “We’re going to do it. Just wanted to thank you for helping us with our decision.”