Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Sarah arrived to pick up Riley from the recreation center just after four thirty and found Simon sitting at a table near the coffee stand.
“Can I buy you a coffee?” he asked when she stopped to say hello.
“No, thanks. I can’t have caffeine in the afternoon or I won’t sleep.” She sat down in the chair across from him. “How did the visit with Raven go? Did she have any concerns?”
“She came in around noon, and the girls showed her the setup we have in the back with the playpen. She came out and asked me how the kittens got on when separated, and then she left.”
“So, no concerns.” Sarah smiled. “Good. Thanks for stick-handling that. And I do think things are going well, as long as the kittens have some time together.”
“So do I,” said Simon. “We can continue this for the next couple of weeks if you like. I have two more weeks of classes to teach, and the cats are out of the way in the storeroom. The girls have two weeks of volleyball camp, so they’ll be down the hall.”
“If you’re sure it’s not too much,” said Sarah. “I can take them on the weekends.”
“It’ll give me some time to do chores around my place. I have a room I want to paint this summer.”
“Maybe I can talk the girls into helping me weed the garden,” said Sarah. “Speaking of which, where are they?”
“I sent them to put the kittens into their carriers.” He glanced down at his watch. “They should have been back by now. Maybe we should hurry them along.”
He screwed the lid of his coffee cup tight and stood. Sarah walked with him to the pottery studio, only mildly concerned. Her daughter tended to take the scenic route in life.
When they arrived at the studio, they found the girls scampering around the empty room, looking under shelves with worried looks on their faces.
“What’s going on?” Simon asked, using his stern teacher voice to call the room to order.
The girls stopped, both of them on their hands and knees, and looked up at their parents.
No one spoke for a moment, then Sally squeaked, “Dash got away, and we can’t find him.”
“What do you mean he got away?” asked Sarah. Riley refused to look at her. “How could he get away from the storage room?”
“Um…”
“Riley?” Sarah’s eyebrows drew together as she glared at her daughter. Why did Riley always push things a little too far?
“Um… I just wanted to see how fast he could run on the shiny floor.”
“What?”
“We were running in the gym in our sock feet and sliding. I wanted to see if he could do that here. At home we have carpet.”
“And where’s Dot?”
“Dot’s in her carrier,” said Sally quickly. “In the storage room.”
“Go get her. Bring her out here,” said Simon. “She’s probably wondering what’s happening.”
“Yes, Daddy.” Sally ran toward the back room.
“Walk!” said Simon, and she stopped, then walked to the hall behind the studio. Both Simon and Sarah turned toward Riley.
“Are you sure he’s out here? There’s no way he could have gotten into the kiln room?”
“No.” Riley said. “We closed the door right away.”
“Good. Because in there he could knock over someone’s work and get hurt. I’ll go help Sally search in the storage room.” Simon walked out, and Sarah turned toward Riley.
“How could you?” she asked, exasperated.
“I’m sorry,” said Riley.
“Well, being sorry won’t help us find Dash,” said Sarah, straining her ears to listen for any little paw steps or mews. She heard nothing but murmuring from the other room.
“I’ll find him,” said Riley.
“You’ll have to,” said Sarah, pointing toward the shelves at the other end of the room. “You start at that end, and I’ll start at this end.”
Riley, looking sheepish, scampered to the far end of the room and got down on her knees to peer under the shelves. Sarah bent down and peered under furniture and shelving at her end of the room. A moment later, Simon and Sally returned and, at his direction, she set Dot’s carrier down on the floor.
“Maybe he’ll come out if Dot is here,” he said.
“Good thinking,” said Sarah, crouching down to peer under another shelf, hoping to see a pair of blue eyes peering back at her.
The four of them each took a wall and worked methodically along, peering, crouching, and standing. They were all disappointed. “Where could he have gone?” asked Sarah. “Are you sure you didn’t leave the door open at all?”
“No. We didn’t,” said Sally. “He has to be here.”
But he was nowhere to be found and, a half hour later, Sally and Riley were both crying in frustration. Sarah felt like doing the same, but while a good cry had its benefits, it wouldn’t find a lost cat.
“Any other ideas where he could be?” asked Sarah, standing up again after looking under all the furniture for the tenth time.
“I’ll look in the kiln room,” said Simon.
“He won’t be there,” said Riley. “We closed the door right away.”
“So the door was open when you let him out?” asked Sarah.
“Not for very long,” said Riley, looking to Sally for confirmation.
“No, not for very long,” agreed Sally, though she looked less certain than Riley on that point.
Simon shook his head and walked to the back of the studio—and returned a few minutes later, holding an unrepentant Dash next to his chest. The kitten looked at them as if to say, “I won at hide and seek!”
Sarah smiled in relief. “Where did you find him?”
“Curled up in a bowl on one of the lower shelves near the kiln, fast asleep.”
“Thank goodness,” said Sarah, reaching out to take the kitten.
“He’s probably thirsty,” said Simon to Riley. “Do you think you can give him a drink of water and put him into his carrier?”
“Yes, sir,” said Riley, reaching up to take the cat from Sarah, contrite for the moment.
“Well, that’s one way to spend an hour,” said Simon.
Sarah laughed. “Let’s hope we don’t have to do it again anytime soon.”
“Did you have dinner plans?” he asked. “I’m thinking of ordering some Chinese food tonight. You and Riley are welcome to join us. We can go over the cat rules again.”
Sarah considered declining, but she was hungry and, after the past hour, had to agree that going over the rules again, all together, wouldn’t go amiss.
“Let’s do that,” she said. “I just need to go home for a few minutes to change.”
“Is forty-five minutes enough time?”
“Perfect,” she said, ushering Riley out of the room ahead of her. “And thanks for finding Dash.”
Simon shook his head and gave her a lopsided grin. “It could have been much worse. I could have lost someone’s treasured mug.”
Sarah smiled back, waved a small goodbye and headed home, feeling just a little too excited about the prospect of Chinese food at Simon’s place.
“I’m sorry, Mom,” said Riley.
“You need to take care of Dash,” said Sarah. “He’s a little kitten and could have been hurt today.”
“I know, but—”
“No buts. I told you kittens are a huge responsibility, and you promised me you were ready to take it on.”
“I know, but…”
“But what?”
“I didn’t know he would take off like that and hide.”
Sarah stopped at a stop sign and turned toward Riley. “Really? You’ve never had to hunt for him at home when he ran under furniture?”
“Well…”
“Riley, when you asked me to get a kitten, you told me you would take responsibility for the kitten’s care. Being responsible doesn’t mean finding excuses when things don’t work, or blaming things on Dash.”
“But—”
“Do you understand what I’m saying? I don’t want to have to take the kittens back, but if you and Sally can’t keep up your end of the bargain…” A car honked behind her, and she looked through the windshield to find the light was now green.
“All right, all right,” she said under her breath, glancing both ways before pulling ahead and through the intersection, their conversation done for now.
Simon drove a silent Sally home after picking up the food from the local restaurant.
“What happened?” he asked her.
“Riley said it would be fun to watch him run and skid, but he didn’t skid like she did. He just ran and ran.”
“You know you aren’t supposed to run in the studio.”
“I didn’t. Riley—”
“Next time Riley wants to do something like that, you remind her of the rules, please.” Though he didn’t have the heart to reprimand her further.
This was his fault. He should not have left them alone in the studio.
He should have foregone the coffee and made sure they followed through. He was the adult in this situation.
Luckily nothing had happened to the little critter. He smiled as he thought of Dash curled up, fittingly, in a dish decorated with cats, fast asleep without a care in the world. The little imp.
They pulled up in front of the house and he said, “Once you get Dot settled, go wash your hands and set the table. They’ll be here soon.”
“Yes, Daddy.” Sally climbed out of the car looking guilty, though he knew she wasn’t to blame.
He knew how headstrong Riley was and should have anticipated something might go wrong.
Sarah had her hands full with that one, and, while the kittens were adapting, he would try to give her a hand if he could.
Sarah arrived only ten minutes after he did, looking very different in a blue summer dress, the hem of which was sprinkled with marigolds, some of his favorite flowers. She wore her hair back in a large clip.
Riley stood beside her with Dash when he opened the door.
“Well, what do you have to say to Simon?” asked Sarah, before they came inside.
Riley looked down at her feet and shuffled from one foot to another.
“Riley?”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let the cat out of the room.”
“Well, we both learned a lesson today. I should have been there. The room and you are my responsibility.”
“Thank you,” said Sarah. “Riley, set Dash into the pen with Dot and go wash your hands. I smell dinner.”
Riley looked up at her mother, relieved to have been forgiven, and went off to join Sally, who had finished setting the table and was now in the living room, likely hiding from his frustration.
Though he rarely yelled at his daughter, she knew when he was displeased, just as he knew most of her moods.