Page 31 of The Linebacker

Patches hesitated a moment, sniffing her surroundings, a paw pressed tentatively to the tiles. But her hesitation was brief. Within moments she was out of the carrier, prowling around the kitchen, sniffing at the cabinets and batting at one of Lazlo’s toys.

Lazlo wiggled like a freshly caught salmon. Since he wasn’t hissing and wasn’t puffed up like he got sometimes when he was frightened, she placed him on the tiles, crouching over him, prepared to scoop him back into her arms if he didn’t play nice.

The two cats strode right up to each other and sniffed noses. Without a meow or poufed fur and tail, Patches turned away and headed to check out the living area.

Lazlo followed.

“Huh,” Diana said, watching the two cats as they climbed Lazlo’s cat tree and sat side by side, gazing out the window.

“Instant friends,” Amil said.

“Yeah.” She scrubbed at her forehead. “What are you planning to do? Did you magically find a house in the last week?” Without me?

If he wanted to go house hunting on his own—or, more likely, with Jalen—that was entirely his prerogative.

There was no reason for her to have hurt feelings.

“Not yet. I was kind of hoping you’d help me.”

“I was helping you.” She didn’t hide the bitterness in her voice. “But then you dropped me.”

“Dropped you? What are you talking about?”

“I haven’t seen you at all this past week.” Great, she’d shifted from bitter to whiny.

He arched his brows. “Did you want to see me this past week?”

She pursed her lips and did not dignify that with a response.

“You could have called me at any point, Diana. I had no idea you wanted…” He paused. “What is it, exactly, that you want?”

You. She shook her head. “In this moment, I think the more important question is, what do you want?”

“You,” he said, echoing her own thoughts.

Her jaw dropped to somewhere in the vicinity of her chest. Amil tapped on her chin, and she snapped her mouth closed.

“Your help,” he clarified.

“Yeah, you need to find a house, like, yesterday.” She glanced over at the two cats, whose tails were twined together. Good thing Lazlo was fixed. Considering Amil adopted Patches from the humane society, chances were, she was too.

Otherwise, there might have been a few patchwork kittens in their future.

“In the meantime,” Amil said, pulling her attention back to him, “me and Patches need a place to stay.”

She flapped her hand at him. “You’re buddies with your teammates now. You don’t need me to ask one of them for you.”

“I don’t want to stay with one of them.”

“Okay.” She supposed she could understand that. That would be a lot of togetherness, both on and off the field, never having a break. Although plenty of players were roommates, especially the younger, newer guys who didn’t make the big bucks. Hell of a lot cheaper to split the cost of a two-bedroom place than to carry that financial burden alone.

Ask her how she knew this. Diana had roomed with Emma and Allison through college and then continued to do so until she came to Portland to work for the Mountain Lions. Since she happened to be stingy with her money, she’d been able to afford to purchase a place of her own.

Her own space.

That had felt so lonely, she’d ultimately adopted a cat.

“You need help looking for a hotel that takes cats? Or maybe an Airbnb. You could rent it by the month until you find your own place,” she suggested.