Page 43 of Justice & Liberty

“Seriously?” Walter asked. “Is it...I’m sorry if this is rude, but is it a lesbian thing? I always thought she was terrifying.”

“She is,” I agreed. “It’s one of the hottest things about her.”

Rita nodded as she turned back to him. “She could kill you with her pinky. It’s sexy as hell. I dunno if it’s a lesbian thing. I thought everyone found dangerous hot.”

Walter blinked, then shook himself. “Sorry, I...my girlfriend is a golden retriever crossed with a ray of sunshine. I guess I just don’t get it.”

Rita considered, then nodded. “Fair enough, and good choice. I love a nice ray of sunshine. Now if you’re really interested in working with me, let’s do as the lady said and get to it? I’m sure we can get you all sorted in no time.”

“And you can really work an espresso maker?” he asked as they turned to go. “Because I...I mean, I don’t want to dodge working or anything, but the machine hates me. You know how they have personalities? This one’s whole personality is ‘Walter is an asshole, let’s burn him’ .”

Rita laughed, but answered in the affirmative anyway. “I sure can, sugarbuns. I can also make a concha that’ll knock your socks off, if you need baking done.”

He made a small hopeless sound. “Crap, the pain au chocolat. Sabrina makes them. And the muffins. And the?—”

Their voices trailed off as she assured him that they would manage, and that if Sabrina made the dough, there was probably even some already finished in the fridge.

I blinked a few times, and just...“Does it feel like everything is changing?” I asked the cats.

“Everythingischanging,” Hex answered. “Everything is always changing, but right now your whole life is in transition. You’re deciding what it’s going to be next with everything you do.”

Once again, it harkened back to Tanya’s poisonous words about me letting life take me wherever it went, and not making any of my own decisions. Was I doing that again? Was it a bad thing, if I was?

I kind of liked where life was taking me, just then.

Besides, Hex said I was deciding. That was me doing something, not just drifting. Maybe sometimes it was possible to do both.

We headed for the SUV, and home, so I could feed the cats...and wait for Hunter and dinner.

22

The cats madea beeline for their dishes once we got into the house, which was a funnier sentence when it was just Bee making a beeline, but still.

I followed along behind them, opening the food bag and dropping a handful of food into each of their dishes.

“Would you guys prefer those canned wet foods?” I asked as they started chowing down.

Bee made a face at me. “No way. Food should be crunchy unless it’s stolen from a human plate. Besides, those wet ones give me the runs. It’s gross.”

“Dude, did that cat just talk?” came the stunned voice from behind me.

I spun, shocked and terrified, to find . . . Dez. “You’re back.”

He shrugged, that kind of utterly careless gesture only a teenager can make properly. “I guess. I didn’t know I left, but you were gone and it was light out all of a sudden. I tried to turn the TV on, but it looks like I can’t touch stuff. But who cares about that? Your cat talked.”

“They can talk,” I agreed. “But other people mostly don’t seem to understand them.”

He cocked his head, leaning down and looking at Bee as she inspected him in return. “That’s pretty cool. Is it all cats, or just the cats of people who can also summon up...ghosts or whatever?”

Now that was an interesting question. Oh, not because of the cats, but because he’d implied that maybe he wasn’t a ghost at all.

“All cats who are familiars,” Hex answered, finally looking up from her food. “Which I’m pretty sure means all cats could. Though it’s probably good some aren’t. I knew this orange guy once...let’s just say I doubt he’d have had anything clever to say.”

Dez burst out laughing, and well...that actually was funny. Wasn’t it? Orange catsdidhave a bit of a reputation.

Meanwhile, I was still focused on his comment. “If you’re not a ghost, what do you think you are?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. I mean, my parents were scientists. They raised me an atheist. I didn’t think there was anything after death. So this is all a surprise. Maybe I’m just, like, an impression. A little echo of energy. Or maybe my parents were wrong, and now I’m stuck in, like, purgatory or something because I was never baptized into whatever religion was right.”

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