Page 52 of Keystrokes and Kittens

On that thought, I joined him for a walk during the sunset.

Chapter Fourteen

Soren

“Ipromise the next time we come that we’ll bring Stormy.” Noah grinned. “She loves Tibby and she’ll be great with the kittens.” He gazed at them with admiration. “They’re doing so well.” He knew about Carlos and had been empathetic—which Sam appreciated.

“Nice of you to come over to facilitate the official greeting.” We sat on the floor—in a penned enclosure—with Tibby, Peaches, and Jack. Now everyone was formally introduced, Tibby was fascinatingly watching as the kittens climbed all over her while Sam and Christian were in the kitchen preparing the burgers for the barbecue.

The actual grilling was my job.

Noah shrugged. “Tibby’s a great dog. I recognized that from our first class together.”

“When she was eating my laces?” I rolled my eyes.

“Even then.” Noah sipped his diet cola. “She was the best in the class for the therapy-dog training. I’m also going to send you tips on socializing the kittens. Bottle-fed youngsters cansometimes be a little feisty since they don’t have a mom to teach them manners. You’re going to have to learn to hiss and set boundaries now that they will be out of the crate.”

“Oh, that reminds me—the nursing home has approved our application. We make our first visit next week.”

“Yeah, I’d heard.” Noah glanced over his shoulder. “We’re not telling many people, and we don’t expect you to keep this from Sam, but we’re going for our final interview to become foster parents next week. We’re cutting back on activities in case, you know…”

“Oh God, Noah, that’s amazing. I know you and Christian have wanted this for so long.”

He nodded. “Dillon—Christian’s boss—is prepared to give him whatever time off he needs. The house is ready. The pets are as prepared as they can be.”

I cocked my head.

“We babysat Flora’s kids. At our house. I have to say that Sleepy—” He shrugged. “Darn dog slept the entire time. The kids kept Stormy, Sable, and River continuously engaged.” Those were the three dogs the men had rescued.

“And Snowy? Jasmine?” Their two rescue cats.

“Handled things surprisingly well. Even asked for attention a couple of times. We’ll see how they’ll do with super young kids who have grabby hands. I suspect they’ll just jump high and get out of the way—it’s what they do whenever we have exuberant puppies in the house.”

“Wow.” I rubbed my forehead. “That’s amazing. I know it’s all you’ve ever wanted.”

“You mean aside from marrying my best friend, starting a dog-training business, and having a house full of rescues?” Noah chuckled. “Yep. Right up there on the list.” A shaft of light hit his dark skin, and it shone. Much like what happened when I caught sight of Sam in a beam of sunlight.

“What was on the list?” Christian stepped over the edge of the pen and dropped onto the floor. Another ray of light caught his red hair, and his green eyes sparkled in amusement.

Peaches and Jack both made a beeline for the new arrival.

“Being foster parents.” Noah reached for his husband’s hand.

Christian blinked. “Yeah. That.” He cleared his throat and pivoted his attention to me. “You’re having a burger?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“What about your thingy?” He pointed to his gut.

For a moment, I was completely confused. Then I understood. “The liver enzyme issue?”

He nodded.

“I have to be careful what I eat. But a burger will be okay.” Even as I said the words, though, I did a quick backward reflection on my diet for the last month and winced inwardly.

“What liver enzyme issue?” Sam stood just outside the pen with a plate piled high with burgers and corn on the cob just waiting to be grilled.

I rose. “Nothing to worry about. Let me get going on that.”