Chapter 18
‘It’s so bloody unfair!’ Bella collapsed onto the sofa of Marieke’s small living room and let out a huff.
She’d been plastering on a decent smile for the punters of the Star and Telescope all evening, but her reserves of forced cheer had run dry about twenty minutes before the end of her shift.
Harrumphing her way through her end-of-night duties, she’d thrown the towels from the bar into the washing machine and then got out as soon as she could, not even pausing to say goodnight to Paddy and Jen.
She’d spent the evening watching the door, apprehensive that Noah might walk through it.
She’d had four hours to reflect on the way she’d accosted him, and she’d had time to consider her actions and think about whether she’d been a tiny bit rash.
Although she was upset about Monty, shouting at his erstwhile owner in the street hadn’t been the wisest course of action.
When she’d explained to Marieke what she’d done, her friend had rolled her eyes and remarked, in her usual cool way, ‘Well, you’re not exactly renowned for your tact, calm and diplomacy, are you?’
‘I can’t help it if I love Monty to bits. He deserves better than that prick and his awful brothers.’
‘Be fair,’ Marieke had admonished. ‘The guy’s got a lot to sort out. I’m sure a geriatric moggy isn’t at the top of his list of priorities.’
‘Well, he bloody well should be!’ Bella’s eyes blurred with frustrated tears. ‘The way Mollie tells it, Jack was devoted to that cat. And Noah’s going to kill him off because he’s an inconvenience.’
‘That’s your trouble.’ Marieke shook her head.
‘You always see things in black and white. Noah’s a bastard because he’s doing something you don’t agree with.
Monty’s a gem, even though he’s a bad-tempered, vicious old kitty, so he must be preserved at all costs.
Don’t you think you might be being a bit ridiculous? ’
Bella sighed. ‘Look. I know Monty’s not… easy to love… but honestly, Mar, if I could adopt him, I’d do it in a heartbeat.’ She paused and looked hopefully at her housemate-cum-landlady. ‘I don’t suppose Gerard’s prepared to take one for the team?’
Marieke’s blonde curls bounced emphatically as she shook her head. ‘No way. I don’t like cats and Gerard sneezes enough as it is, just with the cat hair you bring in from the sanctuary.’
‘It wouldn’t work, anyway,’ Bella said gloomily.
‘This place is far too close to Jack’s old gaff.
Monty would be back down the road in two flicks of his stripy tail.
And I’m sure whoever buys Jack’s cottage wouldn’t exactly be delighted if they found it came with a sitting tenant!
’ Despite herself, she smiled at the mental image of Monty yowling on the stone doorstep, scaling the plum tree in Jack’s back garden and popping in to say hello to the unsuspecting buyer.
A further flight of fancy had Bella imagining Monty surprising the buyer in the shower – Monty, like most Bengals, loved water, and one of the only ways she and Mollie had found to pull him out of his dark moods was to install a drinking fountain in his pen.
That, at least, had provided some stimulation and distraction for the old cat.
‘Well, what’s done is done,’ Marieke said, but her tone was kind. ‘You can’t save them all, Bella.’
Bella’s throat constricted with sadness. ‘I know,’ she murmured. ‘But I really wanted to save Monty.’
Marieke smiled sympathetically and gave Bella a quick hug. ‘I know you did.’
The moment was broken by a ping from Marieke’s phone. Bella grimaced as she caught sight of a naked torso flashing up on her friend’s home screen before Marieke picked up the phone and swiped away the message.
‘Sexting again?’
‘Well, it’s the best we can do for the moment.
’ Marieke grinned and Bella heard the swoop of a message being sent back.
Bella felt a pang of guilt. She knew that Marieke was still holding off from setting a moving-in date for Gerard because she, Bella, hadn’t found anywhere new yet.
She couldn’t shake that feeling as Marieke’s phone pinged again.
‘Look,’ she said suddenly. ‘Why don’t we say I’ll move out at the end of the month? I think I’ve found somewhere I can rent nearby, and it means you and Gerard can finally have some privacy.’
Marieke’s face lit up. ‘You never said! Where is it? Will I still see lots of you?’
‘Oh, it’s just down the road,’ Bella replied vaguely. ‘And yes, of course you will.’
‘That’s great news!’ Marieke grabbed the Jack Daniel’s bottle from the cupboard. ‘A toast. To horizons new.’
Bella quickly necked her shot of bourbon before Marieke could interrogate her further.
She might not be able to save Monty, but at least she’d made Marieke’s evening.
The small fact that she didn’t actually have a place to move into wasn’t important.
At least, not for another month or so. Trying to squash the feeling of unease about lying to her friend, she resolved to double her efforts to find somewhere new.
If she didn’t, she wasn’t quite sure where she’d end up at the end of the month.
The next morning, even though it was her day off from both jobs, Bella couldn’t get Monty out of her head.
Noah was going into Purrfect Paws to sign the papers that authorised Monty’s euthanasia, and while Bella had no desire to see Noah again after their confrontation the previous evening, she felt drawn back to spend some time with the old cat before the end came.
He should know that someone was there for him.
Throwing on a pair of denim shorts and a long-sleeved T-shirt (she was taking no more chances where Monty’s claws were concerned), Bella headed to Purrfect Paws early. She had her own set of keys so she could let herself in. When she arrived, though, Mollie was already doing the morning rounds.
‘Did I read the rota wrong?’ Mollie asked as Bella closed the garden gate behind herself.
Bella shook her head. ‘Nope. I wanted to, well, you know.’ She inclined her head in the direction of Monty’s enclosure.
Mollie paused on the way to the cattery. ‘Remember what I said,’ she said gently. ‘You can’t get too attached. We’re here to look after them, but we have to know when to let go.’
Bella gave a thin smile. ‘I know. I just wish it was different.’
Mollie hurried off to give the cattery guests their breakfast. Bella gave another smile as she heard Ermentrude, the large, vocal Persian-tabby cross yowl impatiently.
Driven by food more than anything else, she hated to be kept waiting.
She was as cuddly and pliant as Monty was spiky and difficult, but she could certainly raise a racket if breakfast didn’t come on time.
‘Hey, Monty,’ Bella crooned as she carefully unlocked Monty’s living space.
Mollie had left him breakfast some minutes earlier, and Bella was pleased to see that most of it had gone.
Sick cats tended to go off their food, and there was nothing wrong with Monty’s appetite.
Not that it would matter soon. Pushing those thoughts to one side, Bella sat down inside Monty’s pen, a safe distance from him, and started to croon and chat to him about nothing in particular.
After a few minutes, Monty seemed to realise that she wasn’t going away and, with a high-pitched chirrup, he uncurled himself, stretched out his front paws and hopped nimbly down from his perch.
Bella, hiding her surprise, watched as he padded gently over to where she was sitting, the stare of his light green eyes seeming to bore into hers.
‘Hey, fella,’ she said softly. ‘To what do I owe this honour?’ Gingerly, she reached out her right hand as he drew closer, bracing herself for a lightning-fast side swipe.
But, surprisingly, this time, it didn’t come.
As if in apology for the scratch the last time, Monty butted his head against her hand and – heavens!
– started purring. The low rumble, a sound that neither Bella nor Mollie had heard much of since Monty had arrived, continued, interspersed with little chirps and breaths as Bella fussed him.
‘Did Mollie put some happy pills in your breakfast?’ Bella joked gently as Monty rolled over and displayed the spots on his tummy to the sunlight, which was pouring in through the top window of the enclosure now.
‘I’ll have to get her to slip me some, too.
’ She blinked furiously, remembering that Monty’s days were numbered, once Noah signed the consent form.
‘It’s not fair, is it, Monty?’ she murmured.
Monty looked shrewdly at her, before playfully grabbing her wrist with his front paws.
No claws, she realised, gratefully, but it was a reminder that he liked to assert himself.
‘I wish I could save you.’
Noah hadn’t even clapped eyes on Monty when he’d visited. Surely there had to be some way to show him that Monty wasn’t ready to be put to sleep. But as Monty continued to roll around playfully on the floor of the enclosure, Bella kept coming up short.