The Right Wrong Number

by Katie Warren

Universe, how you mock me with the added trials you have hoisted upon my nine lives.

Your absence isn’t quiet. Sometimes it’s the loudest thing on earth. It weighs down on me so heavily that it makes it impossible to breathe.

When his gaze connects with mine, he gives me a polite half-smile that has the cutest dimple I have ever seen. He’s the kind of man I’d make a sandwich for.

I know it was just a mix up, a wrong number, but maybe it’s the right wrong number after all.

I wish he could see that I don’t want him to stop loving James. I’m not asking him to stop loving him, I’m asking him to make room for me. I can never take James’ place, and I don’t want to. His grief over the death of his husband comes with him, and I would never try to take that away from him.

It hits me, this feeling in my chest. He doesn’t just feel like home. He feels like everything.

Once I get this lady human who reeks of pureed grasses out of this house, I will have unsanctioned kibble. Until then, I will hack up all my hairballs in her room and make sure to interrupt her nap times to nudge her along. She must go. Unsanctioned kibble, here I come.