Page 22 of Finding Forever in Cedarwood

“Hi.” Stone exhaled. “I thought you were going to the concert.” He sank onto the closest stool.

“By myself? No. I can’t drink two cups of coffee. I’ll be wired for hours.” Liam offered one of the cups. “This is for you. I asked you to come along with me to a concert and you can’t so I thought I’d come to you. Is everything okay? You’re pale.”

“We got a box of kittens in. They were dumped. Three of them seem fine, but one is tiny. The vet’s giving them all the once-over and I’m worried about the small kitten,” Stone said. “I tried to feed him.”

Liam placed the cups on the counter. “Why do people do that?”

“Feed them?”

“No, dump them.”

Stone sighed. “Lots of reasons. Mostly they don’t bother to get their cat fixed, don’t realize they’ve gone into heat and boom! Kittens. It’s cheaper, especially on the farms, to let the cats run loose.”

“That’s not cheaper. Someone has to house those kittens.”

“I know. Usually it’s me.” He massaged his forehead. “They have methods for taking care of what they don’t want—I won’t tell you because you’ll get depressed and I don’t want to be more depressed than I already am—but at least these four made it here. Aubrey will do his best. Erik and Amy, I think, have the rest.”

Liam placed his hand on Stone’s. “I hope it all works out.”

“Me, too.” He wanted to check on Champ. “When Erik comes back or Eileen comes in, we can go to the cattery.”

“Cattery?” Liam’s eyebrows rose. “What’s that?”

“The room we have set up for some of the cats to roam freely. It’s all theirs. No crates. There’s a gigantic cat tree and lots of perches for them to look out. Litter boxes line one wall. This way, the cats can stroll and play. People can go in there, play with the kitties and maybe adopt one. Some people come in just to pet and play with the cats. The animals love it.”

“I bet so.”

“We have two rocking chairs in there. I like to sit in the chair and pet the cats. It centers me,” Stone confessed. “I do the same thing at home. Missy loves laps. Dummy doesn’t like to cuddle, but he loves to keep an eye on me. Puff will come around when he wants to and Tuffy will if I call him.”

Liam grinned. The smile lit up his face. “I’d love to do that, too. Pet the cats. I’ve never had a pet.”

“Why? Allergic?”

“No. My mother said they were too dirty. I had a rabbit but it disappeared. I think it was disposed of,” Liam said. He paled. “Shit. I never thought about it. They brought it around for Easter, then in June…it was gone.”

“That’s terrible, but it happens. We get a rush right after Easter.” He loved to suggest that people buy stuffed animals, not real bunnies and ducks for the holiday.

“I never got closure.”

“People don’t think sometimes.”

Liam sipped his coffee, then rested his elbows on the counter. “I can’t change the past,” he said. “I wanted a dog, but my mother refused. I needed to work, not goof around with a dog.”

“Did you have a paper route?” Stone asked.

“A what?”

“Did you deliver newspapers? I did when I was younger. I spent so many hours on my bike.” He laughed. “I still have that old ten-speed.”

“No, I sold whipped topping. Made me so sick to eat it in those commercials. Ten fucking takes and I wanted to puke.” Liam froze and he paled again. “Shit.”

He appreciated not talking about Champ and that he’d finally gotten Liam to open up. “I knew.”

“You did?” Liam asked. “Arthur told you?”

“No.”

“Then how?”

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