Page 30 of Little Etheldreda Riding Hood

I smile, the nerves only slightly reduced. “I can’t wait to start.”

Chapter Thirteen

In Which Red Gets A Present

Zach is at Darla’s trailer promptly at 12:55. What’s supposed to be a quick trip to the lumberyard turns into an all-afternoon ordeal. After pricing everything we’ll need, Zach decides to go with the three-peninsula stage. We get delivery arranged for the next day and by the time we leave, it’s getting close to dinner.

In the parking lot, the sky opens up and soaks us as we jog back to Zach’s truck. He opens the door for me, then rushes around to his door and hops in. I feel guilty getting the seat and floorboards soaked. Zach has no such concerns. He shakes his entire body like a dog, shedding water all over the inside of the truck, as well as me.

“Zach!”

He just grins and turns the heater on.

“Do you mind if we stop by my apartment? I have a present for you.”

I roll my eyes and look out the window at the fields as we get back on the highway. “I said I was willing to get to know you. I’m not interested right now in the present you have for me in your pants.”

He bursts out into laughter, his face having the decency to turn bright red. “A real present, Red. I swear.”

I give him side-eye. “Sure, why not?”

We pass the rest of the drive in comfortable silence, the seat warmers luring me into a nap. I wake up with a start as Zach slows down to turn off the highway back into his apartment complex.

I don’t wait for him to come around and open the door, I hop out and jog through the rain until I’m under the awning at his front door. He unlocks the door and Dolly Purrton is on me immediately, rubbing her face against my leg as I try to get out of my shoes and socks.

“See I’m not the only one who likes your scent,” Zach says as he picks Dolly up so I can get my shoes off. I roll my eyes, but happily take her back from him when it’s his turn. He sits on the bench next to the door, takes off his boots and socks, strips out of his jacket and holds out his hands for Dolly. “You want to hang your jacket up here so it’s out of the way?”

Reluctantly, I hang it up, though taking it off makes me feel like I’m agreeing to stay. He sets Dolly Purrton down on the floor. “Alright, gremlin, show Red her present.” Dolly’s meow is a loud trill demanding we follow her. She hurries across the living room, down the hall, and into a room I didn’t really notice the last time I was here–a smaller room on the right side of the hall. I look at Zach. He just smiles and gestures me forward with his hand. “After you.”

I follow the cat, pretty certain he won’t make a move in front of Saint Dolly, and carefully step into the nearly dark bedroom. Zach turns on the light as I enter just in time to see Dolly jump into a plastic bin of kittens.

The squeal the tiny balls of fur elicit from me is only slightly embarrassing. It doesn’t seem to phase Zach at all. He chuckles, “They are ridiculously adorable. I didn’t realize she was expecting when the universal cat distribution system brought her to me. She was shivering to death under my truck at the Wild Hare on Christmas Eve and I couldn’t leave her behind. My cousin lives out in the country and said he could use some cats for his barn, but you said you were going to get a cat, so I thought I’d let you pick first.”

“Oh, Zach,” I sigh as I kneel in front of the box and let them sniff my hand. There are four kittens–two black ones that look exactly like Dolly, a gray one, and an orange one. “Darla already has a million cats. I don’t think she’d appreciate me bringing home more.”

“Already taken care of. She’s approved the adoption of up to two kittens.”

“Seriously?” I hold my hand out to one of the black kittens and it toddles toward me in that unbalanced way new kittens do. I scoop it up and Dolly jumps in my lap, supervising my inspection of her baby. “These kittens are still tiny, they won’t be ready to be weaned for a while.”

“Ah, so you caught on to my diabolical plan,” he says, sitting next to the box and scooping up the other black kitten, “If you’re going to be a cat mom, you’ll definitely have to visit more so they can get used to you.”

I roll my eyes, “Well you win this round, Zach Lamar. I can’t say no to kittens.” He just chuckles.

“Dolly Purrton is the best wingman. Do you know which two you want?”

I peer into the box. The gray kitten is trying to bite the tail of the orange kitten as the orange one meows sadly for Dolly to come back. The first kitten I pulled out of the box lays peacefully in my lap, completely unbothered by the ruckus of its siblings.

“I want the black cats…they seem slightly less crazy. Do you know what gender they are?”

“One’s a boy, one’s a girl. The girl has a little bit of white on her back paws.”

“Perfect.” I pick up the kitten in my lap and inspect the paws–they’re solid black. “So this little guy’s going to be Salem and since we can’t have two Dollys in the cat family, the little girl will be Jolene.”

He smiles. “I like it.” Dolly jumps from my lap back into the box and the kittens crowd her trying to nurse.

“Guess it’s dinner time. Are you hungry? I could make us something.”

“You cook?” I ask, not bothering to keep the skepticism out of my voice. Even my Uncle Jim, the least old-fashioned Alpha I’ve ever met, could only grill and microwave.

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