Chapter 109

I bent and scooped him up, and rubbed my chin over the fur on his head.

“He missed you.”

“I missed him too.” Although to tell the truth, I hadn’t let myself think about him, because I’d been afraid Poppa had thrown him out as well. I flexed my fingers in the fur on his neck.

“Now come, Teo. Tell me everything.”

I opened my mouth but then closed it, at a loss as to how to respond. Faster bumped my hand, wanting to be stroked more. He’d always been an affectionate cat, and I ran the backs of my fingers under his chin.

“Oh, I know what you have been doing over the years,” she said. “Acacia has shared your letters with me. What I want to know is how you met, how you fell in love.”

I put Faster down and draped my arm around her shoulders, then led her to the sofa in the living room. It was so tiny three of them could fit in my living room at home. “Well, you see, Ma. A friend of mine was beat up, and…”

* * * *

“Kali oreksi!” Ma exclaimed as we sat down to eat.