Page 63 of The Single Dad's Guide to Recreation

Twenty minutes later, after tripping over yet another root and landing painfully on my knees, I’m ready to give up. After all, Bert Harmon probably searched this area before the sun went down. The police would’ve too. Why should I think I’d do a better job just because I read a children’s book?

Typical.

Turning around, trying to figure out which direction will take me back to the house, I hear a soft mew.

Stock still, I close my eyes, hoping the sound will come again. But instead of another cat noise, I hear, “Shh, Jenny.”

“Mabel?” I whisper.

Silence for a few beats, then, “Miss Avery?”

“It’s me,” I say, keeping my voice soft. “Did you find Jenny?”

“I did,” Mabel says, her voice cracking. “But now I’m stuck. And I’m afraid.”

“Of the fox?” In the story, Jenny Linksy climbs the tree to get away from a scary fox in the forest.

“I didn’t see the fox,” Mabel whispers. “I’m afraid of the police.”

It doesn’t seem like the time to try and convince her otherwise, so I ask, “What part of you is stuck?”

“My foot. It hurts.” The tears behind her words grab on to my heart, and before I know it, I’m halfway up the tree.

I’m also regretting all my life decisions, from never taking up rock climbing to the tight jeans I put on this morning, which make it even more difficult to get my buttinski up this forking tree. But every whimper from Mabel and every plaintive mew from the cat spurs me on. Eventually, I’ve got myself wedged between some branches just below them.

But when I try to dislodge Mabel’s foot, she squeals in pain.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry.” Gently pushing a few strands of hair out of her eyes, I murmur, “How about we call your dad?”

Mabel shivers, but it’s hard to tell if it’s from the chill in the air or fear. “Just not the firemen or the police.”

“But honey, firemen are experts at getting cats out of trees.”

“But she’s scared of Pickles the fire cat!”

“I know,” I say softly. “But what if we told them to take off their hats?”

She’s quiet for a moment. “And their uniforms?”

“Got it. No scary uniforms.”

Thankfully, Josh answers my call, and I launch right into a brief explanation of where we are and what Jenny Linksy and Mabel are afraid of. He says he’ll work it out with the officers and as soon as we hang up, I drop a pin with our location and text it to him.

There’s no getting comfortable up here, so I focus on distracting both of us while we wait. “Tell me the story of how you found Jenny.”

ChapterTwenty-Two

JOSH

“Home is the place for me.”

This line from the cat book is on repeat in my head as Mabel retells her story for the third or fourth time. A very different tale than the one I’ve been living for the past couple of hours. To Mabel, she’s the hero who figured out that Jenny Linsky would end up in the woods, because that’s what city cats who’ve been sent away to live in the country do. Mabel is the one who knew to be quiet and listen for her cat rather than yelling the cat’s name. She knew that Jenny Linsky would feel frightened and alone. Only she could save her.

I couldn’t save her mother, but she could save her cat.

“Plus, Jenny Linsky found me when I got lost, so I owed her,” Mabel says proudly from her spot on the couch, her ankle swaddled in ice packs the EMTs gave us.

Shit.Of course Mabel would bring this up and give my in-laws yet another reason to find me an unfit father.

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