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“Okay, Mom.” He touched a finger to her cheek. “You look so young.” He smiled a weak smile, blinked slowly, then staggered back into his room, closing the door behind him.

“See?” said Chase. “Weed is good!”

“Yeah, right,” she said, and then they were hurrying towards the last door on the left. To her elation, it was ajar. And just as they entered, two cats came trotting out. Max and Dooley.

Max said,“The phone is on the nightstand,” and she gave him a wink before he and Dooley disappeared down the hallway.

She briefly wondered what had happened to Harriet and Brutus, then shrugged off the thought and followed Chase into Wolf’s bedroom.

Chapter 23

“I told you I’m not talking to that dog and I’m not talking to that dog!” Harriet was saying. In fact she’d rather be anywhere but there, but duty had called and Harriet wasn’t one to shirk her duties. Once on the scene, though, she’d had one of her typical change of hearts. The prospect of sitting in a crowded room and chatting with some obnoxious odoriferous canine was too much for her, and she decided to turn back and go and sit in the car. Odelia would understand, she knew. She would give her a cuddle and that would be it.

Today had already been a day of high emotion and the dog thing simply was too much! No dogs! Not on top of everything else that had happened!

Brutus, of course, didn’t understand. That was a dude for you.

“But we have to talk to the dog!” he said. “We promised!”

“No, Brutus. I’m not doing it. If you want to talk to the dog, go right ahead and do it. But I’m not going anywhere near that smelly mutt.”

“Oh, you don’t know if he’s smelly. Maybe he smells like a rose. I’ve met dogs that smelled to lavender, expensive French perfume, even licorice! Humans are crazy that way.”

She knew humans were crazy. She’d lived with them long enough. But not as crazy as Brutus, for throwing away the love they shared for a chance to sniff some skank’s butt.

“I want to be alone now, Brutus,” she said as dignified as she could.

But of course he wouldn’t listen. “I’m telling you, it’s a matter of perspective. My nose was nowhere near Darlene’s butt. It only looked that way from where you were standing.”

“You were there. Darlene was there. Enough said. Now please leave me alone.”

“I know it was a mistake for me to follow her there. I admit that,” he said, tapping his chest. “But the moment I realized my mistake, I told her! Or at least I was going to tell her.”

“You were going to tell her with your nose buried up her butt? Nice try, Brutus. I’m not buying it. Now go away.”

“It’s a matter of perspective!”

“Oh, buzz off, buster,” she said, and stalked off. This time, at least he had the decency not to follow her.

She hadn’t lied. She did want to be alone. She’d been with Brutus for so long now it was hard to imagine her life without him. She truly loved the butch cat, from the moment he’d come into her life, all bluster and big talk. She’d seen right through that, of course. She’d known instinctively thatunderneath all that bluster lurked a tender soul and a good heart.

She also knew that he probably realized he’d made a mistake by following Darlene into that clearing—or had she followed him? It was hard to say, and she wasn’t going to take either Darlene or Brutus’s word for it. They were both lying through their teeth, both for different reasons. But she found it hard to forgive him. If a tomcatstrays once, he’ll stray again. It’s just the way they’re built. Max, she knew, would never stray once he gave his heart to a cat. And nor would Dooley. Until now she’d believed Brutus wouldn’t either.

That’s why the whole thing with Darlene had shocked her to the core. And now she didn’t know what to believe. All she knew was that she didn’t want to see Brutus. At least not for a while. Until she decided how to proceed.

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Brutus walked off, and kicked a rock as he did. This was probably the worst day of his life. Or at least up there among them. It reminded him of the day Chase’s mother had decided to hand him off to her son. Chase’s mom hadn’t been well, and decided she couldn’t be trusted to take care of her cat. Besides, she was moving in with her sister, who wasn’t allowed to keep pets in her rent-controlled Bronx apartment. So on to Chase he went, and thenlady luck had come through for him and he’d found a new home. Even better than before: a home with great humans, and three great cats who he now considered family.

It had been tough in the beginning, though. He and Max had clashed frequently. He’d had the mistaken belief at the time that only one cat could rule the home and he’d decided that he was that cat. Now he realized there didn’t have to be one cat in charge. They were all in charge. Max had opened his eyes to that, as had Dooley. And Harriet, of course.

Brutus had never known love before. Now he did. And then he’d gone and lost it.