Page 9 of A Roommate for Ronny

Come to think of it, she was right.

I stepped inside. It was a normal apartment. And despite it not being mine, it had the comfortable feeling as if walking into my own place. It wasn’t my couch, my kitchen appliances, my area rug, and yet they were all familiar.

And then Bosco poked his head out of the cat condo and jumped out, barreling toward me, rubbing against me and purring loudly.

“Looks like Bosco has claimed you as one of his.”

“Is that right, little buddy?” I scooped the cat into my arms. He was more cat than kitten at this point, but I could still see that his paws were too big for his body. He had some growing to do. “What do you think? Can the two of us be friends?”

He purred, rubbed against me some more, and then jumped down and stood by my feet.

Karma showed me all the notes Ronny had left for me. I made sure the cat was good and fed and promised Bosco I’d be back soon. And then I went back to Jones’.

I’d told Karma it was going to be a few more days before I moved in, but that I would definitely make sure the cat was fine the entire time.

I could have left instantly. Jones wouldn’t have held me back, but there were some projects I didn’t feel comfortable leaving undone at his house. A couple of his back steps were about to give and needed to be replaced. The light fixture in his kitchen looked like it was holding on for its life. And the refrigerator needed a new water filter. I could’ve whipped it all out in one day, but I needed some time to wrap my head around the big changes I was about to make, which was why I was now having to convince Jones I really wanted to go.

“Don’t worry. I’m not disappearing forever. You can’t get away from me,” I teased.

“Well, that’s what I like to hear. Leroy would miss you.”

“And I would miss Leroy, wouldn’t I?” I squatted, and he licked my face.

I’d unpacked about half of the things from the car the second day I was there, not wanting the heat to get to them. That meant I needed to spend the morning packing the car back up before heading to Animals.

It had been difficult to say goodbye to Jones until I said, “Let’s have some tea tomorrow.”

His face lit up at that.

It would be the first of many times that I went over to have tea and help around the place. You never knew who you’d meet in this world or when. If Jones hadn’t been walking his dog at that moment, who knew where I would be now?

I parked in the staff parking lot and only got two boxes in before I had people lining up to help. Much to Bosco’s chagrin, I locked him in the bathroom while we unloaded my car.

According to the bio Ronny left for me, Bosco had been found, which means either he was a good little escape artist, something I wanted to avoid happening on my watch, or someone abandoned him. Neither was good.

We piled everything in the bedroom that would be mine, and the helpers asked me to come out and have some drinks and appetizers with them. I asked for a rain check, telling them I was too tired. And I was. But also, I wanted to get to know my new boss… I meant, cat.

Bosco hung out in my bedroom as I unpacked the items I’d be using and stacked the others neatly in one corner. This wasn’t a forever gig. It was for a movie filming, and that was that. A few months tops. No point getting too settled in.

If I played my cards right and banked as much money as I could, I’d be able to get a nice place of my own when this was over.

I already knew I was going to miss my new boss, though. Karma had been right. Bosco was too cute to be legal.

Chapter Seven

Ronny

In only a few days, I was on a private jet to New Mexico where we’d be filming for a few weeks. It was all happening so fast, I felt as if the ground was swept out from under my feet, my world changing in an instant. Background actors, as extras were called in the industry, were not allowed to speak with me. My hairstylist who was allowed to chat with me told me that was a sign I’d arrived.

To me, it was elitist, but Marny insisted that if I tried to make the backgrounds engage with me, I would just get them in trouble and make their jobs harder. And, once I landed and arrived on set, I learned that the other actors all knew one another well, most liked the guy who’d left, and at least some of them seemed to think it was my fault that their friend was gone. Illogical though it might be, it was the situation in which I found myself.

Some days, I just missed Bosco and everyone at Animals and questioned whether this was all worth it. But once filming began in earnest, I didn’t care about belonging to the club. Also, I got my first call from the cat sitter about the same time. Well, a text asking if it was all right to call. I had told him in the sticky notes and the larger note that he could call any time, but he said, when I called him right after his text, “I wasn’t sure if it was a good time, and I don’t have any questions or anything.”

“That’s all right. If I’m on set or filming where I can’t answer, my phone will be set to silent and I’ll call you right back afterward. How’s Bosco?”

“He’s such a sweetheart. That wheel you bought is a big favorite. I didn’t know they made those for cats. Only for hamsters.”

I chuckled. “Yes, I guess that is what we all think of. Maybe that was their inspiration.”