Page 122 of The Dommes

I’m very dedicated to this cat I surreptitiously plucked from another woman’s basket.

“What brought this on? I didn’t think you were into animals.” Ira leans against her kitchen counter, drinking coffee. She’s dressed like she’s about to go to a meeting. It’s hot but doesn’t scream “fuck me now” like her usual outfits. I don’t get the vibe she’s in the mood. Fine with me. I’m only stopping by for a minute.

“I like animals. Just because I didn’t have one before now…”

“All right, all right.”

My smile won’t get off my face. “Her name is Sinéad.”

“Sinéad?”

“What? At least you can pronounce this name. Unlike, uh…” Her cat is draped along the back of the couch, waiting for me to fuck up its name.

Ira does not look amused. “Saoirse.”

“Seer-sha…”

A meow sounds in the not-far-off distance.

“So, let me get this straight.” She doesn’t offer me coffee. She doesn’t kiss me hello. This Ira Mathison is the one I’ve known for years, although there were no problems with me strolling in like I belong here. “You randomly get a cat that looks like it could be related to mine… and also give it an Irish name.”

“I was inspired, okay?”

“Apparently.”

“You make it sound like I don’t know how to take care of a cat. I’ll have you know that my mother had tons of them while I was growing up. One even spent most of its time in my room when it got old. Okay, so I’ve never cleaned out a litter box before…” I see it, Ira. I see you grinning behind your coffee cup. “But I’ve got a cleaner to help me with that. I know how to feed and love on a kitty. Hey, I’ve put up with you before, haven’t I?”

“Har, har. You’re so funny, Kathleen.”

“What’s gotten into you?”

She gestures her cup toward me. “Not pussy, that’s for sure.”

“Tasteful.”

“Fine. I suppose I’m annoyed because…”

“Kathleen!”

Oh, no.

I hear Carolyn’s voice long before I see her out of the corner of my eye. There she is, the woman who used to look at me as an equal, if not a younger version of herself. Now here she is, lip trembling as she looks between me and her child. Don’t do it, Carolyn. You’re making my new fur child squirm in my arms.

“Look at you two!” She struggles to do it, but somehow Carolyn plants a hand on both of our shoulders. “Having a lover’s chat in such an intimate setting as this. Oh, Kathleen, you should come have dinner with us!”

“Kathleen was about to leave,” Ira says, putting down her coffee cup and shrugging her mother’s hand off her. “She’s got a long day tomorrow. Was just telling me that she has to go to bed early but wanted me to see the new cat she got.”

Carolyn looks at Sinéad. “It must be related to Saoirse! Look at these markings… oh, a little heart!”

She’s practically screeching. Carolyn, the woman who is known to take no prisoners in the boardroom if it means the advancement of her bottom line. She’s shrieking over a cat because she’s somehow perceiving it as being a link between Ira and me.

Dear Lord, help me.

“She’s right, I really must be going.” I accept a kiss on my cheek, although Carolyn is this close to squishing my kitty. “Sorry to have disrupted your night.”

I see myself out, grateful to have missed that onslaught. No wonder Ira was standoffish toward me. Any sign of affection caught by her mother? We’d both be dead from the saccharin.

Sure enough, I receive a text in the elevator.

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