Grace Interrupted by Julie Hyzy Read Free Book Online Page A

lost her.”
    Scott chimed in. “No collar, and she’s clearly a kitten. I’d say no more than two or three months old. I bet she was dumped.”
    “Dumped?” I said, aghast. “How could anybody dump a sweet thing like this?”
    The cat circled in my lap, rubbing against the insides of my legs before finding a comfortable spot and settling in.
    “Happens,” Bruce said.
    “Still, I’m going to ask the neighbors if anyone is missing a kitten. Tomorrow,” I quickly added when they both looked alarmed. Changing the subject, I asked, “So you never answered me. How come you two are here so early?”
    Bruce got to his feet. “The store lost power. We’ve got the emergency generators going. In fact, we brought home a few treats. They won’t keep until tomorrow so we might as well enjoy them tonight.”
    Treats indeed. The cat allowed me to pick her up, and I cradled her in my arms, carrying her into the kitchen. The boys had brought home a half-dozen chocolate-covered strawberries and three slices of chocolate-chip cheesecake. “Oh, yum,” I said. “This is the perfect way to enjoy a stormy evening at home. Particularly after the stormy afternoon I had at work.” I told them about Rani and Tamara, and their elusive quarry, Zachary Kincade. “What a piece of work,” I said. “Supremely confident and ridiculously stuck on himself.”
    “An irresistible combination,” Scott said. “A lot of women go for that.”
    “This one doesn’t.”
    Bruce smiled at me. “You’re not most women.”
    Scott pointed to the kitten. “And what about our newest female in the house? What should we call her?”
    “I’m sure she already has a name,” I said, stroking under her chin. She raised her head as though begging: “More, more.” She had a patch of white on the right side of her nose and a completely white chin. Her whiskers were white, too, contrasting sharply with the pure black of her face. Such a cutie. Purring again. “We can’t name her. She belongs to someone else.”
    “I’m thinking she belongs to you,” Bruce said. “Hmm . . . what would make a good name? She’s got those cute little white tips on her front paws.”
    “And her back legs make it look like she’s wearing white hip boots,” Scott said, both of them totally ignoring my protests about naming a pet that didn’t belong to us.
    Bruce snapped his fingers. “That’s it. Boots!”
    Scott nodded. “I love it. We’ll call her Bootsie.”
    “No, no, no,” I started to say, but they cut me off.
    “I’ll pick up cat food tomorrow morning,” Scott said. “There’s that new boutique pet shop just a few doors down from ours. But right now, she needs a litter box.” He looked around the room, spied our dishpan in the sink, and emptied it of its few remaining drops of water. “This will do. We needed a new one anyway. I’ll shred some newspaper and set it up for our little Bootsie.”
    Bruce had already dropped to his knees. “The poor thing needs water,” he said, digging through the bottom cabinets. “There’s that little blue bowl in here somewhere . . . ah!” He emerged with the item in hand. “Do you think she’d prefer pink?”
    “I think she’d prefer to go back to her family,” I said. “Maybe there’s a little kid crying right now because she’s gone. I’ll have to take her back, wherever it is, tomorrow.”
    “Bootsie” took that moment to rest her nose in the crook of my elbow with one white-tipped paw draped over my forearm, totally relaxed. I craned my neck to look. Her eyes were closed.
    My two roommates exchanged a look. Bruce grinned. “Yeah. Uh-huh.”

Chapter 5

    BOOTSIE DISAPPEARED WHILE I WAS PREPARING for bed. She’d proven adept at using the makeshift litter box, a fact I pointed out to my roommates. “See? Somebody trained her.”
    “Nope. Just instinct,” Scott said.
    I already had my sleepwear on, so after taking care of the basics I quickly drifted off, knowing it was the weekend and I