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CHAPTER ONE

It took a couple of minutes, but finally, Aurora Harlow-Gray managed to coax the cat from her carrier. The white, long-haired feline primly stepped out onto the exam table and settled herself on her haunches, wrapping her tail around her paws, head upright as she took in her new surroundings. Though her body remained motionless, the tip of her tail twitched.

It was just the two of them in the small space. The woman who’d showed them to the room had gotten paged for a call, and she’d hurried off, closing the door behind her.

Left alone and seeing the cat sitting there with no signs of pain or any other issues, Rori began to have second thoughts about her decision to bring Queen Charlotte—AKA Queenie—to see the vet.

However, the time to change her mind passed when the door opposite to where she stood swung open, and a tall, dark-haired man stepped into the room. He wore a pair of light blue jeans and a dark blue polo shirt with the clinic’s logo on the left side of his chest. The woman who’d shown them to the room earlier followed him in.

Moving with noticeably cautious steps, the man approached the exam table where Queenie waited. He kept his gaze on the cat until he came to a stop next to the table.

Looking up at Rori, he smiled. His expression was warm and friendly as he introduced himself. “I’m Dr. Halverson. What seems to be the problem with…?”

“Queenie,” Rori volunteered, giving him the name her mom favored for the cat.

The corner of the man’s lips twitched up. “Queenie?”

“Short for Queen Charlotte.” Rori shrugged as the man grinned. “She’s my mom’s cat, and my mom’s a big royalty fan. I’m just cat-sitting while she’s out of town.”

The vet shifted his attention back to Queenie. “So, what’s brought you and Queen Charlotte here today?”

Rori crossed her arms, trying to order her words into an explanation that didn’t make her look like a complete idiot. “Something’s wrong with her.”

Dr. Halverson glanced at Rori with raised brows, then looked at the woman standing next to him. When the vet focused back on Rori, his face was expressionless. “What have you noticed that’s made you think there’s something wrong with her?”

“Her purr thingy is broken.”

Well, she didn’t have to worry about ordering her words when they just disappeared on her. Although, in her defense, Rori wasn’t sure there actually was a commonly known word for the mechanism that caused cats to purr.

The doctor scratched his chin, which currently boasted a five o’clock shadow at nine-thirty in the morning. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“She’s not purring.”

“Is she a cat that usually purrs?”

Rori nodded. “She was purring all the time before my mom left, especially when she’d brush her.”

“And she hasn’t been purring since your mom left?”

“Nope. Not at all.”

The vet reached out to run his hand over the cat. He scratched some different spots on Queenie, probably trying to coax a purr from her.

Even though she’d brought the cat to the clinic for help, a small, selfish part of Rori hoped the vet didn’t succeed in making Queenie purr either. She already felt dumb, but if he managed to do it, she would feel like a complete idiot.

The cat regarded the vet with a haughty gaze, and the pair had a stare down that had the other clinic employee chuckling.

Finally, the vet looked up at Rori, a small smile tipping up one corner of his mouth. “It’s possible that Queen Charlotte is a one-person cat and simply refuses to purr for anyone but your mom.”

Rori glared down at the cat. “Would she really do that?”

“Cats can be temperamental,” he told her.

“Are you sure?” She looked up, scrunching her nose. “Because if my mom comes back and her cat isn’t purring anymore, she’s going to be furious with me.”

“Has the cat been injured in any way?” Rori shook her head. “How long has your mom been gone?”

“Over a week.”

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