Chapter 35
Christmas Eve finally dawned—if you could call the slate gray sky “dawn.” Vic stretched, relieved that she could finally let herself climb out of bed for the day if she wanted to.
She’d read somewhere that resting was almost as good for a body as sleeping, so she consoled herself with that info when insomnia hit hard.
She also let the fact that it was likely a symptom of menopause—thanks for that nugget, Madeline!
How on earth hadn’t that occurred to her on her own?
—instead of a sign of impending terminal illness ease her worry.
And another upside: the thoughts rabbiting through her brain all night and bouncing her awake just when she thought she might doze off were mostly good.
Cal. Cal! Deep inhale. Hold. Exhale. She felt so nervous—and so simultaneously happy—about their upcoming date. She just didn’t want to screw it up by being . . . herself.
Audra. Mixed bag. She’d been a bit mellower compared to her usual, but that was almost worrying in itself. Still, Vic felt increasingly confident she’d be able to get her to see a doctor in the New Year, so that was something.
Madeline and Gwen. She still couldn’t understand why, but they genuinely seemed to like her!
Michael—okay, thoughts around him were still painful, whether in the lonely dark of middle-night or in the soft gray of approaching day.
She still hadn’t received a response to her email, and yet .
. . she was still happy she’d sent it. It was, at least, honest—something she’d rarely been in relationships and was going to try her best to be from here on out, especially with herself.
She yawned—of course, feeling tired now that her alarm was about to go off, but she needed to get up and do some breathing and stretching, part of the “regulation tools” she’d been learning about and trying to incorporate into her life. Then she’d need to shake a leg to get to the shop in time.
A final thought hit her. One that made her jump out of bed—then regret the quick movement as her back and knees both complained at the abruptness of her leap into motion. The brief twinge couldn’t hold her back, though.
Cat! She’d totally forgotten there was a little animal friend—well, hopefully a friend, or, at least, not a foe—prowling around the house. She needed to find it, feed it, and alert Audra to its presence lest the woman put out rat poison or something. First things first, though, prepare Audra.
She found her where she’d been the night before—still in her chair, as if she hadn’t moved. That was concerning.
“Good morning, Mom.”
“Is it?”
Vic had to smile—a little anyway—at that one. Audra was so cranky it almost seemed feigned. She was like a caricature of grumpiness. A cartoon or something.
“Well, you’re in a good mood, aren’t you?”
Vic nodded. Only Audra could make being in a good mood sound like such a terrible thing.
“Have you been to the washroom?”
“Have you been to the washroom?” Audra mimicked. “I’m not a child, Victoria.”
The room had a closed-up, slightly stale smell, but there was no telltale urine scent, so Vic assumed she had. And it wasn’t really that Audra had accidents per se, especially not bowel movements; she was just a little incontinent, or sometimes a bit more than a little, when she coughed a lot.
“I have a surprise for you.”
“Yippee and alert the presses. Is it something from Santa? Have I been a good enough girl this year?”
“Wow, you’re really full of . . . vim and vigor this morning.”
Audra eyed her crossly. “So, what’s the ‘good’ news?”
Vic hesitated. She’d said it was a surprise, not necessarily good news. But she’d brought it up, so she had no choice other than to come out with it.
“There’s no rat.”
Audra scoffed. “Of course you’d say that, little Miss Pollyanna. But just because you want something to be true doesn’t mean it is.”
“It was a cat.”
“A cat?”
“Yes. And Cal and I got it to come into the house.”
“Why would you go and do a fool thing like that? Some disease-ridden stray!”
“It might be a stray—or it might be somebody’s lost pet—but it’s not disease-ridden,” Vic said firmly, trying to keep the fact that she actually had no idea about the latter out of her voice.
Audra’s eyes narrowed. “Are you telling me that there’s some mangy, flea-bitten excuse of an animal slinking around our home?”
“Yes—no. There is a cat. It’s not mangy. It has everything it needs. You probably won’t even see it until I’m off work.”
“So, you’re going to leave me alone with a strange feline that might have rabies, for all you know?”
Vic shook her head. “That’s incredibly unlikely. Now, would you like me to make you something to eat before I go? Also, I know we talked about this before, but in case you changed your mind, do you want to have anyone over tonight or tomorrow? I could call a couple of your old friends.”
“And I told you! I don’t have any old friends. Mind your own beeswax. Toast. Just one piece. And an egg.”
“Okay, sounds good. I won’t be long.”
Vic filled the cat’s bowls with fresh water and kibble, then, after a moment’s thought, took a saucer from the cupboard and opened a can of wet food too. It could definitely use the calories, and the wet food might draw it out of hiding in a way the dried kibble wouldn’t.
The cat showed up just as Vic was plating Audra’s breakfast. She sucked in a breath at the sight of the little furry girl. Was it just her imagination, or did the cat already look glossier and healthier than she had the night before?
Careful not to move too quickly—or to be too obviously pleased to see her—lest she scare the animal back into hiding, Vic brought Audra her requested breakfast, along with coffee.
“The cat is in the kitchen eating,” Vic told her, trying to tamp down her obvious excitement, feeling eight-years-old again—but in a good way, for once. “She won’t need anything till I get home, and there’s a litter box and everything, so—”
“I don’t care if you keep the cat,” Audra said, showing yet again how she was always full of surprises and that Vic could try all she wanted to figure her out, she never would. “It’ll keep the rat away.”
Vic opened her mouth to explain, again, that there’d never been a rat, then thought better of it. If thinking there’d been a rat allowed Audra to make peace with the idea of there being a cat in the house, hooray!
“All right, I’m going to run. There are leftovers in the fridge if you want lunch, but I’ll be off around 4:30, so we could just eat then, if you prefer. And it’s Christmas Eve. Maybe we can watch a show or two tonight?”
“NCIS?”
Vic had been thinking of a Christmas special, but honestly, this sounded better.
“Sounds great.”
Audra nodded, but seemed distracted, staring down at her egg for a long time as if not quite recognizing what it was.
Vic tried not to worry. Or tried not to worry more. The new year was coming soon, and Audra would be going to a doctor soon, whether she liked it or not.