CHAPTER ONE – THE MEETING
"HERE, KITTY, KITTY! HERE, KITTY, KITTY!"
*Damn Haley's cat!* I thought to myself as I looked into the tree. I heard the faint cry of a frightened kitten, but I couldn't see any of the orange furball. My patience was at its end – until I looked over to the stoop where my towheaded daughter sat.
She was curled up in a sitting fetal position. Her face was wet with her tears, her chin in her hand, and she was slowly rocking back and fourth. My beautiful, six-year-old daughter was completely distraught. I had to do something. And that's when I met Amy.
I had seen Amy in our building before. She has a son a bit older than my Haley, and they go regularly to the park around the corner. I had seen her soft, voluptuous form going down the steps, a ball glove in one hand and her son's hand in the other. I knew just from what I had observed that she was no ordinary plastic-barbie-girl that I was used to dating. She intrigued me, hearing her spout off the stats of baseball teams and watching her throw a football to her son. I wondered what kind of a dolt would walk away from such a woman.
"DADDY!"
Haley screamed as a gust of wind shook the tree. A terrified howl came from high in the branches. Or so I thought.
Amy and her son just happened out of the building at that point.
"Hi," her son walked up to Haley. "What's going on?"
"My kitty is stuck in the tree. I was gonna give her a little walk, but I didn't know..." Haley began sobbing again.
"My name's Trevor. What's yours?"
"H-h-h-haleyyyy ..."
"What's your kitty's name?"
"B-b-b-belle" Haley spoke slowly between big, gulping sobs.
Trevor walked over to me. "Hi. I think Mom and I can get your kitty down."
I looked around and saw the woman I had been watching for so long standing behind me. She had her hands on her hips, obviously lost in thought. Her auburn hair glistened in the sunlight, and at that moment, I wondered why I had always been so shy in speaking to her.
I finally found my voice as I approached her: "Hi. I'm Mike. Can't get Haley's cat out of the tree. I think I'm too big for the branches. Any ideas?"
"Nice to meet you, Mike, even under such stressful circumstances. Trevor has been up and down this tree for ages. If you can find a ladder so I can go up and help take kitty out of his hands, then I bet we can perform a daring rescue."
Haley's face brightened. "Really?! Do you think you can save my Belle kitty??"
"Yes," Amy said as she knelt down to be face-to-face with Haley, "I think Trevor and I can do that."
I sprinted off to the superintendent's office to borrow a ladder. As I came back around the building, ladder in tow, I saw Amy sitting next to Haley having a lively conversation. Trevor, on the other hand, was up under the tree, watching.
"Whatcha see, son?" I asked – not thinking about calling him 'son'. Kind of a natural reaction, really.
He turned and squinted at me then back up to the tree. "See? There's a little orange butt. I think that might be Belle. Whaddaya think, Mr .... Uh ...."
"Call me Mike. It's okay." Trevor turned to his mother and she smiled and nodded.
"Okay, Mike ... I think if you put the ladder right HERE, it might be okay for me to climb .."
Trevor sounded much older than his seven years would normally have allowed. I decided to take his advice and I put the ladder against the tree and braced it on the ground as best I could. Suddenly, I felt Amy beside me. I could smell her: she smelled like soap and warm vanilla cookies.
"I'll take it from here, Mike," she said with an air of confidence.
I saw her motion for Trevor to go first, and then she followed him up the ladder. I decided that I would steady the ladder for the both of them. I actually wanted to watch her magnificent ass for a moment without her knowing I was doing it.
Trevor was like a monkey, talking softly to a frightened kitty while shimmying up the tree like he was born there. Amy was talking softly to him and to kitty, too, coaxing her closer as Trevor climbed higher. I became worried that perhaps Trevor would slip and fall, but so far, the boy seemed very adept at what he was doing.
"Easy, Miss Belle," I heard him murmur to the frightened feline, "It's gonna be alright. I'm here to take you back home to your family."
"Hand her to me carefully, Trev, I don't want you slipping!" Amy kept her voice low and calm, as to not frighten the kitty and cause a major disaster. I saw Trevor grip the tree branch with his legs and disengage Belle from his shirt. Her claws were trying to grasp anything in sight and her cries could be heard for blocks, but Trevor never moved quickly. He gently placed Belle in Amy's hands, and then began his descent from the branch to the ladder.
Amy snuggled Belle to her neck. Suddenly I wished it was me that had the privilege of that snuggle! Amy guided Trevor's foot to the ladder and together they climbed down to the ground.
"MY KITTY!!!" Haley bounced in delight.
"Haley, let your daddy take the ladder back while I hold Belle, that way we know she won't get away. When he comes back, we'll take kitty back inside, okay?"
Haley nodded, just being grateful that her fuzzy friend was once again safe and sound. Amy, Haley, and Trevor sat on the steps, petting Belle, until I once again rounded the corner after having put away the ladder.
"I think we ought to take Belle inside, don't you, Haley?"
"Sure, Daddy. Can Miss Amy and Trevor come, too?"
"I guess so. If they want to."
We all got up and went inside. My apartment is large: I needed the space in order to have a studio portion to house my burgeoning architectural career. I decided, after Haley's mother left us, that I needed to be as close to home as possible, so I left my lucrative job at one of the top architect firms to start my own business. I found this apartment - not much more than warehouse space, really - and fell in love with its potential. I have half of the upstairs loft, Amy the other half. The bottom floor houses a restaurant and a bookstore. I constantly smell Italian food and old books, but the space has allowed me to have enough room for Haley as well as my studio.
The space is very open, save our bedrooms, which are to the far end, separated by a huge bathroom. The kitchen is against one wall, the space separated from the rest of the room by a bar, which houses the sink and a dishwasher on one side, bar stools on the other side. I have cordoned off a space for living, and a space for studio. Haley knows the difference. She's only six, but has learned that studio is not a place for her toy.
My décor is relatively sparse. I prefer modern lines, lots of wood, leather, and chrome. I have a huge television and just about every electronic device known (okay, so I'm a bit of a techno-junkie). My drafting table, computer, and such sit at the other end of the room. One side of the building is all windows, so there is a lot of light during the day. I have a large leather sectional that helps to delineate where the living area stops.
I opened the door and allowed Haley and our guests to enter first. Amy stood and stared.
"VERY nice, Mike! I like what you've done with the place!"
Haley put Belle down, and the kitty immediately ran to her food and water dish. Haley took Amy by the hand (she has never taken any woman by the hand before) and led her around, telling her what area was what, then taking her excitedly to her room to show off her collection of stuffed animals and decidedly "girly" stuff. That left me and Trevor alone.
"Wow ... you have an autographed Babe Ruth baseball?"
"Yep. My dad left it to me."
"COOL!" He looked around further and found my walls covered with sports stuff. Lots of things were left to me by my dad, who was the biggest sports fan ever. I, on the other hand, like sports, but I don't let it consume me.
Trevor flopped down on the wine-colored sectional and eyed all the electronics.
"You must have 100 remotes for all this, Mike!"
"Almost!" I laughed. He was a very funny kid. "I think I have five or six. I'm always looking for them!"
I could see his wheels turning. In a moment, he said, "Y'know ... it would be easier if you had a way to keep them all together. Like on a board or something. Maybe with Velcro or elastic ..."
I looked at this seven year old. Dear god, he was smart, too! So smart! "That's a grand idea, Trev. I think I'll see if I can't figure something out with that!"
About that time, the girls emerged from "Girl Land". Amy was grinning as Haley chatted on.
"Well, Trev," Amy said to her son, "I guess we need to let these nice people get to their day. We have a date to play football, remember?"
Trevor got up, and realized he didn't have the ball. "Mom, I forgot the ball at home. Can I have the keys to go get it?"
"Sure, I'll wait for you outside."
Trevor bounded off across the hall, while Amy turned to make her exit.
Suddenly, my throat went dry and words left me. I cleared my throat, a bit louder than I had intended, because Amy turned to look at me with upraised eyebrows.
"Um ... Amy? Thanks so much for what you and Trevor did today for us. And for Belle. I really appreciate your help."
"No problem! I'm sure you would've done the same ..." She turned and reached for the door handle.
"Uh ... wait," my voice stopped her and I saw her hand drop. She turned back to me, her green eyes searching my face. "I was wondering, if maybe, I dunno, you'd like to grab dinner sometime – without the kids – and maybe get to know each other a bit?"
