For Once In My Life

Chapter 47

‘Can you drop me at the vet’s?’ Kitty asked Rory. ‘I’ll call Dad again.’

There was still no answer from Billy, but Rory drove in the same slightly erratic way and, within minutes, they were outside the vet’s.

‘Thank you so much,’ said Kitty, opening the door and about to jump out. ‘Thanks for everything.’

‘We’re all going in,’ said Shazza.

‘You can’t go on your own,’ agreed Rory. ‘You need people around you.’

Inside the waiting room was a woman with a cat carrier on her lap and a man with a golden Labrador, but there was no sign of Billy. Typical Billy.

‘Any sign of Romeo? Romeo O’Sullivan?’ Kitty said to the receptionist. ‘My cat. He’s a tortoiseshell…’

‘No… he hasn’t arrived,’ she said, looking at her notes.

Kitty looked at Shazza. ‘He didn’t bring him,’ she said, incredulously. ‘He knew how important Romeo is to me, and he didn’t bother to bring him…’

‘There’s just a Billy here.’

‘A Billy?’

‘Yes, a Billy. He’s a tortoiseshell…’

‘It has to be Romeo,’ said Shazza. ‘Billy just gave his name instead of Romeo’s.’

‘He came in with PTSD and needing stitches?’ said the receptionist.

‘Yes!’ said Kitty, relieved that Billy hadn’t let her down, and happy that Romeo was safe.

‘Professor Sweetman has been treating Billy in the emergency room…’

‘Romeo,’ corrected Shazza, just as Kitty said, ‘Professor Sweetman?’

‘Oh, it’s been all change here,’ said the receptionist. ‘Mr Kelly was working this morning and then when Professor Sweetman called in to see how everything was going, I told him who we had in… he knows the man who brought in Billy. I mean Romeo. Your cat, anyway,’ she said to Kitty. ‘He met him coming in this morning and he switched his lectures around. Got someone to fill in for him and came in here. Puts the welfare of animals ahead of everything. Mr Kelly was delighted with the extra pair of hands. He’s been on an urgent case of a chihuahua losing the ability to yap. A yapless chihuahua could trigger an identity crisis so it was something of an emergency.’

Kitty could feel her heart soaring. If anyone would take care of Romeo, he would. Oh Romeo, she thought, he was practically the only sentient being she hadn’t hurt lately.

‘I’ll tell Professor Sweetman you are here…’

They sat three abreast in the waiting room, and after only a few moments Tom came out. Their eyes met. She smiled. So did he.

‘Kitty?’ Tom said, softly. ‘Do you want to come in?’

Trailed by Shazza and Rory, she followed Tom into the emergency room, where Romeo was lying on a folded rug on a table. He didn’t do any of the normal things he did when he saw her – jumping up, wrapping his slinky body around her ankles, purring like he contained a million bees. Instead, Romeo looked as though life was leaving his body. He was attached to a drip, and his fur had been shaved on his abdomen. He looked half-dead. She hadn’t realised he was this ill. If she’d known she would have done something sooner, earlier… there must have been a way to save him.

‘Romeo?’ Her eyes filled with tears. ‘Poor Romeo…’ She turned to Tom. ‘He’s not going to make it, is he?’ She couldn’t imagine life without him. He held one of his soft little paws, like holding a fairy’s velvet slipper. ‘Oh Romeo…’ She looked back at Tom but he was smiling.

‘He’s just recovering from his operation,’ he said. ‘He’s going to be absolutely fine. He had trauma-induced peritonitis. Once he’s recovered, he’ll be back on his feet again. He’s a strong little chap. Not one easily underestimated.’

‘Oh, thank God.’ Kitty kissed Romeo’s head. ‘Oh, thank God.’ She looked at Tom. ‘Thank you.’

There was a voice from outside. ‘How is the little fella?’ It was Billy. He entered the room and put his arm around Kitty’s shoulders, his eyes on Romeo. ‘How is he?’

‘He’s going to be fine,’ said Shazza. ‘He has to be on his ninth life by now… he’d better stop having run-ins with that tabby or his luck will run out.’ Rory poked her and the two of them began giggling together, as Tom washed his hands at the sink.

‘Anyway,’ said Billy. ‘I was glad you trusted me. Didn’t want to let you down. Not again. I’m sorry. I’ve always been like this. Football was the only thing I could do, the only time I could focus.’

‘It’s grand,’ she said. ‘Let’s just get on with it, shall we? I’m too much of a perfectionist and it’s got me nowhere.’

‘No,’ he said, ‘you’re not too much of anything. You’re exactly right. You’re you.’ He paused. ‘I was listening to something on the radio the other day. ADHD…’

‘What about it?’

‘Have you heard of it?’

Kitty nodded. ‘Of course…’

‘Well…’ Billy hesitated again, suddenly awkward, even embarrassed. ‘I recognised a lot of myself in it. I looked it up. Did an online quiz…’

‘And you diagnosed yourself?’

He nodded. ‘Yeah… I mean, I know it’s not official. But it’s made sense for me. The hyper focus when I play football and the total scatterbrain regarding everything else.’

‘And has it made things easier for you?’

‘It’s explained a few things,’ he went on. ‘I was always so frustrated with myself. Why couldn’t I be like everyone else? Just turn up on time, not always late. Never let anyone down…’ He looked at Kitty. ‘Maybe it’s just an excuse…’

‘Or maybe it’s a reason…’

‘Maybe…’ He smiled almost shyly at her.

‘Thanks for bringing Romeo here today,’ she said, smiling back. ‘I appreciate it.’

‘I knew how important it was,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t let you down… not again. I wrote notes on my hands, made sure there were reminders on my phone. Post-its on the car dashboard. Bring Romeo to vet at 9a.m.’

Kitty laughed. ‘Well, your system worked. Thank you.’

He kissed the top of her head. ‘You’re my little Kitty,’ he said. ‘Always was, always will be. I’ll see you for a hot chocolate, okay? And a bit of football. I think it might be time to learn the great art of dribbling…’

Kitty laughed. ‘I can’t wait.’

Billy hugged her again and she waved him off, just as Tom came over. ‘Romeo will stay here overnight, and he’ll be able to come home tomorrow,’ he said. ‘Five-star treatment, okay?’

She nodded. ‘Thank you.’

‘You’re welcome.’ They looked at each other for a moment. Kitty wanted to tell him that she and Dave were over but how would she shoehorn such a thing into the conversation without sounding mad or desperate? And maybe it was of no relevance to him? Maybe he and Robyn had gone to a pub together and he’d moved on to her? And there was the Welcome Ireland pitch to finish.

‘We need one more photograph,’ she said. ‘Could we take one of you? It’s for a work project that I have to present tomorrow morning?’ She began to explain what it was, but Tom was already nodding.

‘What about on the front step? The colour of the door is nice and… I have the perfect prop. I’ll meet you outside.’

He came outside holding a tiny tortoiseshell kitten, who looked not unlike Romeo.

Kitty took some photographs of Tom, whose handsomeness, she thought, was only enhanced by the kitten. When she had finished, Kitty held out her hands to hold the little fur baby, clutching it to her face.

‘Oh, he’s gorgeous,’ she said.

‘It’s a girl…’ Tom was smiling. ‘And she needs a home, you know.’

Kitty stopped and looked at him.

‘Do you need another cat?’ Tom went on.

She nodded. ‘I do, don’t I?’ She kissed the kitten. ‘Hello, Juliet,’ she said. ‘You’ve got yourself a home. I love you. Almost as much as I love Romeo.’

Tom laughed. ‘That’s the thing with pets. They are so easy to love. She’s a beauty, all right.’

Kitty thought she was going to start crying. Just holding lovely Juliet, her tiny fragile body, her beautiful eyes, made her feel emotional. ‘I’m going to love you,’ she said. ‘I’m going to love you forever.’

‘Unlike Dave,’ said Shazza, coming over. ‘Cats are so much easier to love than men, I find. Far less complicated. Although,’ she went on, ‘I do make exceptions for certain men.’

‘I’m glad you do,’ said Rory.

But Tom was looking straight at Kitty. ‘You and Dave…?’

She shook her head.

‘Kitty sent him back to the pound,’ said Shazza. ‘The one run by his mother, the dreaded Maureen.’

Tom looked at Kitty. ‘So you’re not marrying him?’

Kitty shook her head. ‘No… too much has happened.’ Her eyes met his.

‘Kitty has finally come to her senses,’ Shazza was saying. ‘She’s seen the light, halleluiah.’

Tom was smiling at Kitty. ‘That’s good to know…’

Kitty was smiling back at Tom.

‘God, Kitty,’ said Shazza. ‘We almost lost you to Dave. No wonder you were so on edge… and unhappy. I would have been unhinged and furious if I was being forced into marrying those two…’

‘Two?’ Tom was still looking straight at Kitty.

‘Dave’s mother… they came as a pair. The gruesome twosome…’ Shazza paused. ‘You two! Stop staring at each other. You can do all of that lovey-dovey stuff later. Kitty, don’t you have your project to finish?’

Kitty nodded. ‘Yes… I’d better get back…’

‘I’ll drop you,’ said Rory.

‘I can walk,’ said Kitty. ‘It’s easier…’

‘Well, then,’ said Tom, ‘I’ll walk you home.’

Kitty turned to him. ‘If you have time…’

‘Of course I do. I’ll just leave Juliet back inside and we can collect her when she’s had all her shots. And I can keep an eye on Romeo for you.’

Kitty felt quite emotional all of a sudden. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘That means a lot…’

They waved Rory and Shazza off and said goodbye to Billy and then went back inside to give Romeo a goodbye kiss and another for little Juliet in her special bed, ready for her injections, and then Tom and Kitty began walking home.

They fell into step with each other, Tom’s long stride matching Kitty’s brisk pace and they began to talk, not deeply, not intensely, but easily, as though they’d only been apart for a few hours, bringing each other up to speed on everything that had happened. She told him about ending it with Dave and how Annie had been in hospital and how sorry she was to have rejected him on her doorstep, and then he told her that he was ready to accept whatever the turn of events was, and that he had told himself that he was just happy if she was happy.

‘But I would have liked to have seen where things would take us,’ he said. ‘If I’d had the chance.’

And even though she could feel a tangible energy between them, she knew she hadn’t dreamed any of it. She wanted to put her hand in his or feel his body close to hers. Neither of them said anything more about that weekend they had spent together, and Kitty wondered if they had missed their moment and from now on they would just be friends. But that, she told herself, was better than not being friends with this gorgeous man.

Happiness, she thought, should be pursued. Heart and soul were always there, ready to wrap themselves around you if you only let them. She’d learned her lesson.

They slowed down as they neared the house, and she opened the door tentatively, just in case Maureen was ready to pounce again, like something out of a Stephen King novel. Tom was close behind her, taking it all in, silently. But thankfully the house was empty, denuded of everything Dave owned, including a few things belonging to Kitty. So, that was it, then, she thought. Her life with Dave was over.

‘Are you okay?’ Tom asked.

She nodded. ‘Very.’

He smiled. ‘Good to know.’ He hesitated. ‘If there is anything I can do, let me know.’

She nodded. ‘Thank you…’

He smiled at her and she found herself suddenly wrapped in his arms, pressed against his chest, the smell of him, the feel of him and then, just as suddenly, he let her go. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow at the match. And I can bring Juliet over when she’s had her injections.’

‘Tom?’

‘Yes?’

‘Thanks… for being such a good friend.’

He looked puzzled for a moment. ‘No worries… I’d better get back. Good luck with your pitch.’

She nodded, a smile plastered to her face but she didn’t know what else to say. She didn’t have time for anything except to concentrate on the pitch. But she had faith in life… what was meant to happen, always did. You just had to be in flow… everything sorted itself out at the end. You had to believe in the universe. What was supposed to happen would happen, even if that meant they weren’t meant to be. Anyway, she had to focus on work. Nothing could distract her now.