Page 92 of The Good Boy

“Terribly sorry,” I say, like every good British person would in the same situation. “I’ll just get out from under your feet.”

I gesture toward the front door, which Claudia has left open, and which I can’t quite make it through while both of them are standing abreast, so to speak.

“Genie, you are here.” Claudia breaks away from Miles, who takes a deep breath in.

“Popped round to borrow a cup of sugar,” I tell her, realizing a beat too late the flaw in my plan.

“But you don’t seem to be leaving with any sugar?” Claudia laughs, and looks from me to Miles. I look down at my empty hands.

“I’ve got this really wrong, haven’t I,” she says, raising her palms to her cheeks. “I thought that there was something between you two, but when you said it was fine to ask Miles out I thought I had imagined it. But now here I am and you can cut the sexual tension here with a knife. Oh god, I’m so mortified.”

“No, none of this is your fault, it’s all me,” I say, stepping forward. And as I do I step on Matilda’s tail.

The cat hisses and yowls, shooting off through the open front door.

We hear the screech of brakes and a dull thud.

Chapter Thirty-Five

“I’m so sorry, mate.” The cabdriver stands over Miles as he kneels at Matilda’s side. “She just shot out right in front of me. I was only going twenty and I braked right away.”

Sinking to the ground next to Miles, I stare at Matilda, who suddenly seems so much smaller. Miles just stares at her, completely frozen. There’s no blood but she is completely still. This is awful.

“Is she...?” Claudia stands behind me, speaking through the fingers that are clamped over her mouth. Just then my front door opens and Rory comes out, still onesie clad, and crouches down. For a moment I’m afraid he will laugh to see Matilda so badly hurt, but instead he lays his ear very gently against her tummy and listens.

“She is breathing,” he says, “and I can hear a heartbeat. We need to take her to the vet, Genie, quick. From what I can smell she is bleeding. On the inside. Go get her cage and a blanket, Claudia—hurry. Genie, go get your car keys. Now!”

All I can think of as I race into the house, pulling a pair of jeans on before I grab my keys and shove my feet back into my slippers, is Miles, telling me that before Matilda he thought he would always be alone. And the look of love for Matilda.

That cat cannot die.

When I return Miles is sitting in the passenger seat. Matilda islying in her cage on his lap. His face is blank as he stares down at her. Tears stand in his eyes.

“Miles, I’m so sorry,” Claudia says. “I didn’t mean for it to happen.”

“I know.” Miles nods. “Come on, let’s go.

“Claudia, want to wait with Rory?” I ask. “We’ll call as soon as we know anything.”

Claudia nods.

“Right, let’s go,” I say. A quick glance in my rearview mirror and I see yellow-clad Rory put his arm around Claudia and guide her inside.

Rory has called ahead so that the vet’s is waiting for us as we pull into the car park. A nurse takes Matilda’s crate from Miles, asking him questions as we follow her into the waiting room. Miles walks toward the consulting room with the nurse, and then, after a moment, turns to me and holds out his hand. Taking it, I follow him inside.

Rory had been right. The vet tells us that there is internal bleeding, and that she can’t be sure how bad the damage done to Matilda is until she operates.

“And you’ll call us as soon as you know?” I ask the nurse once again.

“Yes, it will be a long surgery, but as soon as we know how she’s doing we will let you know. Try not to worry—she’s in really good hands.”

“I don’t feel like I should leave her,” Miles says anxiously, pacing from side to side. “I don’t want to leave her, Genie. She might sense that I’ve gone, and she might be afraid... She might need me to be close by so that she has a reason to... to make it.”

“I know,” I say. “It’s okay. We will wait. As long as it takes.”

He nods and keeps nodding. I can see him turning in on himself, his anxiety climbing and clinging on to him like an ever-winding vine.

I turn to the nurse. “We’ll wait outside in the car—is that okay?”

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