Chapter Twenty
Ryleigh walked from the district office to her car, telling herself that nothing was firm. They’d just been talking. Okay—she’d
been interviewed, but it didn’t mean anything. The conversation had been preliminary. The fact that the recruiter had been
willing to conduct the interview on a Saturday and had been enthused and talking about her starting in August was only information.
Not an offer.
But she knew in her gut that she’d impressed and was likely to get a second interview. That would take place in the next couple
of weeks. As for starting not long after that, well, she’d said she wanted to make a change in her life. Maybe this was how
it was going to happen.
She glanced at her watch. It was barely noon. She’d gotten up early to make the drive from Port Palmas to San Diego. She had
an appointment to look at two available apartments, then she would make the long trek home. She knew the traffic heading north
would be much worse than it had been at seven that morning. She would have to drive through Los Angeles which was always busy.
Still the trip would give her time to think.
She got in her car and plugged in the address for the apartment building, then followed her nav system’s directions.
She pulled into the visitor parking of a huge complex with dozens of three-story buildings.
The landscaping was nice, the area residential.
Across the street was another large complex, which made her wonder about traffic at peak hours.
At least it was only about fifteen minutes from the elementary school that had the opening.
She walked to the leasing office where she met one of the salespeople. Together they walked around the large complex. There
were three pools, a gym, big common areas and a fancy rooftop garden with a nice view of the city.
“We have several ‘one bedroom with a den’ floor plans,” the fortysomething woman said as they stopped in front of one of the
units. “Some are larger than others.” She smiled as she opened the door. “They’re priced based on square footage and where
they are in the complex.” She stepped back to allow Ryleigh to go first.
The apartment had high ceilings and big windows overlooking a green space. The living room led directly into the kitchen,
with an eating area off to the side. There was a half bath, a very small den and a main bedroom about two-thirds the size
of the one she had now. But the closet was decent and there was a stackable washer and dryer.
“Is this one of the smaller ones plus a den?” she asked.
“Actually it’s one of the bigger ones. If you’re looking for more square footage, you’d need to go to a two bedroom and that
takes the pricing to the next tier.”
Ryleigh tried not to wince at that. If she rented this one, she was already paying more than her mortgage back home. At least
there was the half bath which gave her a place to put Lucy’s litter box.
“Okay, thanks for the info.”
They walked back to the leasing office with the saleswoman explaining about the nearby shopping and various restaurants.
Ryleigh thanked her and promised to be in touch once she knew if she had a job offer or not.
When she was in her car, she pulled up her maps app and confirmed where the nearest grocery stores would be and checked out retail options. Then she started for home.
The nearly four-plus-hour drive gave her plenty of time to think. Yes, the interview had gone well and she was confident she
would make it to round two. So what if she did get an offer? Did she want to move? A few weeks ago starting over had been
exciting. Now she was both eager and resistant.
Moving would be a pain, as would settling in a new area. She wouldn’t know anyone. But the entire purpose of considering relocating
was to shake up her life. Here she would have a whole new dating pool. What if the man of her dreams was right now scrolling
through a dating app? She wanted a husband and a family. She wanted all the things she’d always thought she would have by
now but didn’t. Her life in Port Palmas was good and she loved her family—both her biological one and the one she’d built
with Alex and Noah. She had friends and a great job.
But there was no romantic love in her life. No promise of more and she knew she wanted more. So which did she choose? Because
each path offered the chance of happiness, but also required her to miss out on something desperately important to her. And
she couldn’t figure out which decision was the best one.
Refreshed from her very long nap, Jax went down to the bookstore to find everything running smoothly. Customers were browsing
the books or being served coffee. The line for checking out was manageable and the front door was carefully closed with a
large sign asking patrons not to let Ramon fly out.
She knew she was going to have to figure out what she was going to do about his running away, but not just now. She was happy
to have him home apparently unharmed.
Cheryl walked over and smiled at her. “Feeling better?”
“Much. I guess I needed to sleep.”
“Imagine that. A human who requires sleep. What will they think of next?”
“Very funny. What’s been happening here?”
“The usual bookstore kind of stuff. Marcus is at the vet with the cat. He should be back soon. I’ve put out a notice on Port Palmas Talks that Ramon is back where he belongs, but asked for people to give you two a little space, so expect a crowd over the next
few days. I also texted with Shawna to let her know you were resting. She said the kids were insistent about coming over,
but that they would wait.”
Jax impulsively hugged the older woman. “Thank you for everything. You’re amazing.”
“I know. I’m a gift.”
They continued to talk about business. A few minutes later, Ramon flew down the stairs and headed for Jax. He landed on her
outstretched hand and walked up to her shoulder.
“Home now.”
“You are,” she said, still unable to grasp that he’d left on his own and that he was back. “You scared all of us. Don’t do
that again.”
He bobbed his head, as if in agreement. Jax hoped that was true. She didn’t want to have to worry about him disappearing again.
Hopefully his leaving had only been about finding his own cat.
A mom and her young son walked over. The little boy pointed at Ramon.
“We all prayed for you,” he said. “Every night.”
“Thank you,” Jax said. “I know it helped.”
The boy beamed.
“Here be treasure, matey,” Ramon told him.
“You are a treasure to us,” the mom said, then patted Jax’s arm. “I know you were worried. Hopefully you can relax now.”
“I appreciate that.”
Several more customers approached. Jax chatted with everyone, grateful for the support. When she was finally alone, she set Ramon on a shelf, then texted Harris to ask if he wanted to bring the kids by. Seconds later her phone rang.
“Hi,” she said. “I’m up, so whenever you want to come by.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Better.” She watched her parrot fly over to greet several customers. “The trick is going to be trying to get work done while
keeping an eye on my wayward bird.”
“It’ll take a few days for you to relax, but you’ll get there. The store is his home.”
“If only he would remember that. So about the kids.”
“They want to see him,” Harris said. “Why don’t we come by at dinnertime and bring takeout?”
The unusual offer was surprising. She and Harris had dinner with their children every Sunday when they handed off their weeks,
but otherwise rarely spent any time together. Most of their contact was about logistics and was dealt with via text.
“That would be nice,” she said. “I never did get in food here this week and I don’t want to leave him even for a minute.”
“I get that. The kids mentioned something about a sleepover at the store. How would you feel about that?”
“I’m in,” she said happily. “I’d love to have the kids here tonight if you wouldn’t mind. The TVs are still set up from the
teen event so we could have a movie marathon.” She almost said he and Shawna could hang out with them but then stopped herself,
thinking that was just too weird. Plus Shawna was not a Ramon fan.
“We’ll be by around six,” he said.
“Thanks. See you then.”
She hung up and immediately called her sister. Ryleigh picked up on the first ring.
“I heard,” her sister said, sounding happy. “He’s home. I know you’re relieved.”
“I am. I thought I’d lost him. I’m so happy he’s back.” She paused when she heard the sound of a honking horn. “Are you in the car?”
“I am. You know. It’s Saturday. I’m, um, running errands. Busy, busy.”
There was something in her sister’s tone. Jax was about to ask what was wrong when she saw Marcus entering the store, a cardboard
pet carrier in one hand.
“Marcus is back with the cat,” she said. “I gotta go. Talk later?”
“Absolutely. Bye.”
Jax pocketed her phone then went to meet Marcus. Ramon flew close, landed and stared at the carrier.
“Yes, I brought back your cat,” Marcus said, as the cat yowled.
“Let’s go into my office,” she said. “It’ll be quieter.”
They went toward the back of the store. Once they were all inside, she shut the door and Marcus let out the cat. Ramon immediately
flew down to the floor and walked up to him. The cat sniffed his nose, then lowered his head and rubbed against him. Ramon
used his beak to scratch behind his ear.
“Damn,” Marcus said in a low voice. “That’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“I told you Ramon had a cat.” Although privately Jax was kind of amazed as well. “How did they find each other? I don’t want
to think about my parrot flying up to strange cats, looking for a friend.”
She sank onto the floor nearby. “Hey there, ah, cat.” She looked up. “Do we have a gender?”
“He’s male.”
She held out her fingers. The cat sniffed, then walked over and rubbed against her.
“He seems friendly enough.”
Marcus joined her on the floor. Ramon hopped over and jumped onto his knee.