Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 106173 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106173 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
“Why didn’t you tell me this until now? Can I do anything to help?”
I normally see my mom on birthdays and major holidays. Any other time I ever tried to stop by for a visit, she would cancel, or forget, or reschedule and forget again.
I message her regularly and call, but she has a habit of making me feel like crap for not calling more. Doesn’t matter if it’s weekly or monthly or every other day; she would make it seem like I hadn’t reached out in an eternity. Over the past year, my text messages and calls would often go unanswered for days, or sometimes longer. But now I’m starting to see that maybe it wasn’t her being passive-aggressive.
And since she’s been in the hospital, I’m fielding countless messages and several calls a day from her. “I talked to a doctor a couple of hours ago. They want to keep her for more tests. I’m still getting my head around it.”
In addition to the stress of my mother’s hospital stay, we had a team meeting this morning where the general manager announced that I would be traveling with them to some of the games. Which is great, because it means I’ll have more opportunities to prove the value of my role. But it’s unexpected, an added layer of complication, since it means I can’t be here to deal with my mother, and I need a dog sitter. The owner of the team is old-school and is on the fence about having me on board. Josh is the one who pushed for them to give me a chance, so I want to make sure I don’t let him down, or the team.
It’s a lot. I can’t afford to take time off to deal with my mom, not at this point in the season, anyway.
“Right. Yeah. Does your mom have any friends you can ask to help with the cat?” He taps on the arm of the chair.
I flip a pen between my fingers. “There are a couple of neighbors, but the only one who might be capable of helping is on some six-week cruise, so that’s out. And I’m sure as hell not bringing the thing back to my place.” I can only imagine the stress it would cause my dog, Wilfred. He’s a Dane, but he seems to think he’s a teacup poodle with the way he’s always trying to sit in my lap. Plus, based on how much my mother’s cat doesn’t like people, I don’t think I’m going out on a limb in assuming he’s not great with other animals.
“Yeah, I don’t know how Wilfred would react to a cat. They can be territorial. So a sitter it is, then.” Josh glances at the computer screen again.
“Apparently this woman is top rated on all the websites in the area as the best kitty whisperer out there.” Whatever the hell a kitty whisperer is.
“Say that again.”
“Say what again?”
He tips his chin up and smirks. “You know what.”
I roll my eyes but smile. I can deal with stupid jokes a lot better than I can deal with what’s going on with my mother and her cat situation.
“She has to know how that sounds. I mean, how can she not?” Josh says.
“Well, I’m about to call her to find out if she’s legit.” I pick up my cell and unlock the screen.
Josh rolls his chair closer, pushing me over a couple of feet so he can scroll her feed while I dial her number, set my phone to speaker, and listen to it ring.
She picks up on the second one. “Kitty Hart, the Kitty Whisperer. Please hold!” Her voice somehow manages to be sultry and upbeat at the same time.
“I just—”
“You are the handsomest man in the universe! Are you going to show me your belly? Oh yes, you are!”
She sounds like she should be a jazz lounge singer with the slight rasp and the somewhat singsongy tone she uses. I look at Josh, but her voice doesn’t seem to affect him in the same way, considering he’s silently laughing so hard he’s about to fall off his chair, so I focus my attention elsewhere.
“Who’s my favorite boy? Do you want a treat?” Something jingles on the other end of the line.
“Uh, miss?” I have no idea what’s happening right now.
“Just one second, please!” she calls out. “You need to ask for it nicely.”
I can’t decide if she’s intentionally trying to sound seductive or what. A muffled meow follows and the sounds of a digital voice, but I can’t make out what it’s saying.
The woman’s voice drops a couple of octaves. “Such a good boy. Oh! Listen to that motor run!”
Josh makes a cut motion across his throat and reaches for my phone.
“Okay! Sorry about that! I was in the middle of a training session. How can I help you?”