“But you think papa is still on this side of the road?” Katie glanced behind her building. “We might as well give it a shot.”
Cindy eased the smaller carrier out of the vehicle and handed it to Katie. “I separated mama and son for transportation. Thought it would be easier if we let them out one at a time rather than tried to coax them both out of one crate.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Katie agreed.
“Need some help?” Alan reached for the larger carrier at the same moment Cindy turned to grab it.
The unexpected contact momentarily startled her. The word nice came to mind once again. Something about this strange crazy man didn’t add up. “Thanks, but I’ve got it.”
Reluctance in his eyes, he slowly stepped back. “May I at least come with you?”
She hesitated a moment. Too many people would only make mama more nervous and papa harder to find, but the tenderness in his eyes had her nodding yes. “Stay behind us, don’t move quickly, and try not to make any noise.”
Alan nodded, and much to her surprise, followed instructions very well. Considering how much bigger than her he was, his steps landed more softly and silently.
“This should be a good spot, don’t you think?” Katie’s steps slowed, and she pointed to a thatch of shrubbery not far from the building and trash cans.
“Looks as good as any.” Cindy bent down and unlatched the smaller crate.
“Since I’m here, you might as well let me.” Without hesitation, Katie reached in and slid the little fellow out into the open. She gave him a smooth rub across the back of his head. “You be a good boy and take care of your mama,” she murmured before setting him on the ground.
Turning her attention to the larger carrier, Cindy said a silent prayer and unhinged the door. If necessary, she had cat food in her pocket, but was hopeful mama would simply follow her kid. Mama fox stood sniffing the air, and Cindy held her breath. Another moment passed, and mama finally moved away from the crate and nudged her kid.
Softly, Katie murmured instructions. “Go on, mama.”
The fox actually turned to look at Katie. If Cindy were a betting woman, she’d have wagered the farm that mama nodded back at her. None of the adults moved, their gazes frozen on the large set of shrubs mama and son had run behind.
Cindy carefully scanned the surrounding thicket.
“Look!” Whispering, Katie pointed to a large tree several yards away.
It took a few seconds for Cindy to spot the nose peeking out from behind the trunk. Another few seconds and she could see more of an adult fox inching forward. She actually crossed her fingers, waiting to determine if this was just any fox.
Alan’s hand landed softly on her shoulder, and his warm breath brushed her cheek, accompanied by the soft whisper of his voice. “Is there going to be trouble?”
“I hope not,” she whispered back.
His hand remained on her shoulder as the three of them continued to watch the fox dart behind another clump of weeds. Only this time, Cindy’s heart gave a kick. In the clump of weeds, she could see another pup. At the same moment Alan’s fingers tightened against her skin, she saw what he must have. Mama fox and son had met up with Mr. Fox and three other kids halfway between the trash cans and the tree. Mama licked each of the three pups, and Mr. Fox nuzzled his head against mama’s neck.
“Now isn’t that the nicest thing you’ve ever seen?” Katie said on a sigh.
“I think it just might be,” Alan agreed, taking a step back, his hand drawing away.
A cool chill replaced the heat where his hand had been. “Yes,” Cindy said. “Very nice.”
Chapter Five
“Let’s have a look at that kitten.”
Right. Kitten. So engrossed in the scene unfolding in front of him, he’d almost forgotten about this morning’s visitor.
Both Cindy and Katie followed in his wake. He’d left all the windows open for fresh air. Not that heat was a concern this time of year. Hitting the fob, he unlocked the car and opened the door.
“Oh, this is a week for babies, isn’t it?” Katie reached into the box and scooped up the little gray tabby. “And where did you get this fellow?”
“I didn’t get him anywhere. He found me.”
“Oh really?” Katie nuzzled her cheek against the warm kitten. “So he picked you, did he?”
“Not me. My porch.”
Frowning, Cindy reached out to take the kitten from Katie’s hands. “He’s younger than I thought.”
“Does look to be about four maybe five weeks?” Katie kept her gaze on the kitten.
Cindy nodded. “I’m afraid so.”
He didn’t quite get why the two women looked so concerned. “Is that a problem?”
“Depends how you look at it.” Cindy straightened her back and handed the kitten over to Alan. “At this age the mother has not usually weaned the kittens yet.”
As little as he knew about cats, he already knew he didn’t like where this conversation might be going.
“The kitten is probably old enough to start introducing real food. Around this age their curiosity will start poking at mama’s dry food, and mama will start nudging them away when they go to nurse.”
“This little one is going to need some looking after,” Katie said.
Alan looked down at the kitten and attempted to hand it off to Cindy again.
“Nope.” The veterinarian shook her head. “I have a new tech and am short personnel. There’s too much going on at my clinic. I do not have time to care for a small kitten. I’m afraid, Mr……” Her words hung.
“Peterson,” he provided.
“I’m afraid, Mr. Peterson, this kitten is all yours.”
Panic slithered up his spine. He could almost taste the fear he put some of his characters through. “Oh, no.”
“Oh, yes.” Cindy grinned up at him.
“On that note, if you two will excuse me. I have a business to attend to.” Katie took a step back and waved a finger at him. “I’ll have your order complete in a minute. The butcher just delivered a rib roast big enough to feed an army.”
“What about you?” Alan extended his hands in the direction of the nice Irish lady. “You seem to have a way with animals.”
“That I do, sir. But I think you missed the part about I have a business to run. You look quite capable of taking care of that little one. He’s all yours.” Katie spun around and waved over her shoulder as she trotted back inside the One Stop.
This was so not good. “I don’t know the first thing about caring for a baby anything.”
“If it makes you feel any better, it’s much easier than a baby human.”
He shook his head. “No, that does not make me feel better. Not that I have had much contact with baby humans.”
“Nieces, nephews, baby cousins?”
“Nope.” He shook his head again. “Military brat. I’m the only one in my family who followed a different career path. Everyone is scattered around the country. By the time I get a chance to meet my sibling’s children, they are way past that afraid-I’ll-break-them stage.”
“I don’t think we have to worry about you breaking the kitten.” She took a step toward the One Stop. “I’ll even foot the bill for the supplies you will need.”
Feet rooted to the floor, he tried shaking his head again more vehemently. “I don’t have time to take care of a kitten either.”
Cindy marched ahead, clearly expecting him to follow.
“I mean,” he held the kitten tightly against him and hurried after her, “I have work to do.”
“Consider him one of your projects.” Cindy shoved the glass door open then froze in place and turned to look at him. “Scratch that. I’ll show you everything you need. He only has to be fed three or four times a day. You’ll probably have plenty of time to do whatever it is you need to do.”
“But that’s three or four times too many.” Grabbing the door with his free hand, he followed her inside.
�
�I’ve already started gathering what he’ll need.” Katie placed a bag of litter next to what he feared was a growing stack of supplies.
“No.” He shook his hand at her. “Not me. Someone else needs to do this.”
Cindy quickly scanned the items. “Looks good. Better give him a little bit of wet food in case this guy’s too young for the dry food mixture.”
“Got it.” Katie nodded.
“No, we don’t got it.” He tried again. “There has to be somebody else who will know if the cat is too young for wet or dry food because it’s not going to be me.”
Katie added a couple of cans onto the pile and looked up at Cindy. “Is this going on the clinic tab?”
“Yes.” She sighed. “The nearest shelter is overcrowded with kittens already.”
“There’s a shelter?” Why hadn’t anybody mentioned that before?
Katie rolled her eyes. “It’s over an hour away. And they have more animals than they can handle. You can do this.”
“You seem to have a lot more faith in me than I do.” Which made absolutely no sense since she’d sent the sheriff snooping after him. “I have no business taking care of a baby anything. I was traumatized when my goldfish that I won at the state fair died. Trust me, this is not a good idea.”
Cindy waved him off. “Everybody’s goldfish dies. Let’s get you the initial set up. And I’ll pop by later and see if we can find mama.”
“Okay.” Katie slapped her hands together and rubbed with more enthusiasm than the situation warranted. “I’ll put this on your tab.”
If there was one thing Alan had learned from a military family, it was how to recognize a losing battle. “No. Go ahead and put it on my tab.”
The matching grins that took over Katie and Cindy’s faces were almost enough to have him volunteering to take on some of the shelter’s excess kittens. Looking down on the tiny fur ball that had once again fallen asleep in his hands, he considered his grandfather’s earlier suggestion to get more involved. Helping the pretty veterinarian search for mama cat should count for involved, and could prove to be the most interesting thing he’d done in a very long while.
***
“Don’t you look like something the cat dragged in?”
Sinking onto the nearest stool, Cindy watched Lucy pull her lasagna out of the oven. “Man, that smells good.”
“Your mama popped in earlier. She spoke with your Aunt Marissa while she was here. Seems Iris and Eric and the kids are having a great time in Florida.”
“Hope they’re not thinking of moving there.” Cindy might not have seen her cousin Iris often, but at least New York had been a drivable distance in a pinch and deep down, everyone was hoping they’d settle permanently in Lawford.
“Nope, but your mom seemed awfully tired.”
“She’s working too hard.”
Lucy heaved out a heavy sigh. “I know. That’s why I thought since we’re not having a roast, I’d make her favorite.”
“She’ll like that.” Cindy smiled. Some times she wished at least one of them had gone into the family business so her mom wouldn’t have to work so hard at the funeral parlor.
“I heard you had an interesting day yesterday.” Her sister Poppy bounced into the room. Her ponytail swishing behind her and her smile brightening the room, she slowed to give Cindy a quick hug. “All anybody could talk about all day was you storming in on a stranger to save the man from a mountain lion.”
Lucy shook her head and laughed. “No, no. She saved our guest from a serial killer.”
“I thought the guest was the serial killer?” Grams strolled into the kitchen, arms laden with bundles of fabric, her usual smile brightened the room.
“According to Thelma,” Lily stood by the sink slicing apples and chuckling, “you saved Mr. Sophia from a serial killer.”
“Hardy har har.” All of the riotous renditions were actually considerably closer to the truth than some of the stories that had come through her clinic this afternoon. Betty from the Cut and Curl came in to ask how Cindy had single-handedly captured a band of terrorists. And Mabel from the diner thought Cindy deserved a medal for stopping a sex trafficking ring. She wondered how long it would take to get around that all she’d saved was a nice crazy man from a scared cat. Though she still hadn’t decided what to make of the dummy in the chair. For some reason, something about this guy kept her brushing that little oddity aside. It just didn’t seem to fit with the smiling face that had agreed to tend to a kitten he really didn’t want to take care of. She really didn’t get it.
“Ooh, apples.” Poppy crossed the kitchen and took in the array of ingredients surrounding her sister. “Pie or Kuchen?”
“Kuchen.” Lily reached for the flower sifter.
“Oh, that will hit the spot.” Cindy had no idea how many generations back they had to hunt in order to uncover the originator of the German apfel cake recipe, but right now Cindy was very happy it was on the menu for dessert. Maybe as a peace offering and thank you, she’d take a piece to Alan when she stopped by later to look for the mama cat.
“So.” Her Grams set the stack of fabric on the nearby kitchen table and strode over to Cindy’s side, giving her a light peck on the cheek and a comforting pat on the shoulder. “What actually happened? The General insists the town has gone mad, that Alan is a perfectly normal young man.”
“Katie agrees with the General.” Using a spatula to cut her lasagna, Lucy waved it at no one in particular. “She met him this morning over an abandoned kitten and says despite his hermit tendencies and his reluctance to care for the animal, he was actually very nice. Though it’s his fault we’re not having rib roast for dinner tonight.”
Grams cast a curious glance at Lucy. “How is it his fault?”
“He placed an order for rib roast before I did. There wasn’t enough left for us. So we’re having lasagna. Though lord only knows what a man who hasn’t cooked in a month needs twenty pounds of rib roast for.”
Cindy felt a pinch between her brows. What did he need that much raw meat for? One more thing about the stranger that didn’t quite add up. “Maybe it’s a west coast thing?”
“Who cares?” Poppy tried to pinch a piece of lasagna from the tray. “I love anything Italian.”
Smashing butter, Lily looked up at her sister and laughed. “Especially if it’s a cannoli.”
Cindy laughed too. They all had a weakness for Lily’s cannolis. “You got that straight.”
“Katie says that you are going to see Alan to follow up on that kitten.” Lucy placed a few large slices of the lasagna onto a heavy-duty paper plate.
Cindy nodded. “I’m hoping I can find the mama and some other kittens. It doesn’t make sense there’s only one.”
“Maybe the stray who has made herself at home under the willow cabin would consider adopting her.” Grams sorted the piles of fabric. “One of the guests caught her moving her kittens. As soon as they are weaned, we’ll find good homes for them and have the stray fixed.”
“I swear,” Lucy shook her head, “there’s a sign out there somewhere that’s telling all wayward mama kitties that suckers live at the big white house.”
“And they’d be right.” Grams chuckled.
Lucy rolled her eyes and smiled at the woman who had been her employer for as long as Cindy could remember, and handed Cindy a foil covered plate. “I was going to ask Poppy to take this over to Alan, but since you’re going anyway would you mind taking it?”
According to the clock on the wall, the family would be sitting down for dinner in about twenty minutes. Not enough time to find a mama cat and be back.
“Lucy,” Grams said, “why don’t you put an extra slice in and Cindy can join Mr. Peterson for dinner? After the chaos of the last couple of days, he’d probably appreciate the company. Especially if he’s nervous about caring for a young kitten.”
“Excellent idea,” Lucy smiled, “which is why I already added an extra piece.”
Grams smiled and laughed.
Cindy decided there was no point going against both women. Pushing to stand, she retrieved the plated dinner and waved to her sisters. “Just make sure somebody saves me a piece of Apfel kuchen.”
She wasn’t sure if Thelma and Lucy were somehow plotting to set her up with the nice crazy guy or not. Usually, when Lucy was into matchmaking mode her tactics were not as simple and straightforward as take this man food. Her ideas usually included a threat to life, limb, or sanity. On the other hand, Thelma had come right out and said a little crazy in Cindy’s life could be good for her. She shook her head. The fact that Lucy had asked her to deliver dinner to their guest instead of her sister Poppy had to be something as simple as convenience. But just in case, she was going to keep her eyes open.
Since she’d told Alan that she wouldn’t be by until later this evening, she’d taken a few seconds before leaving the house to call and let him know she was coming. When he didn’t answer the phone, she’d considered waiting until after she’d had dinner with the family to deliver the lasagna, but since both her grandmother and Lucy wanted him to have the food earlier rather than later, she figured if he wasn’t home, she could just leave it on the kitchen counter and check on the kitten while she was there.
Having put the car in park, she leaned over and retrieved the aluminum foil covered plate. To confirm her Grams had been right and it was getting late in the day, her stomach growled at the delicious aroma of Lucy’s baked lasagna. Alan was in for a treat. As she walked from the car to the front door she slowed her pace, looking for any signs of more kittens or a mama cat rustling in the nearby shrubbery. Nothing.
From the porch, she saw no signs of movement outside or inside. Maybe Alan had gone for a walk? Or could he be taking a nap? Maybe she should’ve stuck with her first thought and stayed for supper at Hart House until he returned her call. Too late now. She was already here, food in hand. Knocking lightly in case he was resting, she waited a minute, then put her ear to the door. If he was napping, he must’ve fallen asleep during some old movie. A horror movie. One that played eerie background music.
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