“Right now?”
She hurries over to watch over my shoulder.
“In the first letter I ever wrote to him, I told him that I wanted a cat. He told me that cats were boring. I figure he’ll get a kick out of knowing that I just adopted two.”
I finish writing the letter, then tuck it into an envelope.
“The litterbox and litter are still in my car,” Anne says. “I can go down and grab them.”
“I’ll go with you,” I offer. “I need to drop this letter off anyway. Then I can help you carry everything.”
I leave the kittens in the carrier so that they can’t get into any trouble, then step back into the hallway. I head toward the stairwell again.
“Are you serious?” she says. “The elevator isn’t going to break.”
I ignore her and head down the stairwell. I don’t realize that Anne is behind me until she starts talking. She somehow doesn’t make a sound even when she’s jogging down the steps right behind me.
“Is this why you have such killer calves?” she asks. “Climbing two flights of stairs at least twice a day seems like such a workout.”
“I’m used to it. I’m pretty sure it’s faster than the elevator anyway.”
We reach the lobby. I walk past Joel and leave the envelope on top of the mailboxes like I usually do. Anne is already outside trying to juggle the big litterbox I bought with a case of heavy litter. I run outside to help her.
I let the kittens out of their carrier when we get inside the apartment. We play with them for a few minutes before Anne heads out. The kittens watch curiously as I set their new litterbox up. It’s one of those self-scooping litterboxes. Anne talked me into buying it because she couldn’t fathom why anyone would want to kneel over an open box and do the dirty work themselves. The thought reminds me of the first few letters that Luca and I exchanged all the way back in fifth grade. I smile at the memory. I had been so upset by those first couple letters from him.
I think about the letter I left on top of the mailboxes a few minutes ago. I wonder what he’ll think of this turn of events. He’ll probably tell me that I was always destined to be a crazy cat lady. I slip my shoes back on and head downstairs. I know there’s no way he already came into the building in the short amount of time since I left that letter, but I haven’t checked the mail yet today, and it won’t hurt to see if he’s been here.
I come out of the stairwell and get halfway across the lobby when I stop in my tracks. Joel is standing next to the mailboxes, holding the envelope that I just left for Luca.
“What are you doing? Put that back.”
He doesn’t move. He looks from the envelope in his hand to the mailboxes.
“Joel?”
“I, uh…” His shoulders slump and he sighs.
“Have you been taking all of the letters I put up there?”
I try to make sense of it, but I can’t. Joel is too old to be Luca. But if he’s the one taking my letters, then who is writing back to me? And then it hits me. I feel like the rug has been swept out from under me. The room starts to spin as I realize that Luca hasn’t been in my building like I thought.
“You know him.” I mean to phrase it like a question, but it comes out as a statement instead. I can tell by the look on his face that I’m right. “Where is he? How do you know him?”
He shakes his head, snapping out of the initial shock of getting caught. I have so many questions, primarily about why the security guard in my building is acting as a middleman delivering letters between me and Luca.
“Did he pay you to do this?” I ask.
Joel clears his throat. “No. He didn’t pay me.”
“How do you know him?” I repeat.
Again, he hesitates. He averts his gaze, choosing to look at the envelope rather than meet my eyes.
“He’s my son,” he says.
ChapterTwenty-Six
THE FAMOUS BOWLING KITTENS
