Tank (Blue-Collar Billionaires 1)

“Everyone’s life takes a different path. I’m not sure why. Hell, I have absolutely no answers. But your path isn’t wrong, Emma. It’s yours and you’ll make it meaningful and right. Don’t compare yourself to others.”

“You’re completely right. I just need a reminder of that some days.” Emma smiles over at me before turning into the parking lot in front of a small white building.

“The owner, Dr. Kenya Marsh, is really appreciative of all volunteers. This place is exactly what I want to do after I finish school. I want to offer veterinarian services to people who can’t afford it. Dr. Marsh has an open clinic one Saturday per month so that everyone can make sure their animals get preventative care.”

We climb out of the car and I follow her into the white building. Emma bypasses the front desk and walks down the hall. I follow since she seems to know where she’s going. We enter a room in the back, filled with metal cages. It smells like pee.

Christ, I must really like this girl.

“Hi Brett. How are the babies, today?” Emma asks as she shrugs out of her coat. She hangs it on a peg behind the door so I do the same.

A young man with dark, tightly curled hair turns around. In his arms are two black and white kittens. “Great, I’m just getting some playtime in with Thing 1 and Thing 2.”

Emma accepts one of the kittens and holds it gently in her palms. “Hello, Uno. Did you miss me? I missed you.”

Brett shakes his head. “She can always tell them apart. I don’t know how she does that.”

I watch in amazement as Emma lights up. How wrong I was to think that she never smiles. Obviously I’m just not the right audience. She is wearing the biggest, most beautiful smile right now. When she turns to me, her face bent so she can rub her cheek against the kitten’s soft fur, my heart gives an extra thump.

“You are so beautiful.”

“Huh? Did you say something, Tank?

“Uh, they’re beautiful. The kittens.”

She smiles her agreement and then sits right on the floor and allows the kittens to crawl all over her lap. Brett moves around the room, opening a few other crates and taking out their occupants. Before long the room is a meowing, hissing, purring cacophony of sound.

“Most of the cats don’t get a lot of one-on-one affection. That’s where we come in. I do some chores to help Brett take care of them but also I get to play with them.” She hands me a calico kitten nicknamed “Patches.”

“Wait, what am I supposed to do?” A tickle of panic threatens. I’ve never had a pet. My mom could barely afford to feed us, let alone an animal.

“Just give them some love. I’m going to help Brett clean out a few cages.”

Give them some love. Right. Like I know what that means.

Emma moves away, chatting easily with Brett. The other man squeezes her arm, his touch lingering a bit longer than necessary. I look down at the calico kitten currently trying to climb the front of my T-shirt.

“This is not going the way I’d hoped, cat. I’m supposed to be charming her, convincing her to give me a chance and now she’s off with that guy and I’m stuck here with you.”

Patches meows plaintively.

“It sounds like you agree.” I run a finger experimentally over the kitten’s soft little head. It stretches into the caress. It’s so small it almost looks like a toy. It fits in the palm of my hand. There’s a movement to my right so I turn to see what it is and then immediately jerk backward. A hairless thing stands at my elbow, watching me with narrowed eyes.

“Uh, Emma. What is that?”

She turns to see what I’m talking about. “Oh, that’s Poochie.”

“What’s a poochie? And why is it bald?” The thing blinks at me with huge golden eyes. Now that I’m not so startled it looks less threatening. It’s so ugly it’s almost cute.

“No, that’s her name silly. She’s a cat. A breed called a Sphynx. She’s supposed to be hairless. Unfortunately, her last owner decided she wasn’t cuddly enough and abandoned her outside in the middle of winter. I can’t believe they just left her like that.”

I look back at the cat, now watching me with strangely human eyes. An image comes back to me, watching my dad’s car drive away from the house while my mom sobbed in the background.

“I think I know how she feels.” I stretch out my hand, slowly, tentatively. Poochie’s ears flicker but she doesn’t move.

“Oh dude, she never lets anyone pet her. She’s bitten me like five times.” Brett stops when Poochie walks forward, her head bent, and allows me to stroke the top of her head.

“Well, I’ll be damned. That mean ass cat finally took a liking to somebody.”