Like a Bird (21 page)

A branch snapped behind them as Louis came pounding down the path and tripped on a tree root. “Ah, fuck,” Louis exclaimed as he fell forward.

The cougar hissed at them, its impressive teeth bared. Gareth and Wisdom charged, as Gareth hollered and waved his branch. The cougar bolted toward the thick woods with Wisdom chasing after him. Gareth caught Sky, who had started to run after the cougar. She turned to him, both of them panting.

“Are you OK?” he asked.

Sky dropped her stick and wrapped her arms around him, pressing her face into his hot, damp shirt.

Louis trudged over to them. “Man . . . the fun doesn’t end out here in the sticks, does it?” He leaned on his knees to catch his breath, his face patchy red, and wiped the sweat off his forehead with his shirt.

“Wisdom!” Gareth called out into the thick woods. There was no sign of either animal.

“Wisdom!” Sky shouted in her smaller, panicked tone.

“Stay here,” Gareth commanded before he ran off into the thick bush.

Sky paused for only a moment before she chased after him, while Louis groaned and dragged himself toward the log to sit down.

Sky ducked and squinted as leaves slapped her and branches scraped her arms. When Gareth was no longer in sight, she stopped to listen for what she couldn’t see. The wind rushed in and out, obscuring sounds at first.

Then she heard the wretched roar of two animals tearing into each other. The screams of pain made her heart pound and as the blood reached her legs, she dashed in the direction of the deathly cries. There was thrashing, her heart hitting her chest, her feet pounding the ground — and nothing else. As she slowed she could see the tail end of the cougar limping away a few hundred feet from her. She hid quietly until the cat was out of sight. Her wet hair clung to her face and she brushed it off, smearing dirt across her cheeks. Sky peeked above the scrub and noticed Gareth move through the trees. She walked toward him, carefully placing each step on the uneven ground.

Wisdom lay on her side, her gray-and-white fur stained with red. Gareth bent over her and stroked her back, his hand digging deep into her thick coat. When he heard rustling behind him, he spun round to see Sky, her jaw slack. He put his hand out to stop her approach. “You don’t want to see this,” he said.

Sky frantically shook her head, and tears filled her eyes until she couldn’t see where she was going. She stumbled toward Wisdom. Gareth didn’t stop her but stood with his head down and his hair covering his face. Through the strands he watched Sky sob as she ran her fingers through Wisdom’s coat for the last time.

“Don’t leave her here,” Sky pleaded and looked up at Gareth with salty streaks on her face.

Gareth squatted next to her and rubbed Wisdom’s ear. “I won’t.”

- -

A fluorescent light flickered overhead at random intervals. Kitty shifted on the table and paper crinkled and stuck to her legs.

“Here’s a prescription that’s quite effective. It’s just one simple pill.” The doctor handed her a paper with some scribbling on it.

“That’s it?” Kitty asked.

“Yeah, that’s it.”

“Thanks.”

“You can get dressed now. And remember to limit the number of new sexual partners. There are free condoms at the front desk. You can take as many as you want.” He nodded, gave Kitty a tight-lipped grin, and slipped out the door.

Kitty sighed and wiggled off the table, her bare ass clinging to the vinyl upholstery. She dressed then strode down the hallway to the front desk. On her way out, she grabbed a handful of condoms from a basket on the counter, with a few falling onto the floor, and shoved her hand in her purse.

When she was just two blocks from home, her phone rang.

“Hello.”

“Kitty, sweetheart. It’s Angelo. How are you on this beautiful day?”

Kitty’s face stiffened. “I’m all right. I’ve been better.”

“Keep your chin up, little angel. Things will improve. How is the bathing suit business?”

“Well, I mean . . . it’s going well. I’ve been doing a bit more research and drawing, and fundraising. How is . . . your business?”

“Very good. Things are fantastic.”

“Oh, hey, thanks for the clam, by the way.”

“Huh?”

“That was an unexpected treat,” Kitty clarified with sarcasm.

After a subtle pause Angelo replied, “I was calling to invite you for dinner.”

“Hmm, this isn’t a good time to talk. Can I call you back tonight?”

“I’m busy tonight, but you can call me tomorrow.”

“Bye, Angelo.”

Kitty knocked on her apartment door. From the hall she could hear Daniella singing in the shower, so she flung the door open to find Johnathan watching TV. She slammed the door shut a little louder than necessary and Daniella’s boyfriend jumped.

“Oh, hey. It’s you,” he said.

His long, dark hair had been cropped short and he’d taken out his eyebrow ring.

“Whoa, what did you do? You look like a different person,” Kitty said.

“Yeah, I had to cut it for an interview. I got a job though; I start tomorrow!”

“That’s great news.” Kitty dropped her things to lean over the armrest and give him an awkward hug.

“Thanks,” he said, smiling. “I’m gonna be working for someone my dad knows. I hope I don’t screw it up.”

“Well with that attitude you probably will. Relax about it, you’ll be awesome,” Kitty said from the kitchen. She came back with a sweet pink cooler from the fridge.

“I didn’t know we were celebrating so early,” Johnathan said.

Kitty groaned and tilted the bottle back. “I have man problems.”

“Oh?”

“I need to figure out how to manage an asshole. A rich, asshole.” She had another swig of her cooler.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

“Yeah. So tell me about this new job.”

“Don’t laugh, but it’s with a car rental agency.”

Kitty smiled.

“I’m totally broke, my parents are harassing me, and there’s no way I’m moving back home. Sometimes, when you want something bad enough, you just have to play the game.” Johnathan pointed to his hair.

“I like it, actually. What does Daniella think?”

“She was kinda bummed but said she likes a guy with a job more. So, there’s that.”

Kitty laughed and took another sip of her drink. Without warning, she jumped up to leave. Johnathan looked at her, puzzled.

“I just thought of something.” She scurried off to her bedroom as Daniella stepped out of the bathroom wearing a towel for a dress.

At her computer, Kitty typed Angelo’s name into the search bar. Pages of articles and images came up, most of which were business press releases full of useless bullshit. After scanning through the first twenty results Kitty, banged her forehead on the keyboard. “There must be something on you,” she muttered to the sleek Italian man on her screen.

She played with her lip until an idea hit. She opened up a new e-mail to Doug.

Hi there,

I need your help. I want to do some research on a potential investor and I don’t know much about him. I guess you would call it a background check? Anyway, all I have is a name and address. Would that be enough?

Miss you!

Kitt
y

She sent the message and spun around in her chair to face the clothing bomb that covered her room. After contemplating the chaos, she scooped up all the various piles like a machine and placed them on her bed.

Daniella’s voice called out from the living room, “Doug says he will put you in touch with his head of security. Her name is Kate!” Kitty flew out of her bedroom and swooped in to pluck her phone off the coffee table.

“Thanks,” she sneered.

“You’re welcome.”

Kitty read over the message herself and returned to her pile of clothes.

- -

“It’s my fault,” Sky whispered as she wiped tears from her cheeks.

“How could it be your fault?” Gareth asked the tiny girl curled up in his lap. He tightened his arms around her.

A fire flickered in the library, the only light in the room.

“If I hadn’t been reading by the creek . . .”

“The cougar would have gone after one of us eventually. I’d seen him hanging around here a while back, but I thought he had moved on. The wilderness is unforgiving. You’ll get used to it.”

Sky sat up and looked at Gareth. “I don’t think I can.”

Gareth pulled his lips into a barely perceptible smile. “You don’t have much of a choice,” he said.

Sky looked down and frowned. Suddenly, she pushed herself off Gareth’s lap and bolted out of the room. Bewildered, Gareth followed after her. Sky rushed for the bathroom and threw up in the sink. When Gareth reached the bathroom he put his hand on her back and hollered for Rose who, having heard the commotion, was already on her way.

Rose set Sky up in the comfortable guest bedroom to recover from whatever ailed her. With all the pillows and crisp sheets, Sky tossed around in the bed, unable to get comfortable. While she squirmed and cried into a handful of tissues, Gareth wandered in the back garden where the sun was warm and comforting on his skin.

He stood still with his eye closed and let the warm energy enter through his nostrils and swirl around in his lungs. He let out a huge sigh and surveyed the edge of the cliff where Wisdom had stood, looking over Sky when she had tumbled over the edge. Gareth stepped forward and his toe hit what he thought was a large rock. He looked down and saw it was an old bone that had belonged to Wisdom. With one knee resting on the path he picked it up and ran his thumb over the grooves she had made with her teeth. The marrow had been licked clean. Gareth gripped the bone and sniffled. He walked toward the cliff where she had once kept watch, and pitched the bone deep into the valley. A disturbed flock of birds startled him, their hundred tiny wings clapping out of sync as they swarmed the sky then settled into another tree.

Gareth walked back to the house. He could hear Sky’s sobs from the open window above him. Gareth frowned in thought. Once inside the back door, he pulled out his phone and opened a new message to Denise.

- -

On Thursday evening the pavement was damp from the rain, and Kitty stepped over a large puddle to avoid getting her new heels wet. With her phone at one ear, she hailed a cab as her purse swung in the crook of her arm.

“So let me go over that again,” Kitty said, sliding into the backseat. “His father’s name is Vincent, right? And he owns Altitude Airlines, Current Affair News Company, and United National Transport?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Kate replied.

“OK, and he was, what, twenty-something when his father fired him from the news company?”

“Yes, he was twenty-three. Some reports say he went crawling back after failing at his own media business, but either way, he now works for his father, who is very conservative and religious. He’s associated with a number of prominent Catholic organizations and donates a lot of money to related charities.”

“OK, good, this is really good stuff. You are a doll, Kate,” Kitty said as she hunted through her purse.

“Oh, my pleasure, you’re welcome.”

Kitty dug out her lipstick and performed a quick touch-up just as the cabbie pulled a sharp corner. She, and all her belongings, fell to the left. The cabbie shouted a hasty apology from the front seat.

“I gotta go. Maybe we can have lunch soon?”

“Yes, that would be nice. And I’ll check out your show.”

“Please do, it’s a lot of fun. All right my dear, have a nice evening. Bye-bye.”

The cab pulled in front of the restaurant as Kitty collected the contents of her purse from the seat and the floor. She paid the driver and gave him her card, in case she had left anything behind. While standing on the curb Kitty did a quick mental check: wallet, phone, lipstick? Yes on all counts.

She walked over to the picture window to adjust her hair and dress by the reflection. A gray-haired couple seated next to the window looked on from the other side. Kitty smiled and waved at them then headed for the front door, which a doorman swung open from the inside. Kitty jumped back and he smiled at her, just before he stole a glimpse of her cleavage as she breezed past him.

Angelo sat at a small booth by the window. He wore a dark gray suit and an orange tie, his hair slicked back in its usual style. As Kitty approached he stood to greet her. She held out her hand and he kissed the back of it before guiding her to her seat.

“You look stunning this evening.” He nodded toward Kitty’s dress. “Is that the dress you picked out?”

“Yes, you like it?”

Angelo raised one eyebrow and nodded. “I certainly do. You have very good taste. Different, but good.” He sipped his wine. “I’ve been here working for a little while, so I’ve been into the wine already. Would you like some?”