Page 4 of Interference

I swallowed hard. “Yeah, we can—if you’re serious about this.”

“I am.” He looked me right in the eyes like few people had since I’d been on the street. “Neither of you should be out there tonight, and I have the space.”

God, I was going to fucking cry, but I forced all that back. I knew how easily people could decide a homeless person was unstable and dangerous the moment they showed any kind of emotion or agitation. I couldn’t risk Lily’s safety, so I called on everything I could to keep my feelings out of sight.

“I appreciate that,” I said. “More than you can imagine. I’m, uh… I’m not sure how I can pay you back or anything, though.”

His smile did things to me I’d never experienced. It wasn’t just the hope and relief, it was this bizarre feeling of being on the receiving end of actual humanity. That wasn’t something that happened in the world where I’d been living.

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” He gestured at his cats. “Should we go ahead and introduce them?”

I watched him in disbelief, still sure he was going to bail.

When he didn’t, I looked down at my dog. “Lily, stand down.” She stepped out from between my legs, where she’d been keeping watch in case anyone came up behind me, and she dropped onto her haunches. When I patted my thigh, she jumped up and rested her front paws on my hip.

With hands that were a little unsteady for reasons I didn’t want to think about too much, I carefully undid her vest and set it on the counter. Then I told her, “Down.”

She dropped onto all fours and did a full-body shake. I patted her and told her she was a good girl. Without her vest on, she was effectively off duty. She’d still alert if I started having an episode, but that was her cue that she could relax and play or take a nap.

Or, in this case, finally notice the two enormous cats sitting a few feet away. I gave the leash a little bit of slack. Enough she could approach them, but not quite enough to completely reach them. She didn’t get a lot of opportunity to interact with cats or dogs these days, and she could get overexcited and scare them, so I was cautious.

She glanced back at me, then lowered her head and took a few steps toward the cats. The leash was still loose when she halted, and she just seemed to study them for a moment, ears up and tail wagging. That actually choked me up a little—she’d probably been desperate for some social interaction, but our situation had made that almost impossible. I suspected she was as starved for that as I was for human contact that didn’t involve threats, fear, or pity.

The cats watched her curiously. Moose was somewhat aloof—though that might’ve just been his resting bitch face—but Bear seemed enthralled by her. In fact, he was the first to get up and close some of the distance.

Lily’s tail stopped and she drew back slightly as he approached, as if she wasn’t sure what to make of this cat strolling up to her. If he noticed, he didn’t react—he just sniffed her nose.

Everyone in the room seemed to be holding their breath, waiting to see how this interaction would shake out.

After ten or fifteen seconds, Lily’s tail swayed a little. A few more seconds, and it moved with more enthusiasm, wagging enough to make her butt wiggle.

Bear sat back and stared at her for a moment. Then he stood, arched his back, and bumped his side against her chest. Lily responded by dropping onto her forearms in a play bow. Bear promptly threw himself down on his side and batted at her tags.

I laughed. “Yeah, I think these two get along okay.”

“Yeah, they do.” The guy chuckled, shaking his head. “Bear, you have no survival instinct whatsoever, do you?”

“Well,” the veterinarian said, “he’s not completely exposing his belly, so there’s that.”

The man rolled his eyes. “The bar is low, isn’t it?”

“We have to keep our expectations realistic,” she mused.

Moose had been watching this whole exchange, and apparently he decided that since Bear hadn’t been eaten, it was safe to approach Lily. He got up, paused for a long stretch as if to make sure we all knew he wasn’t in any great hurry, and then strode toward Lily and Bear.

Lily’s tail slowed again, but it didn’t stop this time as she watched Moose coming closer. She didn’t even seem to notice Bear playing with her tags anymore.

Moose came around Bear and stretched out his neck to sniff noses with Lily.

Which was, of course, the exact moment that Bear noticed Moose, at which point he rolled onto his other side and bit Moose’s leg. That prompted a yowl from Moose before he whapped Bear on the head and stalked away.

Bear watched him go, eyes wide and confused as if he couldn’t figure out why the other cat didn’t want to play with him. Lily cocked her head, probably also confused as all hell.

I chuckled again as I came up and patted Lily on the rump. “Well, that was easy.”

“No kidding.” The guy leaned down to pet Moose, who’d thrown himself down by his feet and was glaring at Bear. “If that’s all the drama we’re going to get, I’ll take it.”

“Yeah, same.”

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