“What are you up to tomorrow?” Will asked me and I woke from my reveries.
“Probably go see my family,” I said. “What about you?”
He got up from the couch and lifted his arms, stretching his back. His shirt rode up a bit and I got to see his stomach, which was not flabby at all. It was taut and firm, and I had a strong desire to run my hand over it and up his chest.
“I don’t know,” he said, pulling a face. “Zoë is going to my mother for the day and I’m a free agent! Maybe do some target practice or do some kung fu moves!” he laughed and shook his head.
But I went to bed thinking about Will holding a gun, his shoulder muscles tensing as he tightened his grip and aimed at the target. I thought of the fine dusting of hair on his stomach and wondered how hairy his chest was. Then, I wondered if this thinking about Will without his shirt on was going to get me into trouble. I had a feeling it would. Which would be a pity as I was really starting to like this job.
Chapter 6
Will
I had a plan. I thought it wasn’t a bad plan at all, but of course, that was no reason for it not to turn out to be a spectacularly stupid plan altogether.
Early on Sunday morning, as we were all in the kitchen, drinking coffee or slurping cereal, in the case of Zoë, I casually mentioned that I’d been think about us getting a pet. Zoë had been begging me to get a dog for ages, but I always said no, thinking I’d be the one having to walk it and clean up after it. But after watching the movie the night before and seeing how keen Nikki was on animals, I thought I might be able to revisit the idea.
“A rabbit?” Zoë squealed in delight, knocking over her bowl and spilling milk all over the table.
“Or a dog?” asked Nikki with what seemed like enthusiasm for the idea.
“I was thinking more of a fish,” I said and watched their expressions fall. I could see how the idea of a fish might be less appealing than a puppy, but it was far less work to take care of and they were attractive too. Only last week at a visit to the dentist, I’d spent hours looking at the fish in the aquarium against the wall gliding tranquilly and peacefully about in the blue water. It was very relaxing. Work was so stressful at the moment, I liked the idea of watching attractive fish swimming up and down, up and down…
“What about a cat?” asked Zoë.
“A cat?” I looked at Nikki, hoping for a way out. “What do you think?”
“Great idea!” Nikki was beaming.
The thought of a cat was not appealing. Didn’t they catch mice and birds and scratch little children if they sat in their chair? Maybe that was just my grandmother’s cat. Maybe he just didn’t like me, which was also possible.
Zoë said, “My friend Jason’s cat had kittens, he said they were selling them.”
“Jason?” I’d never heard of a Jason before. “What’s his surname?”
Within minutes, we’d located Jason Davidson on the class group chat and Nikki found his mom’s number, quickly typing a message to her. She responded within moments, saying we were welcome to pick up one of the kittens if Zoë wanted one.
“They’re Ragdolls and look at how cute they are!” Nikki showed a picture to Zoë who instantly fell in love and clapped her hands. “Please can we have one Daddy, please?” Jason’s mom said we were welcome to stop by before lunch and we got ready right away.
It was a quite a nice day for New York, the clouds floating away as the sun came out strong and we were in high spirits as we headed to the Davidson’s address in Manhattan. The family lived in an upmarket apartment. Mrs. Davidson was tall and elegantly dressed but welcomed us inside. A shy boy stood behind her.
“Come on, Jason! Don’t be shy, say hi to Zoë,” she said, pushing the boy forward. When she added, “Why don’t you show her the kittens?” the boy took Zoë’s hand and pulled her down the corridor.
“They’re currently in our second bathroom,” she said, rolling her eyes and starting to talk us through the info on the kittens, what age they were, which shots they’d had and what kind of food we should be feeding them.
My head was spinning from the information when Zoë suddenly came running towards me, grabbing my arm. “Can we take two please, please, Daddy?”
“Two?” I said, barely convinced that we should take even one.
“There are only two left, and I don’t want to leave one behind. Imagine how lonely he would be. And if we have two, they could keep each other company and they wouldn’t get so lonely while I was at school?”
I couldn’t think of a good enough reason to say no and before I knew it, we had two kittens in a carrier and a long list of things I had to buy from the vet store, including scratching posts and cat litter containers, which sounded absolutely disgusting.
As soon as we got home, the kittens peed all over the floors, which Zoë immediately offered to clean up, but of course, we were out of paper towels. I went to the shops while Nikki and Zoë introduced the kitties to the apartment and all the rooms. Mrs. Davidson said the cats would be fine with living indoors as that was all they’d known at their place too.
When I got back a little while later, Nikki and Zoë were cuddling on the couch with the kittens, the little things fast asleep in two huge fluffy blankets that had once been Zoë’s but had now been gifted to the cats. Zoë wanted to spend every waking moment with the kittens and wouldn’t leave them even to take a bath that evening. Nikki had to promise to watch over them all day while Zoë was at school the next day and the two of them took the kitties to the vet to be checked out later in the day.
The kittens, now named, Rocky and Roxy, each got some shots and a treat and Nikki, it seemed, got a date.