sofa. “Or shouldn’t I ask?”
Cole shot me a look I couldn’t decipher, then shook his head. “Nothing important.”
I didn’t entirely believe him, but it obviously wasn’t my business, so I didn’t press the matter.
My dad came in with coffees, followed by my mum and a very large and very unfamiliar black-and-white cat. He had a bit missing from one ear and prowled in like a lion.
“Um . . . when did you get a new cat?” My mum was a huge animal lover, cats especially, but she already had two and they were the most antisocial pair ever when it came to other animals. But come to think of it, I hadn’t seen them at all since I’d been here. Which was odd, to say the least. “And where are Lucifer and Satan.”
She laughed. “Don’t call them that.”
Half-Bengal, half-Siamese brothers, they jumped on your shoulders and attacked you from around corners. Which was highly entertaining when it wasn’t you they were attacking.
“They’re upstairs sulking.” My mum sighed, a smile playing about her lips as the new addition sauntered over to me and promptly jumped up onto my lap.
He weighed a ton.
Not overweight, just solid, with massive paws.
He purred loudly as he circled around before settling down. Guess I wasn’t moving anytime soon.
“Where did this one come from?” I stroked under his chin, smiling when he closed his eyes and purred louder. I might be a bit of a cat lover myself.
I’d thought about getting one of my own before, but Evan hated them. In hindsight, that should’ve told me all I needed to know about him.
“He followed Mary home from bingo the other night and wouldn’t leave.” Mary was her best friend of over thirty years. “He was still there in the morning, looking a bit ragged, so she let him in for a bite to eat, but he wasn’t keen on her dog.”
“Okay?”
“Well, he kept appearing in her garden, so we asked around, but no one claimed him, and he isn’t chipped. The vet said he was full of fleas so probably hadn’t been looked after properly for a while.”
I immediately stopped stroking him and grimaced.
“We got rid of all the fleas, Finn. Stop looking so horrified.”
Still, I felt phantom itching all over my hands and arms. But a quick check of his fur revealed no intruders.
“Anyway, she couldn’t keep him, and I didn’t want to give him to a shelter. You know the older ones take ages to be rehomed. So here he is.”
“And your other two aren’t impressed?”
My dad laughed. “That’s an understatement.”
I could imagine the posh devil cats not taking kindly to a run of the mill moggy in their home. “What are you going to do with him?”
She bit her lip, her gaze dropping to the cat in question on my knee. “Well . . .”
“Nope.” I could see where this was going, and there was absolutely no way I was getting lumbered. “I can’t take him.”
“Why not?” She raised an eyebrow. “You love cats. You’d have had one already if it wasn’t for him.”
She had a point. But I’d always pictured getting a kitten, maybe two, and having them play around the house. Not . . . I looked down at the cat curled up fast asleep and purring loudly. As if knowing his fate was being decided, he stretched out his huge front paws, scrunched his face up, and gave an adorable little meow before settling back to sleep.
Well, fuck.
“How old is he anyway?” I sounded resigned to my own ears, and sensing victory, my mum beamed and launched into a very obviously prepared speech.
“Well, the vet thinks he’s about eight years old. He’s been neutered and doesn’t spray anywhere, so you don’t have to worry about that.” Thank god, because it hadn’t even entered my head. “He isn’t a fussy eater, and . . . I really don’t want to have to take him to the RSPCA, Finn.”
Yeah, me neither.
“Fine. Looks like I’m getting a cat.”
“Yes!” Cole yelled, holding up his phone and startling both me and the cat. “I win. Pay up.”
I looked from him to my parents and back again. “Win what? Please don’t tell me you had a bet on this?” I couldn’t believe them. “Which of you thought I’d let this guy go into a shelter?” Because, come on, even I knew I was sold the minute my mum said he needed a home.
Cole laughed. “That wasn’t the bet. You’re far too much of a soft touch for