Page 117 of Fish in a Barrel

“I should go see him,” he said softly.

“No, no. Wait.” Burton gestured with his chin, and Ellery paused in mid-cat-stroke and glanced around the room in concern. They both watched as he gave a pointed sigh and then moved the calico cat gently from his lap (she was displeased—he had to disconnect her claws from the hem of his cargo shorts) and stood, heading toward Ernie with a puzzled frown on his face.

“Have you seen—”

Burton and Ernie both pointed behind the kitchen door to the garage. “There’s kittens,” Ernie said quietly, and Ellery gave a sad little smile.

“He’s not great at parties,” Ellery apologized, but Ernie shook his head.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have made you come.”

“Oh no!” Ellery looked genuinely distressed. “No, not at all.” He gave a fond smile over his shoulder to his mother. “She doesn’t celebrate her wins,” he confided. “Jackson told me that last night before we fell asleep. We should stay so she could be queen for a day. Don’t tell her he said that. He likes to pretend she’s Satan.”

Ernie laughed a little, delighted. “Not a word,” he promised. “I just forget, not everybody likes parties.”

Ellery shrugged and gave a shrewd glance to where Amal was talking to Jai, his face alight with awe. “Lots of people are walking around with arrows in their hearts,” he said. “They just choose their places to bleed. For Jackson, it’s parties.”

But Ernie had met Jackson on one of the worst days of his life, had grabbed his hand and gazed into his soul and seen the torn edges trying to stitch themselves together. He wasn’t bleeding quite that badly anymore; Ellery had seen to that. But even if he managed to staunch all the bleeding everywhere, there would always be scar tissue, ragged seams, sharp edges, where his soul had been patched.

“For Jackson it’s a lot of things,” Ernie said gently. “But I’m glad he found a place here where he could hide from all the people.”

“I’ll go check on him,” Ellery said, obviously uncomfortable with Ernie knowing so much.

But Ernie couldn’t help it. “Tell him we have a cardboard crate for the one you two pick out. They’re eight weeks old now. One of them’s ready to go home.”

Ellery’s eyes widened as he disappeared into the garage.

Ernie stood still, eyes closed, with Cruller’s arms securely around his waist, until that arrow of loneliness passed, leaving only a vague ache in its wake.

In response Ernie fell back against Lee’s hard body just a little more. “We should do this again,” he said dreamily. “After Jason brings his boyfriend back to the desert.”

“I beg your pardon?” Lee asked, his entire body stiffening.

Ernie sighed. “You know, I didn’t even know I was going to say it until it came out. Can we just pretend it didn’t?”

Lee sighed. “Sure. Sure. That’s fine. That’s great. I should call him. Do you think I should call him?”

Wonderful. Lee had gone an entire three hours without worrying about Constance that day.

“When everyone’s asleep,” Ernie told him, patting his hand. “It’s brewing, but it’s not ready to boil over yet.”

Burton relaxed infinitesimally, and Ernie leaned into him again. “It’s always something, isn’t it?”

“As long as it’s something with you.”

ELLERY FOUNDJackson sitting on a carpeted box in the garage. There seemed to be a couple of them, for both feline and human use, and Ellery glanced around, noting that no cars had ever been in this garage.

There were, however, several cat trees, carpeted shelves in varying heights off the ground, and a wall of food and water bowls, as well as a bank of cat boxes, that, while not pristine, had certainly been changed that day.

And nearly twenty cats moving about—thin, feral, sleek ones and fat, fluffy, spoiled ones. The entire garage—and much of the house—was given over to cats.

“They make Ernie happy,” Jackson said as Ellery sat down next to him.

“I can see why,” Ellery told him, leaning comfortably against his side.

Jackson gave him a brief smile and then moved to squat next to the six-by-six-foot portable enclosure at his feet. “This one,” he said, reaching down to pull up a black kitten with enormous green eyes.

“You want him?” Ellery asked.