The door opened.
Drew stepped out cradling a large, fluffy tortoiseshell cat with striking golden eyes.
The cat that had already stolen my heart.
Stormy.
Drew was holding Stormy. Stormy, who hated everyone. Stormy, who’d never let anyone but me within three feet without hissing. Stormy, who’d spent the last year at this shelter because she was “difficult” and “antisocial” and “not adoptable.”
Drew washoldingher.
And she was … tolerating it. Her ears were back and her tail twitched with barely contained irritation, but she wasn’t struggling or scratching. She wasn’t fighting. Just enduring with the put-upon expression of a cat who’d decided this indignity was worth whatever came next.
“Drew?” My voice came out strangled. “How are you—she never lets anyone?—”
“I’ve been visiting,” he said quietly, walking slowly towards me. Stormy’s eyes locked on mine, and her whole body tensed with recognition. “Every day this week. Building her trust. Bringing her treats. Sitting near her kennel until she let me close.”
Tears blurred my vision. “You’ve been coming here without me? So all of your lunch meetings with Glamma were you coming here?”
He nodded. “I wanted to surprise you.” He stopped in front of me, and Stormy let out a long, plaintive meow. “She’s all yours, Ellie. I’ve already done the paperwork, paid the adoption fee, and got all her vet records. I’ve been waiting for the right moment to?—”
Stormy squirmed, her patience officially exhausted. She launched herself from Drew’s arms toward me, and I caught her, her solid weight familiar and solid against my chest.
She purred. Loud, rattling, rolling purring that reverberated through both of us. Her head butted against my chin, then my cheek, her whole body vibrating with happiness. She patted at my face with her paw—claws sheathed—the way she always did when she was with me.
I nuzzled my face into her neck. “Hi, sweet girl. I missed you.”
Stormymerped—her special sound reserved only for me—and settled into my arms like she’d been waiting her whole life for this moment.
With her next headbutt, I heard a jangle. Something was clanking against the metal tag on her purple collar.
A key.
It dangled from her neck, half-hidden in her fur. I looked at Drew through the tears pooling in my eyes, unable to form words.
“I asked you to move in with me last night,” he said, and there was something raw in his voice. Vulnerable. “And I meant it. I want you there. I want to come home to you every day. I want to build a life with you.” He stepped closer, his hand gentle on Stormy’s head. And she let him. “But I need you to know—this isn’t conditional. That key is yours whether you choose to live with me or find your own place here in Ruby River, but Stormy is yours. You two need each other. I’ve known that since the first day she found you.”
“Drew—”
“No pressure,” he continued, like he’d practiced this speech. “I know last night was intense, and you might need time to think about the moving-in thing. That’s okay. That’s more than okay. But I couldn’t watch you leave her here one more time. I couldn’t watch you break your own heart over and over because you thought you couldn’t have what you wanted.”
A sob broke free. “You did this for me.”
“Of course I did.” He cupped my face with one hand, his thumb catching my tears. “I love you. And part of loving you is making sure you know you deserve good things. Even when you can’t take them for yourself, I’ll make sure you get them anyway.”
Stormy butted her head against Drew’s wrist, then returned to rubbing her face all over mine, purring so loudly I could barely think.
“She likes you,” I managed.
“Toleratesme is probably more accurate.” His smile was soft. “She wiggled the whole way out here. But she was willing to put up with me if it meant getting to you.”
“That’s huge. That’s—” I looked down at Stormy, at her golden eyes, her fluffy gray and brown fur, at the way she’d settled in my arms. “No one wanted her. And I got that, you know? I understood being the one no one chose.”
“I chose you,” Drew said simply. “And she chose you. And maybe that’s how it works—sometimes when we least expect it, we find the people or animals that make us whole.”
Around us, the volunteers had quietly resumed their work, giving us the illusion of privacy while hanging on to every word. I heard Karen sniffle and glanced over to see her wiping at her eyes.
“I think it’s time to take Stormy home,” Theo said gruffly, appearing by our sides. “You got all the stuff from the list I sent you the other day?” he asked Drew.
