Her neighbor laughed. “Relax. I was kidding. Kind of. I really feel bad about him no longer feeling comfortable in his home. But there’s not much I can do about it—other than giving him up so he can find a new home, as hard as that would be.”

“Sorry. I can’t help you there. Maybe the tenant after me would like to adopt a cat.” Susanne pushed the heavy door open and held it for her neighbor to squeeze past her with the baby carrier. “Have a nice evening.” She tried to make a quick getaway before Katrin could involve her in more small talk about where she was from and why she wasn’t staying.

Instead of following its owner, the cat ran after Susanne.

“Muesli, no,” Katrin called. “You’re coming with me.”

The baby started to cry. Her screams echoed through the staircase.

Susanne wanted to cover her ears. After a day like today, this was the last thing she needed. The cat rushed ahead and waited for her in front of her apartment door.

“Come here!” Katrin started after the cat, carrying the screaming baby.

“Uh, you know what?”

Katrin gave her a desperate smile. “You changed your mind about wanting to adopt him? Any chance you might want the baby too?” She held out the carrier with the crying infant.

“No!” Susanne said vehemently, even knowing that the last bit about the baby had been a joke. “I’ll just put him into the backyard, and you can let him in once you’ve taken care of the baby.”

“Oh, thank you. That would be great.”

“No problem.” When Susanne unlocked the door, Muesli strode inside as if he had done so a thousand times before.

Great. Now her neighbor probably thought she’d let the cat in before. She closed the door and breathed a sigh of relief when the baby’s screaming faded away.

The cat went straight to the living room, jumped up on the recliner, and sniffed the coffee table, where he had found the muesli the previous evening.

“Sorry, no muesli today.”

He looked up as if recognizing his name. “Meow.”

“Nope. Forget it. I’m not feeding you, or you’ll think this is your new home.”

“Mrrrow?” He put his front paws on the armrest to be closer to eye level and looked up at her.

Somehow it reminded her of the way Frau Lamm had looked at her yesterday, when she had confronted Susanne about her use of the word you instead of we and had told her they were in this together.

“All right, all right. One bowl of milk—no muesli—and then you’re out of here, do you hear me?”

The cat followed her to the kitchen.

God, she was getting soft—and at a time when she could least afford it.

Chapter 6

Chapter 6