The Cat Who Spent Nine Lives Saving Me Chapter 02
Embarrassed, I stroked his head.
“I just got laid off. I don’t even know how I’m paying next month’s rent. Once I find you an adopter, you can live in a big house with a fireplace.”
Domino licked his paw and cocked his head at me.
[An adopter? You don’t want Cat to raise you anymore?]
The warmth that had just begun to gather inside me slowly faded.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want him. I couldn’t afford him.
My phone buzzed with another message from Mom.
“Nolan’s wedding deposit is due Friday. Don’t make me ask you again.”
My thumb hovered over the notification before I turned the screen facedown. Even after losing my job, some part of me still believed every dollar I had belonged to them.
I posted Domino’s picture on a local adoption site and Instagram, thinking I would get him settled first and then finish what I had left undone on the roof.
That night, my hand bumped into a warm little belly. Without thinking, I pulled it into my arms.
[You’re crushing Cat!]
He braced a paw against my chin, then slowly drew it back a moment later.
[Fine. You’re so skinny that Cat will allow it.]
By the next day, I was certain I really could understand him.
I bought two kinds of canned food, chicken and salmon. After sniffing both, Domino planted a paw on the salmon.
[This one. The other one smells like a hospital hallway.]
I deliberately opened the chicken. He backed away two steps and stared at me in horror.
“…”
All right. He wasn’t a hallucination. A hallucination wouldn’t turn up its nose at clearance cat food.
After feeding him, I got ready to go out and submit résumés. The door had barely opened when Domino shot past my feet.
“Domino!”
He ran straight into the elevator. A red-haired woman stood inside with a dejected golden retriever on a leash.
[Where’s Dad? All I did was pee in the bushes. How did I get kidnapped by this woman?]
The woman patted his head. “I found him in the garage the day before yesterday. He kept trying to get away, so he might have been abused. If I can’t find his owner, I’ll take good care of him.”
The golden retriever lunged toward the elevator doors.
[I’m not lost! I live in Building Three! Dad, I’m sorry. I may never get to eat the burned edges off your steak again!]
I couldn’t hold back. “Maybe he isn’t a stray. When you found him, was he off leash but trying to run toward Building Three?”
The redhead stared at me blankly.