“They’re looking well, strong teeth and all that.”
“Did he say anything else?” I asked.
“He did mention we may want to bring them around in a week’s time to make sure they’re picking up weight as they should.”
I bet, I thought, getting up to clear the table.
“I thought he was really nice,” said Nikki and I froze as I scraped the leftovers into the bin and put the plates in the dishwasher.
“He gave us some flea control for free, which he didn’t have to do.”
“Fleas?” I pulled a face and turned around, nearly stepping on one of the kittens crawling up behind me. Nikki screamed and my heart almost stopped but at least I didn’t step on the cat and give Dr. Nice Vet another opportunity to chat to Nikki.
She scooped up the little cat and held it close.
“This one is Rocky, can you tell? He’s the boy?”
“No, I can’t tell them apart yet.”
Nikki stepped closer to me and pointed out how the male cat had darker ears.
“I think he likes you; he is always following you around.”
I wasn’t sure that was true at all, but it did make me feel a bit friendlier towards him.
“They are cute, aren’t they?” I said.
Nikki was still standing quite close to me; our shoulders were touching. She was looking at the kitten in her arms and I thought how lovely it would be to put my arm around her shoulders and pull her towards me.
“I know, right?” her voice was soft, full of wonder. “I’ve always wanted kittens, but we had dogs when I was growing up and they hated cats. We once had a cat come into our yard and my mom and I tried to get it to come out from under our house, but the dogs kept barking and eventually it ran away.”
“Well, now you have a cat,” I said. “I think Zoë likes the little female, so I’m sure this one could be yours?”
She looked up at me, her eyes wide with delight and then she shook her head.
“But what happens when I leave?” she asked in a pained voice. “I wouldn’t want him to become too attached to me.”
I smiled reassuringly and leaned over to stroke him.
“We’ll share him. That way, he will always have one of us.”
“Great idea!” she beamed at me, and we had a moment there, smiling over the little kitten and everything was exactly how I thought it would be. Then her phone rang. It was Dr. Handsome Vet, of course.
Chapter 7
Nikki
I decided to check on the kitties before I went to bed.
Zoë insisted on sleeping with them in her bed the night before, and this had resulted in a little mishap with one or probably both, peeing in her bed. After that, we decided the cats should sleep in a special cat basket we’d bought them, in the living room.
The apartment was dark, and I carefully walked to the living room at the end of the wide corridor, still lined with the pillars from the old bottle factory. Will had told me the entire building used to be a bottle factory, with the third floor, which was now his, being the administrative office, and offices where the bedrooms were now. He’d replaced the doors but kept the pillars as a kind of architectural feature, I guess. It had an industrial elegance to it, not exactly what you’d expect from a family home. It was a little wacky, but it had a lot of appeal, a bit like Will himself, I thought, as I came into the living room.
There, I found Will, watching late night TV, with both cats asleep on his lap.
“What are you doing?” I asked amazed.
He grinned sheepishly.