The Blessings of the Animals: A Novel - By Katrina Kittle Page 0,23

again. I looked. Vijay.

“Mom,” Gabriella pleaded.

“Here.” I handed her the dress and bag. “Go put this in Nick’s car.”

As Gabriella ran down the stairs, Davy said to Zayna, “The best massage in town, right?”

Zayna smiled and nodded.

I answered my phone. “Vijay, please. I’ll call you back. Give me a—”

“You don’t sound right. What’s going on?”

Zayna stood there, twisting a curl of her shiny red hair around one finger, watching me with wide eyes. Why was she so nervous? Oh, my God, did she think we were stealing from Olive?

“Look,” I told Vijay and Zayna, “Nick is proposing to Olive today.” Zayna opened her mouth in a little O. “It’s a big, cool surprise, all is well, so please let me call you back—”

Gabriella clomped back up the stairs.

“But what’s the emergency? Your voice sounds all wrong.”

Gabriella stood in the doorway, contemplating Zayna. “Cool shoes,” Gabby said.

I looked. Strappy sandals, with heels that made her legs look like a ballerina’s.

“Let me finish this and then I’ll—” Shoes! “Oh, my God. We need shoes!”

“You didn’t pack shoes?” Davy grabbed his head in both hands.

“Mom!”

Still holding the phone I rushed back to Olive’s closet.

“Cami?” Vijay asked.

Clutching the phone between my ear and shoulder, I dug around on the closet floor and found the cream T-strap heels Olive always wore with the pink dress.

I stood up and turned around, barreling into Davy. “Here, Gabby, run these down.”

“Me? I’m gonna get caught now!” but she snatched them and ran.

“Cami, talk to me.” Vijay sounded panicked.

I took a deep breath. I had, after all, left a melodramatic message. “Bobby left.”

There was a pause. “Left?”

“Yes. Left. As in emptied his closet, packed up his car, and left me.”

Zayna put her hands over her mouth. I turned away from her.

“Oh, Cam. Cam.” The tenderness in Vijay’s voice prompted my eyes to sting.

“I should go—” Zayna said.

But Gabriella ran back into the apartment, blocking Zayna’s exit. “They’re coming!” she said.

“They’ll just get in the car and leave now,” I said. “We can hide up here until they go.”

“Hide?” Vijay asked. “Why are you hiding? Who are you talking to?”

“I’m talking to Gabby. Don’t worry. This is a good thing. It has nothing to do with Bobby—”

Suddenly Nick’s voice boomed in the stairwell. Way too loud he announced, “Okay, just hit the bathroom and we’ll be on our way.”

I reached out to quietly close and lock the door.

“I will call you back,” I whispered and clicked the phone shut again. “Hide.” Davy and Zayna fled to the balcony, closing the door behind them.

I started to follow with Gabriella, but Olive’s voice was right outside the door, her key rattling the lock, “Okay, Mr.-let’s-go-get-a-coffee, don’t be rushing me now.”

Nick laughed, loud and forced. He was trying his best to warn us. I grabbed Gabby’s hand, pulling her into the bedroom. She slid under the bed. I crouched down beside it, yanking the quilt over me. I still clutched my phone. I set it to vibrate.

“I just want to get on the road,” Nick said as they opened the door.

“Quit yelling,” Olive said. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

I heard Olive drop her purse and head for the bathroom. Oh, no—when Olive saw the mess I’d left, with cabinets and drawers open, she’d think she’d been robbed. But I heard only the sound of Olive peeing. Ah, thank God she was such a slob. I peeked out from under the quilt. Nick stood in the tiny hallway outside the bedroom and bathroom doors. I waved and gave him a thumbs-up. He beamed. When the toilet flushed, I curled into a ball and covered myself again.

The phone buzzed, wasplike, in my hand. I shoved it down the front of my pants and hugged my knees up to muffle the noise.

I stayed still until Nick and Olive’s footsteps faded on the stairs. The balcony door opened and Davy burst into whooping laughter. Gabriella crawled out from under the bed. Zayna left quickly, and Davy and Gabby went into the kitchen and sat on the floor, laughing and eating a bag of Olive’s Doritos, while I called Vijay and told him all about yesterday.

Talking to Vijay grounded me, as it always did. He grounded me before horse shows in high school, when I took my VCAT exam, when I got cold feet before my wedding.

I got cold feet before my wedding.

I’d forgotten, until now, how Vijay, looking dashing in his suit, had come into my little dressing tent, summoned by Olive. He’d taken both