I felt his muscles relax under my fingertips and my shoulders loosened. He released his breath in a groan as he grabbed my hand. “Unless you’re sure you don’t want to try my suggestion, you should probably quit that rubbing.”
The voices on the other side of the wall were growing louder, and I sprang away from the heat of his body. “Okay, now keep repeating the exercise. I’ll be right back.”
I felt him suck in a gasp. “Where are you going?”
“I’ll be right back in just a second, I promise. Stay here. I’ve got it covered.” Before he could protest, I opened the closet door a crack and snuck out, closing it just in the nick of time as Tracy opened the far door and came into the exam room. I stood there frozen, my back to the closet, a fake smile spread across my face.
The vet waved at me. “Okay, sorry about that delay, Price. I’m all yours now.”
As panic coursed through my body, my mind came to the only solution I could muster in the few seconds I had to think. “Actually, I just remembered I have to pay for parking. If you don’t mind giving me two seconds, I’ll be right back.” I ran across the room and glided through the door that Tracy stood beside, a quizzical look on her face. Parking meter? When she knew I’d come on foot? Not to mention the fact that I’d had to leave my car behind in Portland because it was in Gerard’s stupid name.
“Errr, okay. I’ll look after these three cuties,” she began to say, but paused. Her eyes scanned the room and I noticed her eyebrows raise. “Where’s the third?”
Eyes wide, I chewed my lip as I stared at her, glancing around the room, mimicking her curiosity. “Oh, gosh, yeah. Pussy ran out the door a couple of minutes ago, I guess he doesn’t like getting examined. He’s probably home right now, waiting for us. Just examine the other two and I’ll bring him back another day.” I ran outside as fast as my legs could carry me, running past a very confused looking Frankie, and leaving most likely an even more confused Tracy in the exam room with the cats.
I prayed to whatever powers that be that she wouldn’t look in the closet while I was gone. I skidded to a halt on the sidewalk outside, scanning the buildings around me. I remembered passing a bakery on my way, and I ran three doors down until I spotted it and peered in the window. I let out a deep tension-filled breath as I saw Dot, the sweeter of the two kind old ladies who had visited me that morning.
“Price, dear, so nice of you to pop in,” Dot chirped from the other side of the counter as I bolted in through her front door. “Are you here for some snacks? I’m sure you need some sugar to help you through that stressful move.”
Chewing on my lip to the point of nearly drawing blood, I shook my head. “Actually, I was wondering if I can borrow something from you. Do you happen to have an extra apron around?”
“An apron?” She looked confused, but her smile quickly returned. “Oh, how lovely, you cook. Are you baking something at dear Agatha’s house? You know, that’s probably the first time her oven’s been used for baking. Agatha was the worst in the kitchen.”
I nodded frantically, my breath coming in ragged gasps. “Yes, I love baking, but I’m making quite a mess. I’m in a bit of a hurry though, as I think that I might be burning something. I left my muffins behind, you see.” I was rambling, my mind bouncing between baking muffins and that darned cat back at the vet’s.
Dot’s eyes went wide. “Oh no, we can’t have any ruined muffins now, can we?” She looked nervous, just about as nervous as I felt. I watched her curiously as she frantically bounced around behind the counter, shoving a massive cookie in her mouth as she turned to reach for an apron hanging on the far wall. She handed it to me and I accepted it gratefully, promising her that I would return it immediately. She nodded at me, the cookie crumbling from her mouth as she smiled, a slight pink tinge to her cheeks. “Come back anytime, dear. Anytime at all. Happy to help you out in any way I can. Do stop by again, now. Tah.”
I was almost at the door when Dot appeared in front of me, holding a second apron. It was bright pink and frilly and there were tiny sequinned sunglasses embroidered all around the edges. Dot shoved the apron in my direction. Her cheeks were red and she had a chocolate cupcake gripped in her left hand. “You should take this one,” she said. She took a quick bite of the cupcake and swallowed it whole. “I made it. For Agatha, you know, before…” I watched in fascination as she polished off the remainder of the cake and brushed the crumbs off her own apron with fidgeting fingers. “I never had a chance to give it to her. It was supposed to be a joke. Aggy loved silly stuff; sequins and bows and sunglasses, but she’d never use an apron because she didn’t cook. I said if I made her a sequinned apron she’d have to bake something.”
Her voice caught and I gave her a sympathetic smile. “I’m so sorry for your loss, Dot, it sounds like you were a great friend.”
The pretty old woman recoiled from me, her face pale. “No, I was a terrible friend.” Her voice was pained. “Terrible. I always do the wrong thing, say the wrong thing. But I never meant to be a bad friend. And I’m so sorry for how things ended. Between us.” I opened my mouth to reassure her, but she vanished into the kitchen before I could say another word.
I waited for another moment to see would she return, thinking how sad it was that Dot hadn’t had a chance to make up with her friends before she passed away, but she didn’t appear. I turned and sprinted out the door with the apron in hand, and ran back to the vet’s as fast as my legs could carry me, Dot’s round face still on my mind. It was good to know that I wasn’t the only ridiculously awkward person in town. Frankie looked just as confused as he had before as I came bolting back into the office. I skidded past him and through to the exam room before he had a chance to speak. I opened the door and stepped inside, half expecting to see a traumatized Tracy standing in front of a very naked man, but to my great relief she was standing next to the exam table examining the very same tabby that had been pressed against me in human form in the closet only moments before.
“This poor little guy was locked in the closet,” she said to me, her voice full of concern. “He looked positively terrified, the poor handsome boy.”
I caught the cat’s expression and suppressed a smirk. “I’m so sorry, I have no idea how he could’ve gotten in there. I was sure he’d escaped out the front.” Tracy’s stare focused on the apron in my hand and a burning red flush of embarrassment, which seemed to be a permanent fixture on my face since I arrived in Salem, ran over my skin. I tucked the apron under the back of my shirt and gestured toward the cats. “So, how do they look, Doc?” I silently cursed myself for sounding so stupidly awkward. Doc? Seriously?
“Well, I’ve got to be honest, they’re quite large for domestic cats. I’m not quite sure where Agatha picked these guys up.” She paused, staring at the files on the computer screen. “Look, they’re not bobcats and they’re not Lynx, but I’m guessing there was some kind of funny-business involved in breeding these guys.”
The breath caught in my throat as I began to follow Tracy’s train of thought. My mouth was suddenly as dry as the Sahara desert. The vet gave me a sympathetic grimace and exhaled. “As far as I can tell, you have three perfectly healthy felines. But unless you can find their papers, I’d suggest you keep them indoors and away from prying eyes,” she continued kindly. “But if you decide to keep them, we should probably have a little chat about neutering, sooner rather than later, okay?”