“Snoozle, you can retract the claws.” I bent over and lowered the monster to the ground. He looked up at me and let out a gruff meow. “I hear ya, Snooze.” The poor cat had so many variations on his name it was a wonder he knew it at all.
Well, crap on a cracker. I didn’t buy cat food. Turning back to the kitchen, I wondered where the grumpy old tomcat had been. Wallie and I had searched all over for Snooze with nothing to show for it. Apparently that crazy cat didn’t want to be found.
I opened the cabinet with the canned food and pulled out the tuna while conjuring my grocery list to add Snooze’s food. He was a special kitty and would only eat the most expensive food on the market, no thanks to Winnie for spoiling him.
Snooze purred loudly and rubbed against my legs. After draining the water from the tuna can, I emptied the contents onto a plate and lowered it to the ground. “Eat up, Mr. Snoozles.”
My thanks were the growl-like sounds he made when he ate something he loved. It was a good thing I’d picked up tuna for myself. I laughed at the cat and left him to his meal. “I’m heading back to my office.”
If I didn’t tell him where I was going, he’d walk around the house meowing as loud as he could, even though he could just follow my scent.
Crazy cat.
As I walked past the front door, someone pounded on it loud enough to wake the dead in the next town over. Geesh! “It’s the police. Open up!” I cursed after I collected my heart off the floor and put it back in my chest. I might have screamed a little.
Marching over to the door, I jerked it open about to bless out whoever was trying to break down the door. I stopped short when I saw my best friend standing on the other side. His brown hair was in its usual unruly mess, which looked amazing on him. Dark blue eyes sparkled as he smiled at me.
As I took in his deputy uniform, I burst out laughing. I was correct that the knock sounded like it came from the police. “You didn’t need to knock like you had a warrant for my arrest.”
Sam Thompson, my best friend since the first grade, chuckled. “How do you know I don’t?”
“I know. I’ve been too depressed to get into trouble.” I meant it to be funny, but it came out pathetic.
Shaking his head, Sam’s smile fell, and he stepped closer like he was going to hug me. I stepped back. I couldn't. I’d finally got my emotions under wraps. If I hugged him, the flood gates would open up. Instead I held out my hand. “It’s great seeing you again.”
He took another step, forcing me backwards. “Sam, don’t you dare.”
He leaped forward, grabbing my arm and pulling me into him, hugging me tight. The feel of his arms around me cued the water works. Warm and secure. Sam was a great hugger. So had been Clay. I gripped his shirt and buried my face into the center of his chest. “Jerk.”
“It’s good to have you home.” I heard the door click shut.
After a few minutes, I wrapped my arms around his back. “I miss him.”
Sam sighed and framed my face as he leaned back. “I know.”
“And I miss Aunt Winnie.” I hiccupped a sob, only making him tighten his hold on me. Sam was the brother I never had. Always had been. We had this instant connection from the moment we saw each other in the first grade. “None of this was in the game plan.”
He rested his cheek to the top of my head and just held me and let me soak his uniform shirt. I wasn’t sure how long we stood there. In true Sam fashion, he didn’t tell me things that everyone else had told me. That it would be okay. Life goes on. Sam didn’t say any of those things. He just held me and let me pour out all the emotions that have been bottled up inside me.
When my tears finally stopped, I stepped out of Sam’s embrace and wiped my tears from my face. “Not to mention, Wallie left me, too.” I was a mess. It was all too much. Winnie’s death triggered the grief from losing Clay, then Wallie going to school added to my loneliness.
I stared at the huge wet spot in Sam’s shirt and frowned. “I’m sure the washer and dryer work. Maybe.”
When I reached to touch his shirt, he took my hands and held them in his warm grasp. “I have a clean one in the car.”
Of course, he did. That was Sam. Taking a deep breath, I waved him toward the kitchen. “Want coffee?”
“Sure. Olivia said she saw you at the store earlier today. Since I was in the neighborhood, I thought I’d check in with you. You know, since you called and let your bestie know you were here.” His low chuckle made me smile.
“Just in the neighborhood, huh. You always keep clean shirts in your patrol car?”
He flashed his infamous smile that always got him out of trouble. Or into trouble, depending on his mood.
After starting the coffee, I took out two cups and turned to study him. “That little guy of yours is way cuter in person.”
Sam’s face lit up. “He gets it from me.” He winked then added, “He’s a handful.”
“They usually are at that age.”
Sam glanced down at the large Maine coon stretched out on the floor as if seeing the humongous beast for the first time. “How is that cat still alive? Isn’t he like a hundred?”
“No.” How old was Snooze? Winnie got him as a baby when I was sixteen. And I’m forty-three… “Damn, that cat is twenty-seven years old.”
I studied him for a long moment. Snooze didn’t look any older than the last time I saw him, which was a picture Auntie sent me a few months before she passed. His coat was perfectly groomed and shiny. There were no signs of grey hairs or any other signs of aging like most elderly cats get.
It was a total mystery.
“Do you think that time you healed him after he fell from the top of the stairs did something to him?”
I jerked my attention back to Sam. We were in our senior year in high school and Snooze was a little over a year old and not as big as he was at the current moment. Clay and I had just started dating a few weeks before. I tried to put that memory out of my mind because that was the day Clay found out I’m a witch with not so normal witchy powers.
Snooze had chased the three of us, Sam, Clay, and me, through the house, playing like we always had. The darn cat was a force and so energetic when he was in his younger years. Clay and I ran down the stairs and the crazy cat leapt off the top. The landing was rough, and I was sure he broke a lot of bones.
Shock and fear that I’d lost my pet flooded me, making me shake and my magic run wild in my veins. I hadn’t had as much control over the necromancer part of myself, like I wanted to believe. Not like I do now. I didn’t think of what I was doing as I laid my hands on Snooze and pushed magic into him. All I thought was how much I loved that cat and wanted him to live.
Shaking out of the memory, I frowned down at Snooze. “That would have only added a year to his life.”
Surely I hadn’t made him immortal. I wasn’t sure that was possible.
Sam shrugged. “I’ve got nothing. Then again, I don’t understand how a house can come to life either. I just roll with it because your family is way cooler than mine.”
A laugh escaped me. Sam had always told me that. He teased that it was the reason he was my best friend. To be cool. Only I wasn’t the cool kid in school. Olivia made sure of that.