Клер Донелли - The Big Kitty

Jane looked as if she were about to fall out of her chair. “We’d talked many times about the specific problems that cats face—dogs get adopted much more often—and how Ada always hoped the town would have a no-kill shelter. But that was always pie in the sky!”

“Well, now you should have the wherewithal to accomplish some of those hopes,” Lewin said. “I can hardly wait to hear the reaction from Ada’s so-called relations.”

“And that’s it?” Jane asked. “It all goes to … me?”

“There will be papers to sign—lots of them,” Lewin replied. “But that can be left to the future. I thought you should know the basic disposition of the estate.”

Jane still looked a little shell-shocked as they stepped out onto Main Street. “It all seems just so … so unfair !” she burst out. “You not only found that ticket for Ada, you risked your life to find out who killed her and her son.”

She broke off as a black pickup truck pulled up in the street and the window rolled down. Will Price stuck his head out. “Hey, Sunny!” Then he realized who was standing beside her and ducked his head. “Jane.”

“You’re just in time to congratulate us,” Sunny told him, laughter bubbling up again. “We just heard the reading of Ada Spruance’s will. I inherit a cat, and Jane here gets the millions.”

Might as well let him know now, she thought. Jane’s hit the trifecta. Looks, personality, and buckets of money.

“Actually,” Jane broke in, embarrassed, “it’s a foundation to benefit animals.”

“Huh,” Will said, looking a little shell-shocked now himself. He glanced over at Sunny. “Maybe we’ll get that no-kill shelter you were talking about—even if it is a New York kind of idea.”

Sunny felt a grin tug at her lips. So, he remembered that, did he? Maybe she had a chance after all, in spite of Jane’s obvious advantages.

“Definitely,” Jane said. She took Sunny by the hand. “I know it’s not much, but I can promise you this. As long as I have any say, you won’t ever have to worry about a vet bill for Shadow—ever.”

Sunny was actually touched. “Thanks, Jane. I’ll be sure to take you up on that. Knowing Shadow, he’ll need more patching up than the average cat.”

“It’s little enough,” Jane told her.

“Oh, no,” Sunny replied. “I’ve gotten my payment.”

She smiled, thinking of the look she would see on her dad’s face when she told him this story.