don’t get it,” Humphrey said.
“You stand there,” Becky pointed to one corner of the office. Then she pointed to the other and spoke to Nellie. “And you stand there. Laila will let Buffy and Mumu out in the middle. We’ll see where they go.”
“That’s . . .” Nellie looked worried.
Humphrey took in her expression. “A great idea,” he said.
“There you go,” Becky said. “Can I get Ben and Josh?”
“Nellie?” I prompted, wanting to give her a fair chance to object.
She pursed her lips. Then she folded her arms over her chest. Then she huffed a little. “Fine. This has gone on long enough.”
It was easy to see Humphrey thought he had an advantage, but I didn’t know why that might be. In any event, they’d both agreed, and it looked like our cat problem was about to be solved.
“Ben,” Becky called out.
“It’s going to get awfully crowded in here,” I said.
“We can move to the reception room,” Becky offered.
Ben opened the door.
“Let’s do that,” I said, making the decision. The more room the better, I figured.
We all trooped out to the reception area.
Humphrey chose one corner of the room, and Nellie went to stand in the other. Ben escorted Becky to a chair and sat down with her. Josh took charge of the cat cage, looking amused, and I back up behind the reception counter to stay clear of the action.
Josh removed the towel, and both cats crouched, looking tense.
“Let’s give them a minute to look around,” he said.
I wouldn’t have thought of that.
We all waited while the cats got oriented.
“Over this way,” Humphrey said in a low singsong voice.
“No cheating,” Nellie said.
“How is that cheating?” he demanded.
“I think they’re oriented,” Josh said and opened the door.
“Here, kitties,” Nellie called out in a high voice.
“Mumu, Buffy, kitty, kitty, kitty.” Humphrey crouched down and rubbed his fingers together.
In response, Nellie made little scratching noises with her fingernails against her purse. I couldn’t figure out what that was about.
Finally, Buffy poked her head out of the carrier.
“That’s a good baby,” Nellie said.
“Here, Buffy,” Humphries said.
Then Mumu wriggled past Buffy in the tight doorway, rushing at me, prompting me to leap back while she jumped and landed on the reception counter.
“Not cats too,” Josh said to me.
Becky gave us both a puzzled look.
“Not cats,” I said. I had a healthy fear of long, white fur against navy blazers, that was all.
“It’s okay, Mumu,” Nellie said.
Mumu yowled, clearly not convinced it was okay.
I was beginning to feel guilty for stressing them out.
Still in the cage with only her head poking out, Buffy looked from Nellie to Humphrey then back to Nellie again. She made her decision and rushed into Nellie’s arms.
Nellie beamed as she held the cat.
Mumu crouched on the reception counter, tail wagging, hissing her displeasure.
“Over here, Mumu,” Nellie crooned, petting Buffy.
“Kitty?” Humphrey tried. “Kitty, kitty?”
Mumu eyed Humphrey for a second. Then she made a giant leap in his direction, hitting the coffee table on the way, sending some brochures flying as she skidded her way into Humphrey’s arms.
“Right,” I muttered to myself. That was the flaw I’d thought of last night. Now what?
“I was first,” Nellie said. “That should be the tie-breaker.”
“That wasn’t the rules,” Humphrey said.
“Listen,” I said. My voice was louder than I’d planned, but I was running out of patience. “You’re going to have to share the cats. Two weeks on, two weeks off, or Mumu with Nellie and Buffy with Humphrey. There’s no way to solve this perfectly and, quite frankly, we’re wasting too many billable hours trying.”
“You’re charging us for this?” Nellie asked, sounding appalled.
“Yes,” I said. Hitting them in the pocketbook seemed like a great way to encourage an agreement.
They both looked at Becky, obviously hoping for a different answer.
“Don’t look at me,” she said. “I’m on medical leave.”
“Well,” Nellie harrumphed.
“What she said,” Humphrey concurred with Nellie.
“And . . .?” I asked them both.
“Two weeks on, two weeks off,” Nellie said.
“Agreed,” Humphrey said.
“Case closed,” Josh said.
“There’s paperwork,” I felt compelled to add.
“Just do it as fast as you can,” Humphrey said.
“I promise I will.”
*
Josh hung back as everyone filed out of the office, Nellie and Humphrey with the cats and Ben making sure Becky was steady on her feet.
“I didn’t like how we left it,” Josh said as the door shut behind them.
“I’m going to stick around for a while.”
“You are?” He cracked a smile.
“To the end of the week,” I said as I straightened the papers Mumu had messed up on the reception counter.
Josh moved