Love Lessons

He stood on the sidewalk beneath her, toolbox in hand, a heavily lined denim jacket protecting him from the wind. A frown of bewilderment creased his face. “What are you doing? Is everything okay?”

“It’s Norman,” she said, pointing upward. “He’s on the roof.”

“He’s what?”

“He’s on the roof,” she called back down, aware of a few people in the parking lot turning to stare at her. “I can’t get him down. And I’m afraid he—”

“I’m coming up. Stay where you are. Don’t lose sight of him. I’ll let myself in.”

Gratefully, she turned back to her stubborn cat. “Did you hear that, Norman? Mike’s coming. You like Mike, remember?”

Norman meowed, but he stayed where he was.

Moments later, Mike stepped onto the balcony. Except for a couple of glimpses of him across the apartment compound, brief incidents that had left her aching, this was the first time she had seen him since their breakup. Even as worried as she was about Norman, she couldn’t completely ignore the quiver that ran through her when Mike came to a stop within a few inches of her.

“What happened?” he asked, staring up at Norma

n. “How did he get up there?”

“I opened the balcony door to bring out this Christmas wreath,” she said, pointing to a festive decoration at her feet. “One of the grad students in my department made it for me and I thought it would be pretty hanging from the railing with this big, red bow.”

Totally irrelevant to his question, she realized abruptly. Between her concern for Norman and her nervousness at being with Mike again, she was reduced to babbling. “Anyway, the minute I opened the door, Norman streaked past me, jumped up on the railing, then onto that branch and on the roof. He’s been there ever since, just staring at me.”

Mike looked from the door to the railing to the low branch of the oak tree next to her apartment, mentally following the cat’s path. “How long has he been up there?”

“I don’t know. Twenty, twenty-five minutes. I’ve tried everything I know to get him down.”

She had been unable to prevent a slight tremor from entering her voice, nor a shiver from passing through her when another cold breeze swirled around them.

Mike stripped off his coat and wrapped it around her shoulders. “Hold this for me. I’m going up after him.”

“How are you—”

But Mike was already boosting himself onto the railing, one hand on the wall to brace himself. Now Catherine was frightened all over again. “Mike, be careful. You could fall.”

“I’m being careful.” Balanced precariously on the three-inch-wide metal railing, he stretched out a hand toward the cat.

“Come on, Norman,” he said gently. “Don’t make me climb up there to get you, guy. We’d probably end up breaking both our necks.”

Norman meowed, twitched his tail and studied Mike’s outstretched hand. After what seemed to Catherine like an agonizingly long time, the cat rose, padded easily across the shingles, walked up Mike’s arm and perched on his shoulder. He stayed there while Mike climbed carefully down from the railing, with a little help from Catherine.

Back on solid concrete again, Mike reached up to peel Norman’s claws out of his gray sweatshirt. “Maybe you’d better take him inside before he decides to go off adventuring again.”

Catherine gathered Norman to her gratefully. “Thank you so much. I didn’t know how I was going to—”

“Just take him in,” Mike interrupted gently. “I’ll hang your wreath while I’m out here.”

“Oh, you don’t have to—” But once again he acted despite her protest, reaching down to pick up the wreath and turning toward the railing with it.

Knowing when retreat was called for, Catherine carried her pet into the safety of the apartment, scolding him gently as she did so.

“What on earth got into you, Norman? Don’t you know you could have been hurt? Why is it that you only seem to make these reckless escapes when Mike is around? It makes me look like a very careless pet owner, I can assure you.”

Norman made a funny sound that almost resembled a snort of amusement. She looked at him suspiciously. If she didn’t know better, she would swear that cat understood every word she said.

The glass door opened and Mike entered, closing it behind him. His hair was wind tossed and his cheeks were cold reddened. Only then did she realize that she was still wearing his coat.

Setting Norman down hastily, she slipped out of the coat and held it out to Mike. “Thank you. For everything. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come along.”