Page 10 of Breathe Again

She turned to Olivia. “Hey, beautiful girl.”

“Hi Auntie Bex. Can Sirius come?”

“Nope.”

Olivia’s eyebrows lowered over her eyes. “But I want her to come. She will miss me.”

“We can’t bring her.” Bex shrugged. “She doesn’t like it at the shelter. It wouldn’t be fair to make her come with us.”

“She doesn’t like to be with the other cats. Auntie Willa told me.”

“It’s true.” Bex clasped her hands together. “Maybe Mommy will look after Sirius for you.”

“Sirius is independent. She can look after herself.”

Just then Sirius wound around Olivia’s ankles. “See! She doesn’t want me to go!”

At this I scooped Sirius up in my arms. “Mommy needs some time with Sirius. If you go out, Sirius will cuddle with me instead of you. Think you can give Mommy some time with Sirius?”

She nodded. “She loves me best.”

“She does.”

“I’m glad she’s not like Neville’s pet,” Olivia commented. I handed her shoes over and she put them on. “Neville’s pet is a toad.”

Bex jumped in. “Oh yeah? I remember that. Wasn’t it always getting lost?” I watched the interplay between the two of them. “I forget his toad’s name.”

“Trevor!” Olivia informed her. I passed her coat to her next and she put that on as well. Bex held out Olivia’s gloves and she slipped her hands in, then Bex looped Olivia’s bag of happiness over her waiting arm.

“Great name for a toad. Not as good as Sirius though,” Bex stated, and Olivia nodded in agreement.

“Bye, little bird.”

I kissed her head. She leaned her forehead onto my lips for a moment, then followed Bex out the door. I wasn’t sure how today would go. She had been pretty resistant so far this morning.

Bex looked at me over her shoulder, concern reflected in her watercolor eyes. “Have a rest, Merry. She’ll be fine. Fur therapy is awesome, and Willa and I have her covered. Love you, chickie.”

“Love you, too, chickie. Love you, little bird. Have fun.”

I closed the door and the silence roared. My shoulders crept up around my ears. I looked around warily. Being alone was not always a good thing for me. I checked the lock on the front door and checked the other doors to be sure.

I connected my playlist to the speaker, turned it up as loud as it could go, something I could not do with Olivia around, and let the heavy beats fill the empty space inside me as I had myself a dance party, uninhibited and free.

Willa and Bex were coming over for a quick visit after the shelter, but we had no official Girls’ Night planned for tonight. It wasValentine’s Day after all. I flopped down on the couch, closed my eyes, and let the music surround me.

I woke with a start, disoriented and alarmed, like you do when you realize you’ve forgotten something. Slowly, I came fully awake, remembered it was Thursday, and saw that I’d slept for almost an hour.

I rubbed my face.

“I’m worse than Olivia.”

I’d wanted to put in an afternoon’s worth of work on my latest children’s book before I had to start cooking, but the notion had worn off. I turned down the music, listened for sounds in the house that shouldn’t be there, went to my bathroom to fix my hair, slapped on some makeup, and freshened up. The nap was good and needed. I felt guilty but refreshed.

Back in the kitchen, I started pulling out the ingredients for tonight’s dinner. I was making a spinach salad, deviled eggs, and roasted chicken sandwiches on Ciabatta buns. I turned the music back on, cranked it up, and got busy.

Sirius Black wound around my ankles. She was a sweet little thing, affectionate. Oh, my Lord, the shit hit the fan when we brought her home. My mother was not happy.

The phone rang just as Olivia and I returned home from the shelter with her. Olivia was in the throes of bliss, unpacking all of Sirius’ new paraphernalia. I snatched up the phone without checking thecall display, something I never did, but I expected it to be Zale calling to talk to Olivia about her new kitty, and I let my guard down.

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