“Oh, Joy! Hi, baby, come here.” Mrs. Norman gives her a tight hug complete with rocking back and forth. “You’re back early; did you have a good trip? How was the weather? Was it nice? You know, we had nothing but a nasty muggy overcast here.”

“It was really great,” Joy says. “The cabin and lake were absolutely perfect. So beautiful.”

Pepper starts meowing, squeaky as ever, from somewhere deep inside the apartment, getting louder and more frantic as she gets closer.

“Oops, she done heard you,” Mrs. Norman says with a laugh. She moves out of the doorway to give Pepper a clear path. “Here she comes.”

“Hi, Pep,” Joy croons. “Did you miss me?” She scoops Pepper up, holding her in the usual position—curled up and close to Joy’s shoulder. “Thank you for watching her.”

Pepper hides her face in Joy’s braids, purring like she’s entered a motorboat contest. She’ll be like this for the rest of the day, only asking to be put down to use the litter box or eat, coming right back directly after and expecting to be picked up again like the princess she is.

“No problem. Let me go get all her stuff.”

In her apartment, Joy tries to relax by doing nothing, but after days of constantly being around people, with an agenda full of activities, it’s hard to slide back into sloth mode.

She takes a shower while Pepper sits dutifully on the toilet waiting for her to finish, unpacks under Pepper’s direct supervision, makes something to eat while Pepper rubs against her legs, and then . . . crashes. She falls asleep with Pepper partially laying across her face to make sure Joy doesn’t go anywhere else.

It’s completely dark outside by the time Joy wakes up. She yawns—and gets a mouthful of cat hair. “Pepper! No sleeping near Mommy’s face!” She rubs around her mouth and sits up. Not completely awake yet, she knows all she needs is a quick glass of water and she’ll fall right back asleep. But instead of doing the smart, healthy thing, she checks her phone.

Grace sent a few video messages: