Page 6 of No One Like You

“Do you have time for some yoga? Are you still teaching?”

Megan sighed. “I tried introducing yoga at school a couple years ago, and some idiot mom decided that I was ‘steering the children away from Christ,’ so that put an end to that. Not long after that, my yoga classes at the local gym were suddenly empty. So I haven’t been teaching yoga for a while, but I still do it at home.”

“Did you bring your stuff with you?”

“No, I’m pretty sure that I forgot to pack that.”

“That’s okay, you can borrow some of my yoga pants. It looks like we’re still about the same size. I’ve got an extra mat, too.”

“Thanks, Tasha! That would be great.”

An hour later, they sat down after yoga, tired and a bit sweaty, but relaxed. “So,” Tasha said. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Well, you know some of it—how Brad cheated on me while I was pregnant with Sophia, and then we worked things out. Things seemed fine after that. It took awhile to trust him, but I didn’t sense any issues. We had disagreements and arguments, but nothing major, you know. He had his job at the bank, and his father made sure that he got promoted quickly. I was teaching social studies and history at the middle school and that was great.”

“Uh huh.”

“I mean, there were some red flags. During COVID, Brad started spending more time at home on the internet; ‘doing his own research,’ he said. He tried to talk to me about his ‘research,’ but I wasn’t having anything to do with that nonsense. I don’t think he liked that.”

“Uh oh… So he went down one of those rabbit holes.”

“Yeah, do you think that had something to do with this?”

“Maybe. A lot of good people went to bad places during the pandemic, and you know that I’m not one to ever consider Brad one of the ‘good people’ in the first place. I always suspected that he didn’t like me being your friend…” After an awkward pause, Tasha continued, “And I’m not hearing you defend him on that. Did he say something?”

“No. I mean, yes. I mean, he never said anything back in college or when you were my maid of honor or anything. This past summer, though, I thought about maybe coming to Portland for July 4th as a family trip. When I brought it up, he said that he’d never go to Portland because it was full of commies, jews, and n… uh, he used that word. Oh, and a slur about gay people, too.”

“Fuck that guy! You should have left him then!”

“I told him to never use that language at home again, and he said that he wouldn’t, but yeah, you’re right. It really shook me. I knew that he didn’t like gay people, because everyone at church was like that, too. I stopped going a few years back. I found a Sunday morning piano class for Sophia, which is pretty hard to find out there. I’m pretty sure that she hates it, and I’m ashamed about that and ashamed that I didn’t say anything, but I felt really alone.”

“I’m so sorry, Megan! I know that can be hard, to feel so alone. I know how hard it is to stand up, too. It ain’t easy at all. You did the best you could and it sounds like you sheltered Sophia, too.”

Tasha stood up to give Megan a hug, and they both cried. “I’m really sorry that I haven’t seen you in three years.”

“We’re making up for that now, aren’t we?”

With a laugh, they disentangled themselves. Megan looked at her friend and said, “We both could have done better, and I wish that my marriage wasn’t falling apart, but I can’t tell you how grateful I am that I’m getting my best friend back.”

“Me too! Now go get in the shower and I’ll work on lunch. Then we can go love on some cats.”

CHAPTER 5

GIMME SHELTER

While Megan showered, Tasha called the volunteer coordinator at the shelter to get approval for Megan and Sophia to join her. There were some hesitations, but Tasha explained that some cat therapy might do her friend some good. She knew that the volunteer coordinator believed strongly in the power of cat therapy, and approval was quickly granted.

Once at the shelter, Tasha explained the most important rule, which was to respect the feelings of any cat that they might socialize. Sophia seemed to grasp the concept quickly, which eased Tasha’s one big concern. The shelter had recently released a small litter of kittens from foster care, and Sophia quickly gravitated toward them. It was hard to tell who was having more fun—Sophia, or the kittens.

With Sophia distracted, the two adults focused on socializing the adult cats. Tasha went off to complete an adoption interview with a young couple. When she came back, she found Megan sitting in a chair with a big fluffy creamsicle boy in her lap. She leaned against the doorframe and watched her friend gently rub the blissful orange tabby, whispering softly to him. Eventually, Megan looked up and smiled at her.

“How are you?”

“I’m better. It’s hard to feel sad when you have a purring cat in your lap.”

“That is so true,” Tasha responded as she bent down to scoop up a wandering tuxedo. “Isn’t that right, little man? Purring cats make life better, don’t they? Don’t they?” His feline dignity grossly affronted, the tuxedo quickly slipped from her arms. “Okay, Fred, you don’t want to be held. Maybe you’ll like a string toy.”

“Fred?”

---