I wanted him to hiss and struggle and choose me in some clear, unquestionable way.
Instead, he looked peaceful.
Marcus rubbed one hand over his face.
“I don’t want to do this on your porch,” he said. “Can we sit down somewhere and talk?”
“No.”
“Claire—”
I froze.
“How do you know my name?”
“Eli had your number. He said you told him the story. He said the cat used to be yours.”
“Used to be?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“It’s exactly what you meant.”
Marcus let out a breath.
Lily looked up at him.
“Dad, don’t.”
He nodded.
Then he turned to me.
“We’ll go,” he said. “But I need you to understand that we can’t disappear after seeing him.”
“You should have thought about that before you came here.”
The moment I said it, I knew it was unfair.
Marcus knew it too.
He still did not raise his voice.
“We came because we have been looking for him every day for six months,” he said. “Just like you looked for him.”
That sentence hurt more than anything else.
Just like you.
I did not want us to be alike.
I needed one of us to be wrong.
Lily lowered Nacho onto the porch.
He stayed beside her shoe.
She bent close to him.
“I’ll come back, Sunny,” she whispered.
Then she stood.
Nacho followed her down one step.
I scooped him up.
He twisted in my arms and looked over my shoulder as Marcus and Lily walked toward their car.
Lily turned around three times.
Each time, Nacho made that rough little sound.
I carried him inside and locked the door.
For the rest of the morning, I told myself first love mattered.
But every time I said Nacho had chosen me, I saw him standing on Lily’s chest.
At noon, I took him to Pine Ridge Animal Clinic.
The waiting room was nearly empty.
Nacho shook inside the carrier until I slipped my fingers through the small metal door.
He pressed his face against them.
That simple movement gave me courage.
