Without a Net

by Kimberly Cooper Griffin

  Fiona squinted at Meg. “And how does she do such a thing?”

  “She licks their bum.” Meg pulled her lips between her teeth. Fiona made a face and Meg laughed, putting up a hand. “You don’t have to lick them. You use a wet cotton ball or a soft rag and rub it across their bottoms to make them go.”

  “Seriously?” Fiona grimaced, unconsciously covering her tummy. The mere thought of doing it made her want to be sick. “Yuck!”

  “Are you squeamish?”

  “Not usually. But I don’t think I’m up for pooping them.”

  “It could be a problem if it bugs you.” Meg lifted one of the sleeping kittens out of the box. She rubbed it against her cheek with a smile. “So freakin’ cute! They smell good, too.”

  “Lavender oil. A dab on their backs near their tails helps with fleas. I read it on line.”

  “I’ve never heard of that. It’s nice, though.”

  Fiona was pleased with herself. “You mean I taught you something?”

  “You did.” Meg smiled and Fiona’s stomach did a little flippity-flop, which made her look away. “This is going to be a lot more work than I thought it would be. It’ll probably get easier when I develop a routine and don’t spend every possible minute watching them, I guess.”

  “That reminds me, I called around on my break earlier. I found a program a lot like the one in Seattle I told you about. They gave me the numbers of three people. The first woman I spoke to is already fostering two sets of kittens, but she said if we can’t find someone else, she’d take these. I left messages for the other two and I’ll let you know what they say when they call back. At least we know we have a place to take them. How long do you think you can handle caring for the kittens while we wait on the callbacks?”

  “I guess it depends on the pooping thing.” Fiona was both relieved and sad Meg had found someone to take the kittens. “I think I’m good with the feeding, though it might be rough doing it in the middle of the night. Lately, I’ve been sleeping like the dead. I hope I hear them when they wake up.”

  “The pooping thing actually isn’t too bad.” Meg pet the sleeping kitten in her palm. “I’ll show you how to do it after they eat next time. When was the last time they ate?”

  “About half an hour ago. They seem to need to eat every two hours or so, and they sleep in between.”

  “Do you want me to come back for their next feeding then?” Meg placed the kitten in the box and it squirmed into the heap of little bodies.

  Fiona couldn’t tell if Meg wanted to leave or if she was being polite. “I’m just hanging out. You can hang out here, if you want. Unless you have other plans.”

  Meg smiled. “I had plans to go to the laundromat tonight. I think I can put it off another night, though. Have you eaten? Do you want to order pizza or something?”

  24

  Meg was secretly elated when Fiona suggested they hang out. She hadn’t been looking forward to doing laundry on a Friday night, either. She put the kitten she was holding back in the box and followed Fiona to the dining area where she was standing next to the table.

  “Pizza is usually a winner for me,” Fiona said, “but I had it last night.” And the two nights before, but she didn’t mention that. “Would you mind something different?”

  “Not at all. You know the neighborhood better than me. Do you have a favorite place?” She’d only thrown pizza out there because it seemed like a safe suggestion. It actually wasn’t one of her favorite foods.

  “Do you like Thai food?”

  “It happens to be my favorite.” Meg was delighted and thought she could possibly fall in love with this woman—figuratively, of course, since they’d just met. But, so far, Fiona was almost too good to be true.

  “The Lotus Garden is close by. It’s one of the best in New York City.”

  “I’m surprised I haven’t heard of it if it’s near here. It’s kind of my life’s calling to find the best Pad Thai.”

  “Well, you’ll probably have to go to Thailand to find the best, but The Lotus Garden is a really good second. It’s a tiny little place a block off Broadway. You’ll miss if it you walk past it unless you know to look for it.”

  Fiona went into the kitchen, fished a menu from a drawer, and brought it back to the table. Once they decided on what they wanted, Fiona called to place their order. Meg was amused that Fiona had the restaurant on speed dial and she was chatty with whoever answered the call.

  “Delivery is two hours, but we can pick up in thirty-five minutes if you’re up for a short walk?”

  “A walk is fine.” Meg went back to the kittens, scooped one up, and sat on the floor next to the box. “If you’re a regular there, it says good things about the food.”

  “I eat there so often, Boonjira, the owner, calls me her daughter.” Fiona knelt next to Meg and looked at the sleeping kittens. “I order from them at least twice a week, sometimes more.”

  “You weren’t lying about liking it.”

  “Nope. I think Boonjira took me under her wing because I speak a little Thai. I get to keep in practice by talking to her.”

  “Very cool. You weren’t talking in Thai to her now, though.”

  “I didn’t want to sound pretentious.” Fiona looked away and pushed her hair behind her ear self-consciously. The gesture intrigued Meg. Fiona seemed so self-confident at times, and then quite self-conscious at others. It was an interesting dichotomy.

  “We’ve known each other for, what?” Meg looked at her watch. “Seven hours? That’s like 47 hours in dog hours. You don’t come off as pretentious at all.” Meg bumped Fiona’s arm to let her know she was joking.

  “Most of which were spent apart.” Fiona raised an eyebrow in a devious smirk. “But I guess my act is working.”

  “Totally.” Meg laughed. Fiona made her laugh a lot. She liked that. “You went to Thailand? Have you traveled a lot?”

  “It was my high school graduation gift to myself.” Fiona sat back against the sofa.

  “Wow. Quite a trip for a kid just out of high school.”

  “It really was. For a lot of reasons. I’m from a small mining town in Pennsylvania and before going to Thailand, I had never even been out of Pennsylvania aside from trips to Ithaca to see my Aunt Corny. Plus, I wanted to travel a little before I immersed myself in law school.”

  “What made you choose Thailand?”

  “When I was a kid, I read a book about a woman who traveled all over Asia and Africa looking for her soul. It sounded mysterious and interesting. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Thailand called to me. It was an incredible trip—I’m glad I went.”

  “Did you go with friends?”

  “I went by myself. None of my friends could afford it but I had been saving since I was a little kid.”

  “Did you find your soul?”

  When Fiona’s gaze dropped to her hands in her lap and she didn’t answer right away, Meg could’ve kicked herself. She’d over-stepped a boundary. She had to remind herself they had only just met.

  “I’m sorry. That’s a very personal thing to ask,” Meg said into the lengthening silence.

  “Don’t apologize. It was a great question. I was thinking.” Fiona looked up at Meg with a smile. “I guess the answer is I’m still looking.”

  Relieved by Fiona’s smile, Meg relaxed but shifted back to more casual conversation.

  “Law school, huh? Do you have any big trips planned for when you finish?”

  “I’m done. I got the results of the bar exam a couple of months ago. Now I’m an attorney at the law firm I was a research assistant for during my studies.”

  Fiona smiled and Meg could see the pride in her eyes. “Congratulations! My brother recently passed his bar exam and I know how tough it is. He had to take it twice.”

  “Ah. So, your brother is an attorney, too. One of my close friend
s didn’t make it this time around. He was devastated. He never thought he’d be in the roughly twenty-five percent of people who fail on the first attempt. To be honest, I didn’t either.”

  Meg remembered her brother’s lack of concern when he failed the first time. Her mother and father, both attorneys themselves, had been completely surprised, but he’d been pretty blasé about it. It had been a weird time for the family. She didn’t understand her brother sometimes. He had an attitude of privilege she couldn’t fathom. Not wanting to get into the family drama with Fiona, she didn’t share these particular thoughts. “We were all happy CJ, my brother, passed the second time. My father is looking forward to having him work at the family firm. Is the firm you work for the one you want to stay with for a while, or is it a stopping point along your career path?”

  Fiona knit her brow. “I’m not sure right now. I used to think it was where I’d stay forever. Maybe it still is, but who knows?”

  “Yeah. Forever is a long time,” Meg agreed.

  Fiona reached for her cup of coffee and took a sip. “You said you recently passed the veterinary boards?”

  “I graduated from veterinary school last year and recently learned I passed the state licensing boards.” Meg tried to suppress a proud smile. She wondered when the thrill of calling herself a doctor would fade.

  Fiona lifted her coffee to cheer. “Congratulations, Dr. Coffee. How did you celebrate? I can imagine the exams are as grueling as medical boards.”

  Meg tapped her cup to Fiona’s. “Thanks.” She thought about the turmoil her decision to become a vet, and not a lawyer in the family tradition, had caused her family. They were proud of her for finishing school, but they weren’t exuberant about it like they had been when CJ had finally passed the bar. But that’s how it had always been. Meg knew it had more to do with their lower expectations for him than about her. In a way it was a validation of her consistent good work, but the lack of enthusiasm about her achievements was a bummer. It was classic sibling rivalry, and it was worse because they were twins. She kept her thoughts to herself. She didn’t need to subject Fiona to all of that. After enduring years of her own twin brother teasing her about not having what it takes to be a real doctor, Meg was sensitive about it. Her brother had no room to talk, though, and she never let on how much it got to her—at least to him. She was surprised. Even after all this time, she continued to feel the need to defend her choice to become a veterinarian. “Grueling is a good way to put it. I found out I passed the day I moved here and haven’t been in town long enough to make many friends. I’ll probably celebrate when I move back home. As for comparing it to medical boards, we have to learn everything medical doctors do—maybe even more, since we deal with so many different species. So, yeah, it’s pretty difficult.”

  “You have a lot to be proud of.” Fiona reached over to pet the kitten in Meg’s lap.

  Meg’s focus quickly shifted to the hand stroking the kitten lying on her thigh. All thoughts of sibling strife fled as she became intensely aware of the woman sitting so close to her.

  “Well, we’ll celebrate with good food tonight.” Fiona seemed completely unaware of the affect she had on her houseguest. “I ordered a secret dessert from Boonjira. I hope you like fresh mango.”

  “Love it!” Meg shifted a little so the kitten was closer to her knees.

  “Good! So, where did you go to school? You were in Ithaca. Was it Cornell? They have a veterinary school, don’t they?”

  “Good guess. My family is from Ithaca and Cornell is a family thing. We’ve lived there and gone to school there for generations. My grandparents and Uncle Arthur—he’s the uncle who owns the coffee shop—still live there. My parents and one of my uncles moved out to Washington before I was born, but I was always expected to go back for school. When I did, I sometimes helped Uncle Arthur out at the coffee shop. As stereotypical as it may sound, the smell of roasting coffee reminds me of Seattle. I worked there more to cure homesickness than anything else. If I had to make a living at it, I’m not sure I would love it so much.”

  To Meg’s relief, Fiona stopped petting the kitten in her lap. Her proximity was nice, but very distracting.

  “Your passion for coffee must run very deep if you would rather work at Helga’s than practice as a vet,” Fiona said.

  “It does, it seriously does.” Meg laughed. “But it’s a temporary thing. I actually have a practice in Washington waiting for me.”

  Meg was used to people either questioning why she didn’t go into the family profession, or more recently, why she was working at a coffee shop when she could be working as a vet. For some reason, people assumed there was some sort of drama behind her decisions. In reality, she was only following her heart. But her decisions had caused drama in her family. As a result, she didn’t usually go into detail, but Fiona was different. For some reason, she wanted Fiona to know more about her.

  “I’ll head back to Washington at the end of the summer to be my aunt’s partner at her practice in central Washington. I was going to go right after graduation, but my mom convinced me to hang out and experience the city for the summer. She said I’d never have this opportunity again, once I started working at the practice.” Meg checked Fiona’s expression to make sure she wasn’t boring her before she went on. “As far as Helga’s goes, my friend Taylor owns it.”

  “Ah. I assumed Helga’s was your uncle’s, too, and it was named after his wife or something.”

  Meg almost choked on her coffee. Her Uncle Arthur was one of the gayest men she’d ever met. “It’s named after Taylor’s great aunt. I was helping her and her partner while they were in Europe, but then they extended their trip and had a few people out unexpectedly, so I decided to help for a few more weeks. I was going to be in town until the end of summer anyway.”

  “I’ll bet they appreciate the help. Only a good friend would give up their summer like that.”

  Fiona’s words made her feel happy. “They’re good friends. Some of the kindest people I’ve ever met. I met them at my uncle’s coffee shop when they came to Ithaca for a long weekend a couple years ago. We got to talking, I took them to some local places, and they told me to stop in if I ever made it down here. So, I did. We’ve been friends ever since.”

  “I know Taylor. Well, I know of her. It’s hard not to notice floor-length dreadlocks.”

  “She’s so beautiful in a gentle hippie sort of way. Karma is more delicate with her pale skin and almost white hair.” Meg searched for the right word to describe Karma’s ethereal beauty without making it obvious she had a huge crush on both of the beautiful women. They were very married though, and their devotion to one another was part of why she liked them so much. It didn’t keep her from adoring them from afar, though.

  “Ah, yeah. She always sits in the back corner of the shop with a laptop. I had no idea they were together, or gay even,” Fiona said. “My gaydar is so broken.”

  Until that moment, Meg hadn’t thought about Fiona being gay or not. She usually played things by ear if she was attracted to someone. And since she’d decided her pending move back home would prevent them from becoming much more than friends, she’d left it alone. But straight people didn’t usually refer to their gaydar. Now, her interest in Fiona was piqued even further.

  “Karma’s a writer. She writes articles and books on organic gardening in the city and she’s written a couple of cookbooks. Their trip was part work and part play. Karma’s gathering information for another cookbook.”

  “No wonder the food at the café is so good. Does she make it?”

  “No, but they use her recipes.” Meg smiled at the memory of her first visit shortly after meeting them. “I went to dinner at their house once, and I went on and on about how delicious the food was. Karma has a great rooftop garden at their brownstone. We had vegetarian lasagna and an Italian soup so good I compared it to sex. Taylor asked if I was propositioning th
em. I barely knew them and I didn’t realize they were messing with me. I stumbled over my own tongue trying to deny it. When they knew they had me, they both laughed and gave it away. Now we joke about it, but I very nearly died of embarrassment that night.” Meg shook her head, absently petting the kitten in her lap, lost in the reverie. Suddenly, she wondered if she’d made Fiona uncomfortable.

  Fiona laughed. “Sounds like I should be eating more food at the coffee shop.”

  Relieved, Meg laughed with her. “I recommend the cheese Danish. It’s better than the soup.”

  “So noted.”

  Fiona pulled her legs underneath her. “So, you come from a long line of Cornell alumni. Very impressive.”

  “It’s a family thing, like being an attorney. Both my grandfathers went there, as did my mom and dad, several of my uncles, and now my brother and I. Uncle Arthur went too, although he quit being an attorney to open the coffee shop. I guess he gave me the courage to go my own way, at least career-wise. I’m the only vet, besides my Aunt Claudia, but she married into the family.” Meg didn’t want to bore Fiona with the details of her family’s expectations. Besides, it sounded like she was bitter, and she loved her family. She changed the subject. “I’m guessing you went to Columbia? It’s close and it has a reputation for law.”

  Fiona nodded. “You should have been a detective.”

  “Is it a family thing for you, too?”

  “I’m the first of my family to go to college. I’d always wanted to go to Columbia, though, even as a kid. It’s in the city and I grew up in rural Pennsylvania, thinking the city was so glamorous. It was always my first choice and when they gave me a full scholarship it was a done deal.”

  “A full scholarship. Impressive.”

  Fiona dipped her head self-consciously, which Meg thought was charming. “I have to admit my focus was a bit intense, but it paid off. My aunt would have taken care of my tuition, but it was nice to earn my own way.”

  “Focus is usually a good thing. My parents probably would have liked a little more focus from me when it came to getting into college.” Meg looked at her watch, surprised at how quickly time had gone by. “Do you think the food is ready? I’m starving.”