The Cat Sitter’s Cradle Read Online Free PDF Page A

me.”
    “Oh, sure,” I said. “I can do that.”
    “I’m asking you to go with me. Like a date.”
    “Yes, I got that.”
    “Just making sure.”
    I said, “No, I’d love to.”
    I couldn’t think of anything I’d rather not do. Not that I hadn’t been thinking about
     Ethan a lot lately, and not that I don’t find him completely irresistible, but the
     idea of going on a date with him made me so nervous that I wanted to stick my head
     in a hole.
    “I have a meeting at six,” I lied. “So I’ll meet you there?”
    “Excellent. Eight o’clock?”
    Eight o’clock seemed horrible. “Perfect. See you then!”
    As I clicked the phone off I heard him say, “Dixie, you don’t even know where—”
    The D-word, I said to myself as I rolled my cart into the checkout line. Ethan had used the damn
     D-word. I’d known it was only a matter of time before he asked me out on a date, but
     I still wasn’t ready for it. Did this man think we were going to be a couple now?
     Did he think he was just going to drop in and sweep me off my feet? Did he know things
     were over with Guidry? Were things over with Guidry? And did he not realize I had absolutely nothing cute to
     wear?
    Then I caught myself. There was that voice in my head again—telling me to run away,
     to hide, to stay safe.
    I decided for now I wouldn’t think about it. Six bags and three hundred and seventy
     five dollars later, I was back in the Bronco on my way to Joyce’s when the phone rang
     again. It was Ethan, but this time I let it go to voice mail. Ethan had used the D-word.…
    At Joyce’s, I carried the first two of the bags up the front walk and was about to
     set them down on the mat when Joyce slipped out the front door and pulled it closed
     behind her. She looked a little bit flustered.
    “How is she?” I asked. “How’s the baby?”
    “They’re fine, they’re fine,” she whispered. “They’re just waking up. But I have two
     things to tell you.”
    “Oh, no,” I said. “What happened?”
    She looked over her shoulder and then leaned in with a whisper. “There’s ten one-thousand-dollar
     bills in Corina’s purse!”
    I put the bags down.
    “What?”
    She said, “I know, I know. I shouldn’t have been going through her purse, but she
     was asleep and I thought I might be able to find a phone number, somebody I could
     call and let them know she was okay, a relative or something, and that’s when I saw
     the money. It’s just loose in her purse. Ten thousand dollars!”
    “Does she know you found it?”
    “No no no, she’s still resting and I put it right back. Oh, Dixie, why on earth would
     she have that kind of money in her purse?”
    I said, “Now, let’s don’t jump to any conclusions. For whatever reason, she has a
     lot of money. It could be her life savings for all we know.”
    “You’d think with that kind of money if she knew she was going to have a baby, she’d
     at least have gotten a hotel room.”
    “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about, and plus it’s none of our business.”
    Joyce didn’t look convinced, and to tell the truth I wasn’t too sure either. It did
     seem strange. Why would a young girl who apparently had nothing but a cardboard box
     and the clothes on her back walk around with so much cash? I had heard that illegals
     often come into the country with every penny they own. They need money to pay the
     people who help smuggle them in, and they have to pay for everything with cash. Still …
    We decided to let it go. For whatever reason, Corina had a ton of money in her purse,
     and it wasn’t our place to ask why. Although I did wonder if I shouldn’t give her
     my Walmart receipt.
    I said, “What’s the second thing?”
    “What second thing?”
    “The second thing you wanted to tell me.”
    She nodded. “Oh yeah. You know that dead bird?”
    “Yes?”
    “Well it’s not dead!”
    *   *   *
    Joyce’s handbag was sitting on the coffee table in the living