Jaxson's Song by Angie West

anything
further.
    This time, Kate leaned
over the railing and craned her neck to peer up toward the roof,
and, not seeing anything amiss, she shrugged, bent down, and
cautiously scooped up the cat, then headed back toward the
house.
    “ If you have any problems…”
    She paused long enough to
toss a look at him over one shoulder. “Yeah, I remember; don’t
worry, I have no intention of inconveniencing you again with my
problems.” Still cradling the cat, she walked back into her own
house without another backward glance. She used her foot to shut
the door, not bothering to latch it since they’d be leaving again
in a minute.
    “ Yes, you’re going to have to go, too, cat,” she told the
animal, absently stroking its short, rough fur as she entered the
front sitting room. “Sorry, but you can’t stay.”
    The cat meowed and its
tail swished against Kate’s arm. She refused to look into its
eyes.
    “ Forget it, buddy. Right now, the last thing I need is someone
else depending on me. As you can see, I’m not doing so hot at the
moment.” Kate exhaled. “Besides, I work all day, and Lilly will be
at school.” She paused. “Although, I don’t suppose you require a
whole lot of upkeep.”
    She did look at the cat
then, wincing over the pale scar that cut a path through the
animal’s fur, only a few inches from its left eye. The old wound
dipped down the side of its face, ending somewhere beneath its
chin. “I can’t keep you,” she repeated. The cat settled itself
securely in her arms and rested its head on Kate’s
forearm.
    She sighed. “I just became
a cat owner, didn’t I?”
    Glass crunched beneath her
shoes and she stared down at the mess on the floor of the sitting
room. Muted light filtered in through the sheers that hung on the
wide, dingy windows and reflected little prisms of light from the
shards of glass that littered the floor. Glass, glitter, and fake
snow was strewn over most of the intricate but threadbare Fleur-de-lis patterned gold-and-burgundy rug. A glance at the black marble
fireplace mantel showed two empty spaces.
    “ You’re here for less than a day and you’ve already broken two
snow globes.” She tsked and bent for a closer look. “And you’ve
nicked the floor.” She frowned at the fresh, chipped groove in the
wood floor. Tightening one arm around the cat, she reached with the
other and gingerly picked up the base that had belonged to the
larger of the two globes. The weight of the object was all but
insubstantial in her hand.
    “ How did you manage to gouge the floor like this?” she
mused.
    A clock chimed six times,
the gong reverberating throughout the house. The cat stiffened in
her arms, and Kate made little shushing noises in an absent attempt
to comfort the creature.
    “ Come on, we’ll hit the hardware store for some cleaning
supplies…and a new lock,” she said, snagging her purse from the
floor of the entryway where she’d dropped it earlier. She got as
far as the driveway before she stopped and groaned. Would anything
in Crystal Cove except the hospital and maybe a diner or two be
open this early? Probably not. But there was a Walmart about twenty
minutes down the highway; she remembered seeing it on the drive in
yesterday. Weren’t those usually twenty-four hour?
    Depositing the cat into
the passenger seat of the car, she plopped down into the driver’s
seat, tapped a quick text message to Lilly, cranked the ignition,
rolled her window down to dispel some of the humidity, shifted
gears, and backed out onto the street. The whisper of the wind as
it moved gently through the large, towering old trees and merged
with the swish of tires on damp pavement was the only sound to be
heard as Kate made her way onto the main road and left the silent
neighborhood behind.

Chapter Nine
    Shadow Boxing
     
     
    “ A nd when
you needed me, I came through …!”
    Kate belted out the
familiar tune as the last of the broken glass was propelled up the
hose of her brand