Don’t Love, Don’t Lose

Chapter 9

“Meow.”

Jasmine looked around a little wildly.

“Jasmine?”

“Meow.”

“Don’t you hear that?”

Anthony frowned but the next ‘meow’ came right on cue.

“There! I think it’s…”

Leaving Tony bewildered, Jasmine went looking under cars until finally…

“There you are, honey! There you are. Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. Come on, then…”

The cat was tiny. Jasmine had to give up on her pants and crawl half under the car before she could get to the cat. Once she did get to the cat, she hoped really hard that it was friendly and grabbed it.

It didn’t scratch or bite. It just shrieked.

“Meeeeoooooowwww!”

“Sorry, honey. Sorry. I’m really sorry. Look, let me just get out from under here and you won’t be so uncomfortable. Don’t cry, please! Don’t cry, darling.”

Jasmine managed to wiggle out from under the car and knelt there, cradling the cat who was still screaming blue murder. It was tiny, fitting comfortably in her hands. It was almost skin and bones.

“Poor thing. Poor baby. You haven’t had enough to eat, have you? Are you hungry, sweetheart? Poor little cat.”

Now that she’d gotten a good look at him, she saw that he was black and white. And – yes, a her again.

“Jasmine?”

Jasmine looked up, startled. She’d almost forgotten about Anthony.

“Oh… Look at her. Isn’t she tiny?”

Anthony smiled.

“She is. Very tiny and a bit undernourished, I would say. How about we get her to the vet?”

Jasmine nodded gratefully.

She cradled the cat – just a kitten, really, carefully in her lap as they drove. Anthony made no mention of where they were supposed to have been going and what they were supposed to have been doing. Jasmine was grateful for that. He didn’t look upset about it at all. But he probably was upset about it, wasn’t he? Any man would be.

“She doesn’t look like she’s in any real danger, Jasmine. I don’t think you need to look so worried.”

“I… I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry about this.”

“Don’t be silly. You have a good heart and you care. Why would you apologize for that?”

“Well…”

“I don’t want to hear any more about that. Just make sure that I’m going the right way to the vet’s.”

Jasmine nodded.

“There’s a shortcut there, you can take that left.”

He nodded and took it, and within fifteen minutes, they were at the vet’s.

“I should have called. I didn’t think of it. I should have called.”

“It’ll be fine. Come on.”

They went in and were glad when there wasn’t much of a wait. Jasmine went up to the receptionist and explained, and the perky young woman with an endless well of cheer – Jasmine didn’t know how she managed that when surrounded by animals in distress – asked her to wait.

They sat down and Jasmine tried to sort all of it out in her head. She had agreed to go home with him. It’s not something that Jasmine did easily or casually. She really couldn’t remember the last time she’d done that. And yet…

There they were. He had understood the moment she’d found the kitten that she had to try and get him. He hadn’t tried to stop her. He hadn’t tried to tell her that it was just a stray cat.

“Your turn,” said the receptionist, finally, after about half an hour.

“Thank you. Thank you so much, really. I can’t tell you how grateful we are.”

The perky blonde smiled, and turned it up a notch for Anthony. The annoyance was quick and instinctive.

Jasmine marched inside with the kitten, without checking if Anthony was following.

The vet was kind as ever.

“Rescued another one, have you?”

“She was under a car and crying so pathetically. I need to know if she’s okay.”

Jasmine put the little kitten on the table, and she arched her back and looked up at her.

“You look like you’re a cat dressed up like Harlequin.”

The vet chuckled.

“I suppose she does. Now let’s see…”

A quick exam later, the kitten was pronounced healthy except for a cut on the inside of her hind leg.

“Oh… She will heal, won’t she?”

“Of course she will. Kittens heal better than any animal I know. We sometimes say that if a kitten has broken bones, if you keep them in the same room, it’ll mend.”

“Really?”

“That’s a hyperbole, but something like that, yes. I can confidently tell you that this girl is going to be just fine. She needs good food and I’d recommend putting her on the special diet for a week or two, but she has no fever, and she has no signs of infections. She needs a dewormer, and she needs to be vaccinated, but other than that, she’s fine. I can give you the dewormer right now, and you can bring her in for her shots in the next few days.”

Jasmine nodded, dazed.

“So she’s fine.”

“She’s fine. She’ll be great company for Lucy.”

Jasmine hadn’t really thought that far ahead. She hadn’t thought of what she would do after rescuing the kitten.

“Oh… Okay.”

“You’ll need to add a litter box, but other than that, I’m pretty sure you have enough for two cats right now.”

“I wasn’t…”

She started weakly, and tapered away even more weakly. What was she supposed to do? Take a kitten and then leave it behind? She couldn’t do that, could she?

That would be cruel.

“I guess I have two cats now.”

“Better than one. You’re well on your way towards being a crazy cat lady.”

The vet’s good-natured teasing made Jasmine swallow, hard.

“Oh.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m a certified crazy dog lady. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. This one doesn’t have anything contagious, but I’ll still call you after I get the blood work done.”

Jasmine nodded again, gathered the kitten – Harlequin now – up and walked out, with Anthony, who’d been silent all along, following behind.

“Hold on,” said Anthony, and left her to wait while he darted away.

Jasmine tried to reconcile herself to what her life had become. She’d have to tell Rita about it. Rita would never let her live it down.

And Aunt Della would start calling her a crazy old cat lady, too.

She was really in too deep. Rescuing a cat who had wandered into her apartment was one thing. But going after a cat under a car, crawling under it and getting her nice pants and sweater all dirty, and getting a strange cat to the vet, then taking it home – that was probably a little crazy.

She was becoming a crazy old cat lady.

Anthony came back, holding a big bag.

“Let’s go and introduce Harlequin to Lucy, shall we?”

Jasmine nodded.

“Yes, I guess we should do that.”

Jasmine held on to the cat all the way home.

“I bought a cat carrier in case you want to use it.”

She shook her head.

“No, I’m fine. We’re both fine.”

He nodded again.