“Mr. Sebastian, may I see, please?” Phoebe MacBride, the little girl with a head full of jet-black curls and dark eyes, barely reached the top of the counter, but she gripped hold and stretched up on tiptoes as Sebastian lifted one of the pure black kittens from the box. “So pretty. Mom, can we get another kitty, please?”
Roman couldn’t help but chuckle at the pained expression on Kendall’s face as she joined her daughter at the counter. “Two is plenty for now, Phoebe. Did you thank Mrs. Hastings for reading to you and your friends?”
“Not yet. But, Mom, look! Isn’t she cute? Bubbles and PixieBell would love her!”
“Him,” Sebastian corrected.
“Mom! We don’t have a boy cat. We need one!”
“As much as Hunter would love some added testosterone around the house, I think two cats are more than enough for one little girl.” Kendall gently steered her daughter toward the children’s section. “You get two books, remember. Choose wisely.”
“Aw, man.” Phoebe stuck her lower lip out so far Roman thought someone might trip on it. “But, Mom—”
“We could make it no books and head home.” Kendall stuffed her hands in her pockets and rocked back on her heels. “Your choice.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Phoebe stomped off, her bright blue sneakers lighting up with every step.
“Sorry about that, Kendall,” Sebastian said as he examined the rest of the kittens.
“She has to learn she can’t have everything she wants. Even though they are awfully cute.” Kendall stroked a finger down a gray kitten’s head. “How many are there?”
“Four,” Mandy announced. “There’s two gray ones, one black one, and then, is that a tortoiseshell? I need to look it up again to see, but that coloring seems right. Dad, you said if we got more kittens, I could have one, remember?”
“I remember. But let’s get them all checked out by Doc Collins before you become too attached. I just hope we can find a home for the black one. They’re always the last to go.”
Roman peered into the box and saw the black kitten curled up in the corner, looking quite put out at having his nap disturbed. It blinked odd yellow eyes up at him and let out what sounded like a meow.
“I know that look.” Kendall leaned over to study his face. “You’re about to become a cat daddy.”
“No,” Roman said. “Not me. But I was thinking about something Frankie told me. About never being able to have a cat when she was growing up.”
“But she’s all grown up now,” Mandy announced.
“Yes,” Roman said with a nod. “Yes, she is.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
FRANKIE HAD DECIDED there was only one solution to her current predicament. She was going to seek revenge against Roman Salazar. Thanks to his disappearing act, Ezzie was at a loss for something to do, which meant when Frankie wasn’t on a call, she was...well, trapped.
It wasn’t that she didn’t like Ezzie. She liked the woman. A lot. It’s just that she was always...there. Even when Ezzie was baking, she was having a conversation, either with Frankie, Ozzy, Jasper or herself. Singing Christmas carols, rearranging—for the third time—the baking cabinet in the kitchen or cleaning. It was getting to the point Jasper had nothing to do as a probie. She’d even taken to dusting the holiday boughs and garlands strung around the station.
“She needs a job.” Ozzy sat on the edge of Frankie’s desk and gave her a pitying look as Frankie massaged her temples. “Like mother, like son—she’s bored.”
“And he skedaddled out of here this afternoon like a college freshman on his first spring break.” Her phone rang, identifying the caller. “Myra?” Frankie answered. “What’s wrong? You always call through dispatch.”
“Given this nonsense about closing the department, I don’t want to give Gil any more reason to shut you down,” Myra said. “I don’t know if this is an emergency or not, but I figured better safe than sorry. It’s Alice. She fell last night, and now she’s not feeling well and she won’t let us call a doctor. Would you mind—?”
“I’ll be right there.” Irritation stirred with anger. If Gil only knew the problems his proposal to shut the department down was causing. Now people were afraid of bothering them when it could very well be an emergency. She grabbed her keys, then stopped when Ozzy grabbed her arm.
“Don’t leave me alone with her,” he whispered. “Take me with you.”
“I’d rather you stayed here in case another call comes in.” His pained expression had her taking pity on him. “Ezzie?” she called, knowing she was going to regret this. “I’ve got a call over at a group home. Would you like to get out for a bit?”