Return to Virgin River (Virgin River #19) - Robyn Carr Page 0,11

first half, the magic that was Jack’s Bar began to happen. People wandered in, recognized her as the girl from the fire, introduced themselves and tried to think of a house she could rent. She met Connie from the store across the street, Tom Cavanaugh from a local orchard, Jillian, who ran a small farm of specialty fruits and vegetables, Luke Riordan, who owned some cabins on the river, and Dr. Michaels, who worked with Mel. They all mentioned other neighbors and in no time at all she felt she’d met or heard about everyone in the town. When she finished her breakfast, she dabbed her lips and pushed her plate away. “I was going to see if I could write for a little while, but I think I have to go to the pet store.”

“Congratulations,” Jack said with a grin. “You’re a kitty mother.”

“I haven’t decided I’m going to keep him,” she said.

“But why not? Everyone needs a companion. Especially a writer. So, what kind of stuff do you write?”

“Well, mysteries. Scary mysteries.”

“Are you famous?”

She paused before giving her standard answer. Only to my mother. “Hardly anyone knows me. Thanks, Jack. That was absolutely great.”

“I’m hoping you’ll be a regular,” he said.

She gave him some money and he gave her directions written on a napkin. “Try not to find any more kittens. My daughter is almost six. Very vulnerable to small, cute animals.”

“I’ll keep my eyes closed,” she said with a laugh.

And she thought, In eight months nothing has changed and suddenly, in one day, I feel like life could be interesting again.

* * *

Kaylee had never had a pet. When she was quite small it was because her parents worked and there was no time to take care of a pet. When she was six, not long after her father left them, she got that nasty dog bite. He was just some wayward dog loose in the park and of all the children there, he bit Kaylee. That eliminated the puppy notion, plus there was even one fewer person to take care of a pet. Her mother liked cats but when she was around Grandma’s cats, her sinuses plugged up and she sneezed a lot. Grandma had to put the cats in a room when they visited, but that didn’t help too much because the dander was everywhere.

Kaylee had a girlfriend who had two cats—one was sweet and cuddly and the other one seemed to think she was leasing her space to the humans. Her friend’s cats didn’t bother her sinuses at all, so that was one issue she wasn’t worried about. But because of her closeness with her mother, a cat as a companion had never occurred to her.

“So, I found a kitten,” she said at the pet store.

“How old?”

“I have no idea,” she said. And she made her hands into a small cup.

“Boy or girl?”

“I also have no idea,” she said.

“It’s a little hard to tell when they’re babies, but... Well, you better see the vet right away—it might need formula. You’ll want to have it neutered because if you don’t, you’ll have a batch of new kittens before you can say ‘here-kitty-kitty.’ Now, what do you need?”

“I was hoping you’d tell me.”

An hour later she was on her way back to Virgin River with the back of her SUV full of supplies from kitty litter and food to a scratching post. She had a cat carrier so she could take the kitten to the vet. And once she got back, she spent the better part of an hour on her hands and knees looking everywhere for that kitten. She called for it over and over, but there wasn’t a sound. She was just about to give up when she pulled her head out from under the bed and something landed splat on her head, claws bared. And she screamed as if someone had come after her with a bloody knife.

She held on to the kitten with one hand and ran her fingers through her hair with the other, fully expecting to find blood. “You’re an evil little thing, aren’t you?” she said to the kitten.

Ah, but she had a sweet face. Or he did. She turned the cat over and gave it a close look-see. She thought it must be a girl, but she wasn’t completely sure. She decided she hoped it was a girl and she pressed her face into her soft black-and-white fur. And the kitten bit her nose. “Jesus!” she swore. “Maybe