Клер Донелли - The Big Kitty

“Oh, you baited that hook very well,” Sunny told him. But she did agree to meet him the next morning. After that, their conversation turned to more mundane but pleasant topics, and they somehow made their dinner last for hours.

By the time Will took Sunny home, it was a bit late. She saw that her dad had left a light on in the living room, just as he used to back in her high school days; she could see the glow in the window as Will walked her to the house. Reaching the door, they hesitated for a moment, facing one another in the dimness.

“Well, this shows how out of practice I’ve gotten with the whole social thing.” Will sounded a little annoyed with himself. “I’ve gotten more used to handcuffing people than wishing them a proper good night.” He hesitated for a second. “You would like a proper good-night kiss, right?”

“Some clue spotter you are,” she told him, raising her face to his. Their lips met in a very satisfactory kiss. Sunny tasted the Barolo wine they’d both shared—and a touch of garlic.

Will stepped back, grinning like a schoolboy. “Tomorrow, then?”

“Tomorrow,” she promised and went inside.

Given the hour, and maybe a sense of tact, Mike wasn’t downstairs. Shadow was up, though, and he gave Sunny a warm welcome.

*

Shadow had beendozing on the couch that the Old One had abandoned when the noise of a key in the lock roused him. He went to the archway to see Sunny close the door and then hop around comically, trying to remove her boots silently. Maybe she did, as far as a two-leg might hear.

He made a beeline for her ankles, twining around them and sniffing appreciatively. He caught the scents of delicious food and strange spices. No wonder Sunny was in a good mood. She had eaten well. When she knelt to pet him, though, he also caught the sweet-sour smell of weird drink. Sometimes it made humans happy; sometimes it made them want to fight. Shadow had seen it go either way. One of the two-legs he’d lived with had even poured him some. He hadn’t liked it.

Luckily, the stuff had made Sunny cheerful. She spoke to him softly as she petted him in all the most comforting places. He lay bonelessly at her knees as she spoke to him softly and chuckled. He purred back at her.

*

Smiling, Sunny gaveShadow a tummy rub, not minding the cat hair she’d undoubtedly get all over her cords. It had been a good night indeed, getting to know more of Will Price. For the first time since she’d come back to Kittery Harbor, Sunny didn’t feel so … lonely. With a little surprise, she realized that she hadn’t even admitted that feeling to herself before.

Shadow gently butted his head against her hand, demanding a little between-the-ears scratching. Sunny obliged, softly saying, “Y’know, cat, besides you and that glitzy salon, I think I’ve discovered another great thing since I came home.”

After Shadow had gotten the full treatment, Sunny collected her boots, doused the lamp, and tiptoed up to her room. She put away her clothes and slipped into a comfortable pair of pajamas. Making sure not to disturb her father, she quietly walked to the bathroom, removed her makeup, and brushed her teeth. Then, returning to her room, she went off to sleep with happy thoughts swirling in her brain.

But it seemed that Sunny had barely closed her eyes when she heard her father’s voice calling. She sat up, blinking, and looked at the clock. The display said it was after three in the morning.

Padding down the hall, she tried to clear away the fog in her head. But when she saw Mike half reclining on his bed in the pool of light from his nightstand lamp, she jolted awake. His face was pale, his eyes were wide and scared, and his hand clutched his chest. “I’ve got pain,” he said hoarsely.

“It’s probably angina.” Sunny tried to sound matter-of-fact. “You’ve had it before.”

But Mike hadn’t had those kinds of chest pains in months. Please let it be that, she silently prayed as she opened the drawer in the nightstand to pull out the bottle of nitroglycerin tablets.

Trying not to rush and scare Mike even more, she went to the bathroom to get a glass of water and suddenly discovered she had a furry companion in the hall. But Shadow didn’t try to get into Mike’s room.

Sunny helped her father sit upright in bed, arranging the pillows behind him. She let him take a sip of water to rinse his mouth, then he spat it back into the glass. Finally, she slipped one of the little pills under his tongue. She sat on the edge of the bed, holding his hand and timing five minutes on his clock.

“All gone?” she asked.

He opened his mouth and showed that the pill had dissolved.

Sunny didn’t have to ask if he was feeling better. Mike’s hand remained pressed to his chest. Another five minutes went by, and she gave her dad another tablet. Though she did her best not to show it, Sunny felt a little nervous. The nurse who had arranged Mike’s departure from the hospital had been very clear about what she called the “three strikes” policy. In case of chest pain, Mike got one nitro tablet. Five minutes after that one dissolved, if the pain didn’t let up, he got another. And if the condition didn’t abate, he got a third. If that didn’t work, Sunny would call 911 and take her dad in to the emergency room.

Long minutes passed. At last Mike leaned back, letting out a sigh. “It’s going.”

Sunny rearranged his bed so he could lie down again. Mike wished her a good night and turned off his light. By the time she got to the door, Sunny could hear regular breathing on the edge of sleep. She left Mike’s door open—her own, too.

I want to make sure I hear anything, she thought.

As she lay in the darkness, though, she couldn’t hold back a grin that mixed exasperation and humor. Dad has a heart episode, takes two pills, and drifts right off to sleep. Sunny the caretaker, however, can’t seem to close her eyes.

Maybe I’m the one who needs a couple of pills, she thought.

Her door pushed open slightly, the hinges making the faintest of noise. Sunny heard a couple of light footfalls, then she made out the slightly darker form of Shadow walking along her bed. He came up to her shoulder, butting his head against it gently, and rested a forepaw there.

Shaking her head, Sunny reached up to pet him. “Yeah,” she whispered. “More excitement than we needed.”

He stayed with her, a warm, comforting presence, until she finally drifted off to sleep.

19

Sunny felt brightnessagainst her closed eyelids, opened one eye to a slit, and quickly closed it against the glare. Had she left her blinds open? If sunlight got from the edge of the blinds to her pillow, that meant it was pretty …

Late!

She remembered what had happened the night before and sat bolt upright in bed. A glance at her clock showed that it was, indeed, late. Almost flying out of bed, Sunny went down the hallway to check on her dad.

Mike lay on his side, his breathing deep and regular as he slept. Watching him, Sunny wondered, just for a moment, if the whole angina attack thing had been some sort of nightmare. Then she spotted the bottle of nitroglycerin tablets on his bedside table.

Sunny reached over and touched his shoulder gently. “Dad? How are you doing?”

Mike opened his eyes and peered at her for a second. “Huh,” he said. “Kinda late to be sleeping.” He stretched. “Feels good, though.”

Then he woke up enough to remember the previous night’s attack. Reflexively, he put a hand to his chest and then dropped it. “No, really, I feel okay.”

“Good enough for breakfast?” Sunny asked, and he nodded.

She made a brief detour to her room and her cell phone, calling Will Price’s number. When she explained what had happened overnight, he readily agreed to push back the time they were supposed to meet by an hour.