Page 36 of I Almost Do

Worse, I have no idea how to fix it. But I hope this is a start.

I tap on her bedroom door, pet carrier in my left hand.

When she drags the door open, her eyes widen at the sight.

Without a word, I step inside, set the carrier on the floor, and open its door. A fluffy white cat pokes its head out and yowls at us before hiding back inside.

“I don’t know anything about cats, but the shelter said this one was scheduled to be put down at the end of the week, so here you go. It’s a cat. For you.”

“Oh my God!” She lies on her rug and peers into the carrier. “You are so pretty. Yes you are! What’s his name?”

“He was a stray, so the name they gave him was new, just to attract someone to adopt him. They said you can keep calling him Puffy, or you can name him anything you want.”

“Puffy?” She grimaces.

“Yes, well.” The sudden gleam in her eye makes me suspicious. “Just remember, whatever you name this cat, you have to be the one to tell the vet.”

She purses her lips.

I nod and turn to go. “There’s a bunch of stuff in the kitchen for him. Litter and food. I’ll leave you to sort it out.”

She stands and says, “You just handed me a lot of work. What if I didn’t want a cat? What if I wanted a gerbil or a snake?”

Please. She definitely wants the cat. I listen when my wife talks. I know exactly what she wants in a pet.

But I turn back and answer truthfully. “Then I’d have to learn how to be a cat dad pretty damn quick.”

She stands there, posture defensive, and asks, “How can you be a cat dad if you’re in Los Angeles?”

“Are you saying you want me to take him with me?” She has to hear the consternation in my voice, but the timing of this cat was at least partially due to wanting to provide her with company while I’m gone.

“You don’t need to bother. Actually… you don’t have to go to Los Angeles at all. You can stay here.” She crosses to pick up a large white envelope from her desk and passes it to me.

“What’s this?”

“It’s my acceptance to Blackwater State University. I’m starting the second week of January.”

I try to keep my expression neutral while my heart pounds out of control. “This is the school you spoke about at the pool? The one you wanted to go to as a freshman?”

She dips her chin in acknowledgment.

“Do you even know a soul out there in the middle of Pennsylvania?”

“If I didn’t, I’d meet them. But I’m rooming with Bronwyn. You’ll need to keep Mr. Snufflenuts while I’m at school. I’ll be back for the summer. I can’t keep him at school, though, until I’m ready to move off-campus.”

There’s so much to work through in that statement. I start with the easiest one. “I’m not calling the cat Mr. Snufflenuts.”

“Fine.” She drags the word out with grudging acceptance. Then her natural sense of mischief peeks through. “Mr. Fluffynuts?”

“Hmmm, let me think,” I say acidly. “No. And I don’t like the idea of you rooming with Tequila Bronwyn. That girl’s a menace.”

“She is not. She’s awesome. We had a lapse in judgment one time. It’s ancient history.”

“We’ve been married less than two months,” I say incredulously.

“Exactly,” she says.

She has it all worked out. I’m proud of her for it, even if the thought of her living so far away is a locomotive in my chest, starting out slow but picking up speed as her plans inexorably sink in.

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