“I don’t think he’s afraid of you, Mom,” said Alec now. “He just doesn’t want to inconvenience Odelia. He’s a real gentleman that way.”
“I think he’s scared of me—which should tell you something about the guy.”
Alec laughed.“Oh, for crying out loud, Mom. Don’t you want Odelia to be happy?”
“She’s very happy with me. We’re like peas in a pod. BFFs for life. A girl needs her grandmother, there’s no two ways about it. She knows I’ll be there for her always.”
“A woman also needs her man, and you’re standing in the way of that,” Marge insisted.
But Vesta simply rearranged her features into her most mulish expression and gave her the kind of stare Marge remembered from when she was a little girl. Frankly she wouldn’t blame Chase if he were afraid of Vesta. Most men were. Heck, most humans were. She was a little scary. She also could be very sweet, but right now there was no sign of that.
“Is this about Tex?” she asked. “Are you still upset he cancelled your credit cards?”
Vesta shrugged.“Water under the bridge as far as I’m concerned. He begged me to come back so I did. We’re good, Tex and I. In fact we’ve never been better.”
Marge directed a quick look at her brother, who nodded, then dug into her purse and brought out an envelope and slid it across the kitchen table at her mother.
“What’s that?” Vesta inquired frostily.
“Just open it and you’ll see.”
Vesta narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but couldn’t contain her curiosity. She picked up the envelope and tore it open. A credit card dropped out and fell onto the table. Vesta stared at it, then slowly picked it up. It was a red-and-gray AARP Chase Bank credit card.
“I’m not with the AARP,” said Vesta, taking a firmer grip on the card.
“Doesn’t matter. There’s plenty of advantages for everyone,” said Alec.
“I read that the Sapphire Preferred Card offers travel rewards.”
“When do you ever travel, Mom?” said Alec.
“There’s a hundred dollar cash back,” said Marge.
Vesta’s grip around the card was tightening, her cheeks now flushed and her eyes glittering like Gollum when he took possession of the one ring. “What’s the catch?” she finally asked.
“Move back here,” said Marge. “Give your granddaughter some space.”
Tex wouldn’t be happy, but that couldn’t be helped. At least Odelia had a shot at landing herself an actual date with Chase again if the cop wouldn’t find his date’s grandmother breathing down his neck when they got home from the movies.
“Fine,” said Vesta finally. “I’ll take your blood money.”
The credit card had disappeared into the folds of the flowery dress she was wearing.
“That’s great,” said Marge, much relieved. “You won’t regret this, Mom. We’re also getting you that new mattress you asked about—the one with the memory foam, we’re installing a faster modem and a new computer so you can surf to all of your favorite websites a lot faster. And Tex has promised to look into that cruise you wanted to go on.”
A smile had appeared on Vesta’s lips, and for the first time in a long time she looked satisfied. Then the smile disappeared, as if wiped away with a squeegee. “You could have saved yourselves a lot of trouble if you’d just listened to me in the first place.” She got up and grumbled, “The lengths an old woman has to go to to get anything done in this place.”
“So when are you moving back?” asked Alec.
“Let me sleep on it a couple nights. I’ll let you know.”
And with these words she was off at a surprisingly quick pace.
Marge leaned back.“I swear to God, Alec, if she doesn’t move back here this week you have my permission to bodily drag her over and handcuff her to the bed.”
Alec grinned.“I’ll bet by now she watched plenty of YouTube videos on how to get out of those handcuffs. That mother of ours is one tough old goat, hon.”
“And don’t I know it,” Marge sighed.
Chapter 49
It had been an eventful day, so I was glad to be home again. Gran was out, and so were Odelia and the rest of the family, but when we arrived at the house Milo was ensconced on the couch as if he owned the place—which by now he probably thought he did—so I decided it was time for a heart-to-heart with our annoying visitor.
“Where have you been?” he asked when I trotted in through the pet door.
“Your former home,” I said, and watched his response.
A slight smile slid up his face.“Slumming, have you?”
“Why did you send Brutus to the pound?” I asked.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“You wanted to show him what it was really like, didn’t you?”
He didn’t respond.
“How did you end up there?”
He shrugged.“I merely was part of the entertainment. The all-star band to entertain the inmates. Like Elvis Presley with hisJailhouse Rock.”
“Oh, don’t give me that crap, Milo,” I said. “You may fool others but you don’t fool me.”
He gave me a quick sideways look.“No, I guess I can’t.” He paused, seeming to think things through, then finally relented. “Fine. I was part of a litter of five. All of us were relegated to the pound, along with our mother. Punishment for her human’s stupidity, I guess. What human doesn’t understand that cats have a tendency to get pregnant? At any rate, I spent a good chunk of time down there, watching my brothers and sisters be doled out to deserving new owners, as well as my own mother. Finally my time came and I ended up with Aloisia and I was glad for it.”
“She treats you well?”
“I can’t complain. Only problem is that she doesn’t allow me to go outside.”
“That’s not very nice.”
“It’s her way of protecting me. In fact this vacation at Odelia’s is the first time I’ve been allowed out for years. And it’s been a lot of fun.”
“Why do you keep spreading lies and setting cats up against each other?”
His mouth closed with a click of his incisors.“I’m not sure I like your tone, Max.”
“I know you don’t, but I still want you to answer me.”
He glared at me for a moment.“You’re way too smart for your own good.”
“Is it because you developed lying as a coping mechanism at the pound?”
“And now you lost me, Mr. Amateur Shrink.”
“I think it is. I think you learned to survive by creating trouble amongst the others—anything so they wouldn’t notice what you were up to. Did you steal their food when they weren’t looking? Drink their milk when they were fighting amongst themselves?”
Milo laughed.“You think they serve milk in there? You are so naive, Max.”
I studied him for a moment.“What if I convinced Odelia to talk to Aloisia? Tell her to give you more freedom? Install a pet door, just like the one we have? That way you wouldn’t be confined to the house. You could even come and visit. Go to cat choir. Be free.”
He was regarding me suspiciously, as if trying to detect either a flaw in my reasoning or duplicity in my offer. He must have realized I wasn’t kidding, for he finally said, “Why would you do this for me, Max? I haven’t exactly been very nice to you or the others.”
“I don’t think you’re a bad cat, Milo. In fact I think deep down you’re a decent one.”
“You don’t know me very well, do you?”
I shrugged.“I guess I don’t. But I’m willing to take a chance on you. Are you willing to take a chance on me?”
For the first time since I’d made Milo’s acquaintance he was speechless. Finally, he said, with a lump in his throat. “I know I’ll probably regret this but… I am, Max.”
“Great. That’s settled then.” I held up my paw. “Put it there, ‘bro.’”
After a moment’s hesitation, he did put it there, and we shook paws on it.
Just then, the others walked in.“Hey, did you hear aboutKit Katt& Koh, Milo?” asked Dooley.