“Mister, how’s the kitty? Are you taking good care of him? Are you loving him? Are you snuggling him? Did you name him? What’s his name? Do you need help naming him? I’m the best at names.”
He kneels down and reaches out to take her hand in his, and I’m shocked as the traitorous child hands it over. “You really want to know how the kitty is?”
“I do! I promised Ender I’d never follow a kitty again, but he didn’t make me promise I wouldn’t ask about the kitty.”
“What a monster!” Mads says as he grins up at me.
I glower at him, in case he isn’t aware that I don’t find his games fun. “Rylee, come on. And you, leave us alone.”
“If you come into the kitchen, I’ll tell youallabout the kitty,” he says.
This is obviously an “if you come into my van, I have puppies and candy” situation that I’ve warned Rylee about, but she’spreparedto go into that kitchen. She has never been more willing to ditch all of my warnings. “Okay!”
“Rylee.” There’s a clear warning in that word.
Her smile falls. “I mean, no thank you. I will forever never know anything about the cutest kitty I’ve ever met in my life. I will live to old age, all shriveled up and hunched over and forever wonder what happened to the kitty. I will cry myself to sleep thinking of the kitty.”
Why the hell did I end up with the most dramatic child known to mankind?
“Why can’t you tell her here?” I ask through gritted teeth.
“Because I have to tell herin the kitchen,” Mads says. “Come on, it won’t kill you.”
“It might,” I grumble, but Rylee gets what Rylee wants. “You havethreeseconds of our time.”
“I will use every moment of those three seconds to blow your mind,” he says as he hurries to the kitchen. When we get there, he’s not even in the kitchen, but it doesn’t take long for him to return while holding the cat in his hands. “Here you go! All fixed up! And they even got all those mats out for you and washed him up so he’s sparkling clean just for a princess like you.”
Rylee gasps. Literallygasps. Her arms are outstretched, making her look like a zombie as she shuffles toward the awaiting cat. Even though it’s clean, it’s still an ugly thing with its bent-over ear and a chip missing from the other. Its long hair is missing in some areas where the mats had been, but Rylee seems to think it’s the cutest thing she’s ever witnessed.
Mads is smiling the entire time and even Orin looks thrilled, like he’s watching his son get married instead of Rylee reaching for that ugly thing.
Just shy of him, she freezes and dramatically pulls her hands in before turning away. “I told Ender I wouldn’t,” she says as she heartbrokenly makes her way back to me. Both Mads and Orin are looking at me like I’m a monster… which I am, but I can’t say no to Rylee.
“You can hold it, but we’re not keeping it,” I warn her.
She lets out some unintelligible sound of glee as she rushes over to the cat, gathering him up into her arms as she melts to the floor in delight. The cat is so low-key it’s just along for the ride, thrilled to have human affection and prepared to go through whatever to get it.
I jab a finger at Mads. “We’re going to have a talk in a different room. Orin, is your theater soundproof?”
“It sure is!” Orin says. “Please don’t get blood on the seats… or the carpet… what about here in the kitchen? The floor in here is very easy to clean.”
Mads grimaces before waving at the cat and child. “But I was watching this cute reunion. Come now, child, come with us. Please? What are your thoughts on allowing me to hold you… not at all like a shield.”
“Alone,” I say.
“Sounds concerning,” Mads comments. “But I’ll bite… as long asyoudon’t bite…”
I ignore him and head toward the theater room that Rylee had shown me last night. Once Mads is inside, I shut the door before turning to him.
“I’m flattered you wanted to have me all to yourself,” he says with a beaming smile like that could possibly make me forget my current plans.
I walk up until I’m directly in front of him and stare right into his blue eyes. “Don’t be. What are you doing here?”
“Returning the cat. As simple as that.”
“You could have sent the cat with Finn or Claude when he comes to pick up the phone, but you chose to come here. Why? You may feed all of that bullshit to everyone else, and they might believe you, but I don’t.”
He gives me a look like he couldn’t possibly know what I’m referring to. “Bullshit? What have I done?”
