Working Stiff(41)
He said, “No thanks,” and began to type.
“You haven’t left this house since you came home from the hospital except for doctors’ appointments, and then it’s run in, run out, and no stops on the way home.”
“I’ve been recovering.” His tone wasn’t petulant. It was flat, just flat, just stating his truth.
Every ounce of energy had drained out of him. Emotionally, he was lying on the floor with his eyes closed.
She said, “Tomorrow, you have to go to the office for the Watson contract discussion. You have to tell them about the irregularities in the wording.”
“We’ll consider that tomorrow.” He went back to typing.
GIMME SHELTER
Rox walked into the animal shelter, way out on a county road, staggering under a thirty-pound bag of cat food on one shoulder and a thirty-pound bag of dog food on the other. “Yo! Brandy! I’m here!”
Brandy, short for Brandiwine Washington, bustled out of the back room. “Ho, there! Long time, no see! What are you doing!” She hurried over and dragged at one of the bags. “Gimme that.”
“It weighs as much as you do!” Rox protested, grabbing at it, but Brandy already had it in her wiry arms.
“You don’t have to buy these, you know.”
“And yet these animals have to be fed somehow.”
“The county is supposed to feed them.”
“I know you buy food for the shelter out of your own pocket, and there’s another bag of cat food in the car.”
Brandy’s thin arms were dark stripes grappling the white bag. “That’s immaterial.”
“Come on. I’m just itchin’ to clean out those litter boxes.”
Brandy snorted. “Good. We have a noob coming in this afternoon. I want this place to smell nice so that she’ll come back. I think I’ll have her socialize the kittens.”
“Oh, that’s a rough job, playing with the kittens.” Rox thumped the bag of cat food on the floor in the food storage area. “But I guess someone has to do it.”
“Speaking of wild cats, someone brought in a stray. From the look of her, I think she’s feral, but she might just be frightened out of her little wits. I don’t know what we’re going to do if she’s truly feral. Why don’t you see if you can make some headway with her?”
Rox stretched her back. “Aren’t the Emersons taking any more barn cats?”
Brandy shook her head. “They’re full up. We’ve got to find a new farm with a nice, solid barn for any new feral cats.”
“Oh.” Not a lot of farms needed barn cats in urban L.A. “Well, I’ll take a look at her.”
“I tried to call you yesterday,” Brandy said, hefting the heavy sack over her head and pouring the kibble into a dispenser. “Your phone was disconnected.”
“Yeah, I’m staying with a friend. Call my cell.”
Brandy glared at her. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I kind of got evicted from my apartment because of the cats.”
“And you didn’t call me?”
“You have five slavering pit bulls.”
“They are harmless little boo-boo puppies.”
No, they weren’t, but at least Rox never worried about Brandy being a victim of a home invasion. They would find nothing but torn pieces of any guy who tried to hurt Brandy, assuming that the dogs didn’t just eat the body entirely. “I really am staying with a friend. He’s got a really nice house. The motley crew is having a great time exploring.”
“Friend, huh?” Brandy wiggled her barely-there eyebrows.
“Just a friend. He was in a car accident, so I’m just making sure that he’s okay. But I think he may be trying to steal my cats when I move out in a couple of weeks.”
“Tell him that we’ve got dozens here that he can have his pick of.”
“I think he wants mine.”
“You into him?”
“He seems like a nice guy, but I don’t know.”
“Like what?” Brandy dusted off her hands.
“He just seems like the type to take off, you know? To leave? I’ve known him for three years, and he’s ghosted on a couple girlfriends since then.”
Brandy fixed Rox with her huge, liquid brown eyes. “That must be hard for you.”
Rox said, “I’m all right with it.”
“Yeah?” Brandy didn’t look away.
“Yeah. Of course.”
Brandy was still staring at her. They had spent too many weekends in there, scrubbing kitty litter boxes side-by-side and talking. They had talked about everything.
Everything.
Even things that absolutely no one else knew, things they both were trying to run away from.