7. Leo
Chapter 7
Leo
Work was great. We rehomed three dogs and only welcomed one to the shelter. I got to go off-site to visit a family who want to adopt a dog and was happy to be able to give them the go-ahead. They’re visiting the shelter tomorrow and have their eye on Daisy. As much as I like Daisy, I’m glad she won’t be with us long. Some dogs—most, actually—don’t thrive in kennels.
By the time I get home, I’ve almost fooled myself that everything that happened between leaving work yesterday and getting up this morning was a dream. Not the unconscious fever dreams of someone hit by a train of supermarket trolleys but a normal, run-of-the-mill dream slash nightmare.
Almost.
I stand at my front door, key in hand, and can’t quite bring myself to go inside. Cayenne’s behaviour this morning was… odd. No. Intelligent. Waking me up wh en I slept through my alarm, reminding me to take lunch to work. Then there was his refusal to eat breakfast. What if this isn’t a dream? What if my cat is an angel? I knock my forehead softly against my door. Or I am unconscious, and this is a dream, and for some reason, my subconscious decided I should experience an entire day at work.
“Leo? Are you all right?”
I straighten and smile at Janice. “Fine, thanks. You?”
“I’m in a bit of a pickle. I was wondering if you could help. But you’ve only just come home from work. I’ll come back later.” She turns to go into her apartment.
“No, no, it’s fine. What’s the problem?”
“The lightbulb in the bathroom has blown, and I can’t reach to replace it. I did think about standing on a chair?—”
I put my hand out. “No, don’t do that. I’ll come and change it for you.”
She smiles. “Thank you, Leo, you’re such a lovely young man.”
I follow her into her apartment. Even though it has the same layout as mine, it feels very different. Where mine is relatively minimal with lots of white, hers is a cluttered chintz paradise. She has china ornaments, mostly of cats, on every available surface.
“Here’s the new lightbulb.” She gives me a cardboard box.
I’m tall enough to change the bulb without standing on a chair. The bathroom bulb is behind a circular shade which clips to the wall. It’s a little tricky to unclip, but I manage it.
“How’s that cat of yours?”
“Cayenne? He’s fine.”
She chuckles. “You don’t have another cat, do you?”
“Just the one.”
“You should bring him around for some fuss. I’ll make you afternoon tea and put down a plate of cream for Cayenne.”
“I’m not sure cream is good for adult cats.” I take out the blown bulb.
“Nonsense. It won’t hurt him every once in a while.”
I put the new bulb in, flick the switch to test it, and put the shade back on. “All done.”
“Wonderful. Thank you so much, Leo.”
“You’re welcome.” I hand her the blown bulb.
“Are you sure you’re all right, dear?”
I’m fine, except my cat turned into a person and claims to be an angel. “Yes, I’m sure.”
“You know you can talk to me, don’t you?” She glances at a photo of her late husband on the wall beside the TV. “We’re both a little lonely, aren’t we?”
“Sometimes,” I admit.
Cayenne has been a great source of companionship over the last seventeen years. I didn’t want to talk to anyone when he first turned up. But snuggling up with him, stroking his fur and giving him head pats was something I could do. Taking care of him gave me the strength to pick up the shattered pieces of my life and put them back together into something new. He turned up exactly when I needed him. I suck in a breath.
“Leo?”
“It’s nothing.”
Janice gives me a ‘you can’t fool me’ look.
“Has anything crazy ever happened to you? Something so wild no one would believe it?”
“I once asked my favourite singer to sign my boobs.”
I cough and splutter, then regain my composure. “Did they?” I squeak.
“No, but he did give me a signed photo. I still have it somewhere. Would you like to see it?”
“Um, sure.”
“Take a seat. It might take me a moment to find it.”
I sit on the sofa by the window while Janice goes to her bedroom. I twist and untwist my fingers. I should go home and check on Cayenne. I should have given him more love this morning. I should have treated him like a normal cat. Instead, I was standoffish, only giving him a single head pat. What kind of cat owner am I? I know. I’ll go home, tell him to turn into a person, and when he doesn’t—because that’s impossible!—I’ll know the whole thing was a dream. Sorted.
“Here we are.” Janice sits beside me and hands me a grainy black-and-white photo of a man in a suit with neat hair and a dashing smile. “He was everyone’s heartthrob back in the day.”
“I can see why. I’d have fancied him too. ”
She laughs and knocks my shoulder with her own. “Cute, isn’t he? Gerald bought me tickets to see him in concert for our third date.”
I whistle. “Third date? Gerald must have wanted to impress you.”
She winks. “It worked too.”
“Was that the concert where you wanted the singer to sign your—erm?—”
“Boobs?”
Heat rises to my cheeks.
“Yes. Gerald was right there beside me and didn’t get jealous. Or if he did, he never let it show. I knew then I’d found a keeper.” She stares at the photo for several long moments. “I miss him.”
“Gerald or?—?”
She laughs. “Gerald, silly. Oh, look at that. I’m stopping you from going home and taking care of that beautiful cat of yours. Give Cayenne a head pat from me. I know how much he likes them.”
“Will do.”
I let myself out of Janice’s and then into my apartment. Cayenne is on the windowsill, where I left him this morning. He doesn’t even glance my way. I check the food bowl. All the food I put in it this morning is still there and looks less than appetising.
“I guess you’re not hungry today.”
Sighing, I pick up the bowl, toss out the food, and clean it. I leave it on the drying rack and wander over to the window. I pat Cayenne on the head. He purrs.
“That’s from Janice. ”
He mewls.
I give him a second heat pat and ruffle his fur. “And that’s from me.”
He pushes against my palm, lifting his front paws off the windowsill.
“I’m still not sure this is real, but I need to know. So, if you are an angel, turn into a person so we can talk.” I hold my breath.
Cayenne stares at me. I almost laugh with relief. It was all a dream. My cat is just a cat. He jumps off the windowsill and turns into a cute guy with messy red hair before his paws touch the ground.
Okay. Not a dream.
I gape at him.
“You have post. One of them is in a pretty purple envelope,” Kai says.
“A—what now?”
“Pretty purple envelope.” He wanders to the door, retrieves the post from the mat, puts most of it on the table, and hands me the purple envelope.
“It’s from my cousin, Saffron.” I open the flap with the return-to-sender address.
Kai perches on the edge of the windowsill.
I remove an embossed card from the envelope. “It’s a wedding invitation.” I groan. “She’s invited me and a plus-one. She knows I don’t have a plus-one.”
“Maybe she was just being polite.”
“I guess.” Why am I having a perfectly normal conversation with my cat-person-angel thing? I should be freaking out. I am freaking out .
Kai grins. “I could be your plus-one.”
“What? No.”
“Why not? It would be fun. I’ve never been to a wedding. I could wear a cute suit.” He clicks his fingers. His jeans and T-shirt turn into a dazzling white suit. He’s still not wearing shoes and socks.
He looks amazing.
“Too much?” He clicks his fingers again, and the suit transforms into one that’s the exact same shade of purple as the invitation.
I gawp.
“The purple doesn’t go with my hair, does it?” With another click of his fingers, his suit changes colour, this time into a forest green, which contrasts beautifully with his hair and makes the yellow-green of his eyes pop.
“Wow.”
He blushes and dips his chin. “You like?”
“Y-yes. B-but how?—?”
“Angel?”
I tug my fingers through my hair. “Wait. You said you were invisible when you were human.”
He wags his finger. “I said I was mostly invisible. You can see me.”
“Yes, but I can’t talk to an invisible angel.”
He chuckles. “I can make myself visible to humans, but it takes a lot of energy. I wouldn’t turn into a pumpkin or anything by midnight, but I’d need to take a long nap afterwards. Although I’d be close to you all day, so that would help. ”
“It—what? Oh, right. You get energy back faster when you’re close to me.”
He grins. “Bingo.”
“W-why?”
“Because you’re my human. I’m here because of you, so you act like an energy source for me. You’re my sun.”
“I’m your?—”
“My sun.” His smile radiates happiness.
“I—need a moment.” I turn away and lean on the table.
This isn’t a dream. This isn’t a dream . This isn’t a dream. Except part of me is still expecting to wake up in a hospital bed.
I anchor myself by rereading the invitation. My eyes bug when I see the date and the note beside it, which says ‘ sorry for the short notice ’. This weekend? The wedding is this weekend? Did Saffron forget to invite me, or am I only being asked to make up numbers after someone else dropped out?
I shouldn’t be surprised. Saffron and I aren’t close. When my parents died, her parents offered to take me in, but I was eighteen and didn’t want to be a burden. Besides, I’d just inherited a house. Saffron’s mother made an army’s worth of lasagne, which I froze and did eventually get through. It was delicious. Saffron made me chocolate chip cookies. They were too salty, but I ate them anyway to be polite.
Luckily, I have no plans this weekend. As long as I can book a hotel room, I can go. I glance over my shoulder. Kai is still dressed in the forest-green suit. It’s stunning. He’s stunning. I shouldn’t be thinking that. I also shouldn’t take him to the wedding as my plus-one. But if I do and everyone can see him, it will prove that he’s not a figment of my imagination.
I turn around. “All right. If you want to come to the wedding, I’ll take you.”