NINETEEN
“Hey,what’stheemergency?”
As Liam entered the living room, I shot off the couch. At first, I’d been pissed that he hadn’t gone with Sully on his mission. He needed to have Sully’s back, but Sully had insisted that what he was about to do wasn’t that dangerous and he could handle it without Liam. Instead, Liam had remained close by in case I needed anything.
Until this morning, I’d been miffed Liam had let him leave alone, but now I was more than happy that he’d stayed behind.
“I can’t find Cin anywhere.”
“Who?”
“Sully’s cat,” I said. “I’ve looked everywhere, but she’s not answering when I call her.”
“Probably because she still doesn’t know her name yet,” Liam said. “But seriously, this is your big emergency?”
“This is too an emergency.” Tears sprang to my eyes. “I convinced Sully to get her, and he did. I told him I could be responsible and take care of her, but I left the window open, and she’s probably been nabbed by god knows what.”
Sobbing, I sat heavily on the couch, burying my face in my hands. What was wrong with me? I never got emotional about anything. But Cin had become my companion in the twenty-four hours since Sully had been away. She had slept in bed right next to me, and her purrs had lulled me to sleep after hours of worrying about whether Sully was safe.
“Kit, I’m going to take a wild guess here and say this isn’t all about the cat.” The sofa dipped under Liam’s weight as he sat next to me.
“Of course it’s about the cat. I’m a horrible caregiver. Sully should have left her with you.”
“No, Sully shouldn’t have. I’m not going to be uncle to a cat.”
I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hands. “You’ve got to help me search for her.”
“Are you sure you checked the house thoroughly? Because cats have a way of disappearing, then showing up from the most unexpected places.”
Well, that was true.
“I still think we should check the streets, just in case. She might be confused and not remember which way is home.”
Liam sighed. “Fine, I’ll help you look for the cat, but you’re going to have to face the fact that you’re also feeling the blues because your lover boy is away.”
“That’s not true. I understand the demands of Sully’s job.” I climbed to my feet. “Come on, let’s go find Cinnamon.”
Liam and I scoured the neighborhood, but although we happened upon a few stray cats that took off when they saw us, there was no sign of Cinnamon.
“We should go back. We’ve looked everywhere,” Liam said.
“It can’t have been everywhere, or we would’ve found her.”
“Then where else do you suggest we look?”
I didn’t have an answer but trudged on. We ended up at the park. Still no luck.
“What am I going to tell Sully when he calls me later?” I asked as he drove us back to the house.
“I’m sure you can get him another one from the cat café.”
I glared at him. “That’s not even funny, Liam. This cat’s special.”
“Aren’t they all?” he muttered under his breath.
“You’re behaving like an ass today.” I folded my arms and pursed my lips.
“You’re right. I’m sorry. I had a bit of a tough night.”