Page 6 of Three Meows

“Aw, that’s so nice of you! Did you make them yourself?” Rowan nodded and cooked his head to the side.

“Do you want to come in?” I asked, holding my breath.

When the mysterious man took a step forward, I had to stop myself from pumping my fist as I scrambled away to let him in.

First the black cat and now this? Was this the day when my milkshake brings all the loner boys to my yard? Heck yeah!

“Want some tea? Or coffee? Well, probably not coffee, it’s too late for that…”

“Coffee,” Rowan said.

Ah, so he could speak. I had been wondering if I should invest some time in learning sign language in case he was mute. Actually, it was still a good idea, so I made a mental note to study the basics anyway. It was pretty obvious speaking wasn’t Rowan’s favorite thing.

Fortunately, I could carry the conversation as we sat down with our beverages and cookies myself, with the help of Rowan’s silent input. Those eyebrows were very expressive and contained a multitude of opinions.

I learned he preferred newer whodunnit style books over classics like Agatha Christie, that my taste in hot chocolate was wrong (apparently nothing made with water qualified as hot chocolate in his opinion), that he was a night owl, and a myriad of other small facts.

In short, I was putting together who one Rowan was piece by piece, like a puzzle, and, even if I didn’t have the complete picture yet, the glimpses I could see were fascinating.

“Chester mentioned you are working nights, right?” I asked, realizing we had spent over an hour in each other’s company. “Do you have to go soon?”

He nodded reluctantly and took a big gulp out of the delicate cup I served him coffee in before he placed it gingerly back down. The cup was empty. I guess it was time to say goodbyes for today.

“Be careful tonight,” I blurted out. He looked at me, suddenly alert. “I, ah, ran into some trouble when coming home through the park, so better avoid that area and keep your eyes open.”

“Mn,” he agreed. Then he pulled a small block of paper and a pen out of his pocket and quickly wrote something down before handing it over.

It was a phone number.

“Call. If trouble,” Rowan said, staring me down. That look was intense.

This time I was the one to nod silently.

Satisfied, the black-haired man stood up and made for the door.

He left as unceremoniously as he appeared. Really, he was like a cat, coming and going as he pleased. It was endearing.

I flattened the piece of paper on the table, a smile blooming on my face.

Chapter Six

By the time a month had passed, I was pretty used to both cats in my life.

Shadow diligently attended to me outside of my flat and, after the scare of the mugger, he orbited noticeably closer to me, sometimes trotting only a few feet from me, or, on one notable occasion, using my shoulders as a springboard to jump onto a roof.

Cheddar, on the other hand, got all in my business, squeezing through the gap on the balcony to jump in through the window, or meowing loudly until I opened the balcony door if the window was closed. He was as shameless as he was cute, and the challenge wasn’t getting him to come close, but to leave me alone for even a minute. I had no recourse but to buy him cat toys and entertain him. He was so spoiled!

But I guess I had only myself to blame when I kept the door to the balcony open, hoping to entice him to come. I sent a glance at the neighbor’s part of the balcony and froze.

There was a cat there, lying in a sunbeam.

The problem was… it wasn’t Cheddar!

Did they get a new cat without telling me?! Betrayal!

“Hiii, kitty!” I said in my softest voice, half leaning over the partition separating the balcony.

The cat startled from his reverie, his ears swirling up and back as he whipped his head around to look at me. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights as I stretched my hand towards him slowly in the hopes he would take in my smell and come closer.

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