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Sydney turned so her body faced me. “One of her kittens, a little girl we named Luna was born the runt. That’s not unusual, but she became very attached to her. Over the months, we noticed they do everything together, eat, play, sleep, you name it, they’re together, so we consider them bonded. That means we need to adopt them out together.”
“Nobody wanted that?”
She frowned. “Not yet. Some people just aren’t interested in taking on two new pets at the same time or they can’t because of where they live or their financial situation. It just takes finding the right person or family.”
“Can I see them?”
Sydney smiled again and started moving. “Follow me.”
She led us to the back of the room where a fluffy gray cat lay watching a little white and gray furball play with a small ball that made a rattling sound. “There they are.”
I squatted down and held out my hand. The mom cat just watched me while the little ball of fur Luna came right over and let me pet her. She purred loudly as she moved through my legs and ran around to sit in front of her mom. “What’s Mom’s name?”
“Lilly.”
I let out a halfhearted chuckle and dropped my head. I felt Sydney’s hand land on my shoulder only moving it when I stood. “You good?”
“That was my mom’s name.” I admitted.
She tilted her head, a wide smile gracing her face. “I think that means it’s fated.”
I laughed. “Okay, I’ll take them.”
Sydney clapped. “You have to let me know what Maggie thinks of her new babies.”
We both turned and saw Ritz standing a little behind us, holding that damn black cat. He smirked. “I’ll take this one.”
We all laughed and followed Sydney out front to complete the paperwork. She agreed to hold them until we went to the pet store and got everything she suggested and then some. She laughed when she helped us out to the truck and saw the amount of shit in the back seat.
“Don’t say a word.”
She rolled her lips together. “My lips are sealed.”
We lifted all three carriers into the back seat, making sure Lily and Luna’s were right beside each other and then got in ourselves.
“Are you saving this surprise until tomorrow?”
“Yeah.” I turned on my signal and pulled out of the small parking lot. “Becs has agreed to keep them tonight.”
We drove the rest of the way in silence until I pulled into the parking lot of Ritz’s building. We grabbed his stuff, and I locked the truck, jogging up the stairs and handing him all the shit after he unlocked the door and set down the cat carrier in his hands. I gestured toward the cat. “What’s his name?”
“Oreo.”
I snorted and laughed, not surprised when he shut the door in my face. Jogging back down the steps, I got into my truck and took off toward Becs’s apartment. I’d already told her not to do anything with the kitty litter. Sydney had mentioned she shouldn’t because she was pregnant so I told her I’d fill the box, and it would be fine until tomorrow. I could tell Becs was excited and already planning to have cake and balloons for Maggie.
I just hoped this celebration would go better than the one to welcome her home. She was definitely in a better place this time; however, she was still shy so we’d have to be careful not to make her the center of attention for too long.
But there was no way she was missing another birthday celebration.
And I had every intention of making this one the first of many.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
GUNNER
“What do we know?”
I turned my attention to Pop who was once again sitting in on meetings. Over a year ago, he’d been appointed the chaplain and became somewhat of a mentor—to the prospects especially—but then his wife died, and he stopped doing all of it. This was the second meeting he’d shown up to recently and I’d say it was safe to say he was finally back.