Page 40 of Goalie Interference

“Me neither. I mean, if the cat is going to keep coming by—I can let her in when I’m home so Beast doesn’t bark, but that isn’t all the time. And I don’t think I’d trust them together on their own. This could be a one-time standoff.”

“How long has it been going on?”

He glanced at his watch. It wasn’t flashy and didn’t look expensive. “Twenty minutes?”

Not a long time, unless he was waiting to do something and couldn’t because of the cat. “Is this holding you up? Do you want me to take Goober away?”

He scratched his chest. He was also in a T-shirt, one with the logo of another hockey team in the league. It looked as worn as the one I was wearing.

“Do you mind waiting a bit? Just to see what happens? I didn’t have anything planned.”

I settled back into the corner of the sofa and curled my feet under me. “Not at all. I’m also curious. I’ve never seen Goober like this.”

“How long have you had her?”

“Technically she’s not my cat but my brother’s. Or, to be even more technical, one of his previous girlfriends’ cat. About a year and a half ago…yeah, not long after Ollie and I split and I moved back, his girlfriend of the week brought a large suitcase and her cat with her.” Cash had been out. I’d been working at the shop but had come back to the house to see what was going on.

“So, they were serious?” Remy guessed.

I snorted. “Cash doesn’t do serious. But she thought they were. She actually told me that perhaps I should find another place to stay.”

He froze, his can of beer partway to his mouth. “That was ballsy.”

I quirked a fake smile. “I didn’t start packing.”

He watched me for a minute. “You didn’t think maybe your brother had asked her to move in?”

“No, but it really wasn’t my business. I could have moved into this apartment if Cash wanted space, but knowing his M.O. with women, I didn’t think she’d be around for long.”

His mouth had softened, almost smiling. “What happened then?”

“Cash came back, ready to pack up for another trip. I wasn’t there, but the end result was that she left and the cat didn’t.”

He looked at Goober again. “He didn’t try to send the cat back?”

“He had a flight in the morning.”

“So you were stuck with the cat?” He was upset on my behalf and I liked that.

I shrugged. “I couldn’t let it starve. And the thing is half wild. I used Cash’s credit card to pay for a vet visit and supplies, and told him he now owned a cat, unless he wanted to convince the woman to take her back.”

He looked from Goober to me. “Apparently he didn’t.”

“He might have tried, but he avoids confrontation as much as possible. On his next visit home, I told him I was getting the animal tagged as his unless he made other arrangements, and those would not include taking it to a shelter or euthanizing it.”

“And?”

“He got the cat tagged with the name Goober. And left it for the rest of us to take care of. It’s not a lot of work. She doesn’t like people and stays outside as much as possible. So I put out food and water, and the cleaning service deals with the litter box.”

Remy was watching the cat again, and something in that look made me suspect he was feeling like he had when he rescued his dog.

“You don’t need to feel sorry for her. She’s got a good life. She gets excellent food, hangs around sometimes when she wants company, and mostly lives a solitary, pampered cat life the way she wants.”

I hadn’t asked for a cat and would have been happy if Cash had dealt with her when she was dumped here. But now I was used to her being around. The house was large, my brother wasrarely at home, and another breathing body was nice. Goober had grown on me, apparently.

Since we were still waiting on the animals, I glanced at the coffee table and brought up a new topic. “You’re a reader?”

He stiffened. “Surprised?”

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