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“Come on, Lyric. Please? We can’t go if there’s no one to feed the cats. My parents are away, and all of Kat’s family live in England.”
“So ask a friend.”
“I thought we were,” Kat said softly.
I glanced at her, sure she was pulling my leg, but the woman actually did seem hurt.
Guilt roared in, and I really wasn’t sure why. I didn’t owe either of them anything and yet I found myself sighing and then nodding. I held out my hand in Kat’s direction. “Fine,” I huffed. “Give me the key.”
Kat clapped her hands while Lleyton smiled on proudly, like he’d been the one to fix all of her problems.
Double barf.
From the depths of Kat’s purse came a set of keys on a dangling sunflower chain. She placed it gently in my hand and then listed off a Providence address, just around the corner from Lleyton’s parents’ place. “If you could water the plants, bring in the mail, and check Monsoon’s eye twice a day, that would be great.”
Twice a freaking day? For fuck’s sake. Like I had nothing better to do, between work and Gran and the church. But Amelia and Gran came back out, a small bag on Amelia’s back and her pillow clutched in her arms.
“I’m ready!”
So, I said nothing and simply hugged my daughter goodbye, knowing it would be the longest days ever without her.
The door closed behind them, and Gran looked at me. “I can’t believe you agreed to feed her cats.”
I shook my head at how whipped I was for the little human I’d birthed. “Neither can I, Gran. Neither can I.”
13
ZEPH
It only took me a few days to sell the stolen jewelry, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much money I was able to hand over to Tammie and her boys. Her eldest was looking much better after a short stay in the hospital, and when Tammie opened the thick envelope she gasped, staring up at me with incredulous eyes.
“Where did all of this come from?”
“We passed a plate around for you at church last weekend. Everybody was very generous.” It was a lie, of course. The church would have never let me pass around a plate for a specific person in need. All donations were accepted by the church, then a board determined how to distribute the money. Tammie and her boys didn’t have time to wait around for a bunch of priests and nuns and other official church members to determine whether she and her family deserved a cut of the funds. She needed the money now.
Tears rolled down the woman’s cheeks. “I don’t even know how to thank you. You’ve done so much for us.”
I accepted the hug she offered and patted her eldest on the head. “It’s just good to see him healthy again.”
I waved goodbye and left Tammie marveling over the cash in the envelope while her boys ran back to the play equipment, none the wiser to what we’d been discussing. In my car again, I turned to the stolen record player sitting on the passenger-side seat. “Last delivery of the day.”
I parked my car outside Lyric’s apartment at the same time an obnoxious red sports car with the number plates KAT WOW was leaving. Recognizing it as Katherine and Lleyton, I raised a hand in greeting through the windshield, but neither of them noticed me. I took their parking spot and hefted the player into my arms to carry it down the sidewalk. I had only knocked once when Lyric’s door flew open.
“What did you forget?” She frowned, recognition dawning in her eyes. “Oh. You aren’t Lleyton.”
I shifted the record player into my other arm. “No. They were just leaving as I pulled in.”
She opened the door wider and waved me in. “Come in. They took Amelia for a couple days, so it’s just me and Gran.”
“And a couple of pussies,” Cheryl called out gaily, a snigger of delight in her tone.
I blinked. “Excuse me?”
Lyric burst into laughter and threw a couch cushion at her grandmother. “Stop. You’re embarrassing him.” She twisted back to me to offer an explanation. “Lleyton and Kat just dumped her two cats on me for the next couple days while they take Amelia on vacation.” She pointed to a set of keys sitting on the coffee table in front of her. “I’ve got the keys to the Kat Wow mansion and am expected to show up twice a day to feed her possibly sickly kitties.”
“You never told me Amelia was taking time off school.” Not that she had to tell me anything, but I’d seen the woman practically every day. Seemed odd she hadn’t even mentioned Amelia going away.
“I didn’t know ’til just now. They completely sprang it on me.”
