Twelve
T he new day dawned with exhaustion, under-eye shadows, and a strengthened resolve to refocus, to let Burak down gently. It would be a nice day, one Jasmine would remember for years to come, warmed with pride at how they had managed the relocation of the cats. She might even look back on it as a turning point in her own life, a time when she had rediscovered a commitment to herself and her life of (solo) adventure.
Soon, after all, it would be time to purchase a new sketch book, to trade in her canvases for a travel paint set, and a book full of blank pages small enough to tuck away into her backpack.
“Maybe I’ll even trade my regular backpack in for that cat backpack,” she said to Cheddar, who was twining around her legs as she applied her mascara. “What do you think, bud? Do you want to be a world traveler kitty, or do you want to make your case to Grandma to let you stay on here?”
It was impossible to decipher Cheddar’s meows one way or the other, so Jasmine only smiled at him. “I’m sure we’ll figure it out soon. She said she wanted to talk to me about something, and I don’t think it would take any particular psychic gifts to figure out what it is.”
Reaching up to dab a little color on the apples of her cheeks, Jasmine forced a smile to position the blush in just the right place. The gesture felt foreign, so out of alignment with her true feelings. It didn’t make any sense that she should feel so down-hearted about leaving Istanbul, about giving the keys to the apartment back to her grandmother. It had been a nice, soft place to land when she needed it, but that certainly didn’t mean she needed to mourn the end of this particular season.
She was supposed to be excited about the next season, the next adventure, dang it, so why wasn’t she?
She looked down to find Cheddar sitting back on his haunches, blinking up at her expectantly.
“Is this your fault?” she asked him, the question kick-starting his purring so loud she was sure her neighbors would hear. She bent down to pet him, willing herself yet again to put her concerns for the future out of her mind. The day had enough in store already, without fears of the uncertainties she hadn’t even imagined yet overtaking her awareness.
When Jasmine arrived at the colony half an hour later, her eyebrows climbed at the awareness that Burak and Enes had beaten her there. By the looks of it, the two men had been up for hours, considering that Burak had already traveled across the city to retrieve his car—and pick up Enes, too, which Jasmine couldn’t remember arranging the night before.
“There she is!” Burak greeted her with a kiss on the cheek, pulling her closer with one hand on her elbow, before slipping a to-go cup of coffee into her hand. “Good morning.” His smile communicated all of his excitement and hope for the day ahead, and she knew it was as much about the date they had arranged for the evening as the found family of cats currently eating their breakfast.
“Good morning, Burak,” she said with a smile that conveyed only a fraction of what he had given her. Better to start rebuilding her walls now so that the conversation that needed to happen in the evening wouldn’t be too much of a shock to the system. “And good morning to you too, Enes. Nice to see you here.”
Enes smiled back before his attention was taken once again by the cats. Jasmine and Burak drank their beverages in companionable silence as they watched him make his way around the colony, assessing the situation.
Finally, he walked towards them with a nod. “Right,” he began. “So here’s the situation. It looks like you’ve got a group full of female cats and their litters of kittens. Some of the females are already neutered, and some aren’t. They all seem companionable, no truly feral cats here, and the kittens are mostly of the age where they’re just about weaned and ready to be on their own.”
“So it’s a community of strong women raising their children together?” Jasmine asked. “I love that.”
Enes nodded. “That’s often the dynamic of colonies, since male cats are more territorial.”
“Well, I assume the kittens aren’t all females, are they?” Burak asked. “What happens to the little boys, then?”
“They stay with the colony for a while, but you’re right. It’s not sustainable.” Enes pursed his lips. “I think our best bet is to relocate the mothers with their kittens, and then to see about adoption options for the kittens. Maybe an event at the cafe, Jasmine. How would that sound to you?”
She was already nodding before the words were even out. “I would love that. It could be a whole event. Maybe a paint and sip evening, but with coffee and tea instead of wine? Or we could do, I don’t know…a cat yoga class? A fundraiser for an animal shelter?” Her mind was buzzing with ideas, too many at once for her to even nail one down. The energy was vibrating through her, and she wished for nothing more than a blank page and a nice smooth pen to capture every single idea that was currently threatening to slip away into the ether if she didn’t immortalize it on a piece of paper.
“All good ideas,” said Enes. “And I’m more than happy to help with any veterinary needs. Sterilizations and immunizations and all of that. The most important thing will be getting these cats settled and safe in their new environment so that they don’t end up wandering back here. It’ll be a construction zone soon, and nobody wants to see anything tragic happen when tiny animals and heavy machinery attempt to coexist.”
Burak’s nod was deadly serious. “Absolutely not. We will get the cats to the new place, the courtyard. And then we will break ground as soon as possible. Changing the scenery drastically should help them realize it’s no longer their home, right?”
Enes nodded, but there was some hesitation in the gesture. “That will partially help, but territorialism runs deeper than that. You’ll still need to be careful.”
“Got it,” said Burak. “If I need to have one of my guys serving as a guard at the construction site, and another one escorting the cats back to their new home, then so be it.”
Jasmine realized a beat too late that Burak’s expression was serious, that he wasn’t joking about putting his employees on “cat guard duty,” and she felt herself warm to him even more. How on earth was she going to let him down easily? How was she supposed to feel good about denying herself the chance to be in his life, to have him in hers?
But that was a question for later. Enes was still relaying instructions for the great cat migration, expressing his regret that he couldn’t be there that day, and she needed to glean any last-minute wisdom that she could.
It was decided then, once she and Burak were left to their own devices, that she would do one final check of the courtyard, while he began arranging the cat carriers and treats to lure the mama cats in advance.
“Good luck,” he said, once more pressing a soft kiss to her cheek.
“You too,” she replied. “See you soon.”