Page 180 of Waiting Game

“Me too.”

We sit there for close to an hour. My phone buzzes with calls but I dismiss them, willing to take the penalty for missing practice, and together, we wait.

Eventually, the vet returns. Her expression is calm so I gently rub her arm. “Mia, the vet’s back.”

Head whipping around, she faces the other woman. “Is it alive?”

“Sheis. You got her here in the nick of time.”

Mia releases a soft sob. “Thank God! Can we see her?”

The vet nods. “Follow me.”

She drags me along with our joined hands. I almost smile because there was nowhere else I was heading other than with her, and together, we step into the vet’s office.

The kitten is in a tiny bed, surrounded by blankets, and only her eyes and ears are visible.

When she sees us, she noses out of the blankets and stands on weak legs.

As we approach, however, it isn’t Mia the little beasty wobbles toward.

It’s me.

Surprised, I freeze as her small nose nuzzles my finger.

Then, I realize why—the scent of my jacket.

Mia’s smile is watery. “I think she knows who she wants.”

I choke out a laugh.

I don’t have the kind of life that’ll fit having a pet, but in that moment, with her smiling at me and the kitten warming my hand, I know I own a cat.

Or a cat owns me.

Mia clings to my arm. “I think she’ll make a perfect Betsy.”

The name hits me like a Bobby Hull slapshot to the head.

Not only because she’s right but… she remembered.

“I’m not crying,” I mutter. “You are.”

Rumor hasit that a certain Canadian hockey player was seen in a veterinarian’s office with a lady…

Not news in itself, but Cole Korhonen appeared to have brought a stray cat with him.

While the kitten was tended to, my source tells me that Korhonen and his ‘lady love’ sat snuggled together as they waited for an update.

Korhonen, notoriously single, as well as an active user ofHooked-Up, (See blogpost, Hooked-Up—a dating app or Russian spyware? Hint Hint, it’s more than dating)looked very cozy…

As for recent Stars’ chatter, there’s Ruben and Lacey Kerrigan’s absence from the majority of this season’s games.

You’ll hear it here first if any whispers make it out of the Stars’ locker room…

Cole: Hey, Gagné, you doing okay? I wanted to check in. See how you’re healing up

Jude: Yeah, I’m fine. I’m ready to play but the doctors don’t agree lol.

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