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“Can you tell me what happened?” I lace my fingers through his so he knows that I’m not going anywhere.

Falteringly, he explains his history with Niko, including what happened after he was laicized. My stomach tightens, but I can’t bring myself to be upset with him. I know a little of what it feels like to have the rug yanked out from under you like that, your whole life falling apart before your eyes. When it happened to me, I just pulled away, withdrew from everyone. Ben lashed out, and I can’t judge him for that, especially when I can tell how much he regrets it. Annie finds her way back to us while he’s talking and tucks herself under his arm.

“Well, we have our new cat now, so we could just go home…” she suggests quietly when he finishes speaking.

Ben shakes his head. “No, I’m not running away. If I see Niko, I’m just gonna man up and apologize. I owe him that. Don’t worry,mi amor.” He kisses the top of her head and we keep walking. I buy a few things for the new cat, and tell Ben and Annie to start thinking about names.

When we’re ready to leave, we go back to the adoption area, where Mak already has him waiting in a carrier. She and Jaime make me swear that we’ll all come to karaoke night soon, threatening to repossess the cat if we don’t. I’m on Cloud 9 as we make our way out into the parking lot, until we walk out the front doors and I hear a rather timid voice behind us.

“Ben?”

The man standing beside a concrete pillar smoking a cigarette is cute, in a nerdy kind of way–blond curls hanging over his blue eyes, thick glasses, and a maroon sweater vest. I have to assume this is Niko based on the fact that he’s looking at Ben like a kicked puppy.

“Niko…” Ben’s voice is spiked with anxiety. He glances at me and pulls his keys out. “Hey, uh…can I meet you two at the car?” I don’t want to leave him alone for this. I want to stand there and hold his hand and make sure he knows that Annie and I love him no matter what, but she tugs on my sleeve, pulling me away.

I swallow and just say, “Yeah, that’s fine.” Holding the cat carrier tight in one hand, we walk across the parking lot. When I glance back at Ben, Annie gently takes my other hand.

“He will be alright,” she assures me, but as soon as we get to the car, I put the cat in the backseat and Annie and I sit in the front, where we can watch Ben talking to Niko on the sidewalk in front of the building.

“I hate this,” I tell her, tapping my fingers anxiously on the steering wheel.

“Do you not think that Niko deserves an apology?”

“Of course he does! But…I just hate that Ben feels like he has to do it alone. When Ros came over, he was there for me. I wouldn’t have made it through that without him. And you too…” I take her hand and kiss the back of it.

“Breathe, love,” Annie tells me. “I can feel you becoming emotional. I do not wantherto feel it too. Please.” She puts her hand on my chest and I take a few deep breaths. I focus on the warmth and softness of her touch, willing the rising tide back down, tucking it away, but keeping my eyes on Ben. His shoulders are hunched and Niko has his arms crossed, but even from this distance, I can tell Ben is being genuine, not trying to charm or joke his way out of it.

Finally, Niko appears to relax slightly and uncrosses his arms, then motions to the parking lot. Ben smiles, rubs the back of his neck, and laughs. Niko smiles too, they shake hands, then he goes back inside and Ben starts walking toward us.

“See, I told you,” Annie says to me. Ben appears lighter when he gets back in the car, but I can tell he had a few drinks at the event, so I insist on driving us home. He sits in the back next to the new cat, who does not enjoy the ride at all. By the time we get backto my apartment, he’s making a weird scream-squealing sound, so I quickly get him set up in the laundry room and shut the door to give him some time to decompress.

“So,” Ben says, grabbing me around the waist as soon as I enter the kitchen, “a new job? That’s exciting, even if it is just scooping animal shit all day.”

“What will you be doing exactly?” Annie asks. “Or I suppose…what willwebe doing? Since I will be accompanying you.”

I pause before opening the fridge. I hadn’t even thought about the fact that Annie and I still can’t be very far away from each other. She’ll have to stay ‘inside’ me while I’m at work, and Ben will be alone all day. Right now, everything feels good and safe, and I want to enjoy it, so I decide that it’s an issue for tomorrow-Theo. I open a can of Dr. Pepper and lean against Ben, who puts his arms around me and kisses the side of my neck.

“It’s just cleaning kennels and cat cages, taking the dogs outside, feeding them, and then doing some stuff on the computer when they need me to.”

“I hope the animals do not…dislike you, because of my presence,” Annie says, biting her lip.

“The new cat seems alright with you,” Ben points out. “What are we naming him anyway?”

“I was hoping you two might help me,” I laugh. “I’m terrible with naming animals. When I was a kid, we got a dog and I named him Bill.”

Ben grimaces. “Ugh, that poor dog.”

“In my defense, it was after the pony fromLord of the Rings,” I laugh, but Ben just shakes his head.

“Nope, we’re naming the cat.”

Annie glances anxiously down the hall toward the laundry room.

“Give him some time to settle in, sweetheart, and then I’m sure he’ll warm up to you,” I tell her, going over to kiss the side of her head. Ben starts pulling a few things out of the fridge to make dinner, but before I can wash myhands to help out, my phone dings. I have a few missed texts from Molly and my mom, and one from Mak asking for pictures of the cat, but the new texts coming in...

“Ben…” I say quietly. “Ros is texting me.”

He sets his knife down and asks, “Do you want me to read it first?”