I close the gate behind me.
“Oh my God. That’s so cute.” I meet Mere, sitting on the porch steps, playing with a cute little kitten. “Where did you get it?”
Merida beams at me. “She got me! She was covered in dirt, scratching my bedroom window last evening. I cleaned her up, and see, she’s…like a snowball.”
I grin at her ta-da impression. “Is she lost?”
“Snowy here doesn’t have a tag. I also checked with the lost-and-found office at the local animal shelter. There isn’t any report for a missing cat.” Merida then turns her phone to me. “I’m reading about kittens. She can’t be older than three months.”
“That’s so small!” I crouch and Snowy, as Merida calls her, looks at me with wide eyes filled with curiosity. When I gently scratch her head, she purrs softly and closes her eyes. “She is such a sweetheart.”
“Naughty too. I locked her in my room during the day and she pooped in my sneakers.” Mere makes a disgusting face, eliciting a chuckle out of me.
“You need to buy a litter box and place it in the bathroom.”
“Can’t do that. Dad will blow up if he sees a kitten in the house.” She slouches forward, scratching behind the kitten’s ears.
Mere’s words with Keith and blow up in the same sentence fills my head with all sorts of images. Jeez, Clem! Get your head out of the gutter.
“So, what’s your plan?” I ask after clearing my throat.
“I’ll keep her in my room, but I fear she’ll run out sometime when I’m not watching. I just want to keep her hidden until I tell Dad.”
I bite my lip. “When do you plan to tell your dad?” I don’t like the idea of keeping a secret from Keith, especially when it involves Merida. I know how important she is to him.
“Soon, maybe tonight or tomorrow.” She shrugs and I hate to see her sad. I like when she smiles.
“Okay, until then we can keep her in the loft. But tell your dad soon, okay?” I join her on the top stair.
“Thank you, Clem.” Her eyes crinkle and lips stretch with a huge smile before she throws her arms around me.
Her unexpected affection makes me forget the harrowing events of my day for a minute. I return her hug before we pull back.
“The guy at the animal shelter asked me to put a few posters in the neighborhood and look for flyers of a missing cat. Probably her owners are looking for her.”
“I’ll definitely hate seeing her go.”
Mere peers at the kitten with sad, droopy eyes, before picking her up off the ground. Snowy settles perfectly in her arms.
I make a selfish prayer at this moment.
God, let Snowy be a stray so that Mere can keep her.
“Let’s set her up before your dad returns.”
As Mere and I enter the living room, I hope Keith doesn’t see this as an intrusion.
I’m just providing shelter to his daughter’s new friend for a while.
In the loft, we arrange a makeshift bed for Snowy with some old blankets. Mere’s search on the internet turns out fruitful. We now have a temporary litter box with lots of paper shredding, courtesy of Keith’s shredder.
“I hope she uses it.” I look at the plastic tray topped with paper frills.
“Yeah. But it’s good that we hid your shoes. I’d hate to see them spoiled. They’re all so pretty.” Mere glances at the cupboard wistfully, where we just arranged all my footwear away from Snowy.
“Feel free to borrow them anytime.”
“Really? I might take you up on that.” An adorable grin spreads on her face.