I love cats.

It’s funny. I didn’t even think of adding them to my books until… let’s see… A Question of Sincerity? My focus before was so completely on the characters that I was blind to anything else. It’s still on the characters, mind you, but once I added Raji to A Question of Sincerity, I was like, woah! Why didn’t you do this the entire time?

Cue cats in A Question of Sincerity, Forged in Deception, and In Pieces. The last one isn’t out yet. For The Weight of the Fall I wasn’t able to add one, but believe me, I did think about it. The story wanted something else, though. Who am I to say no?

As I’m sitting here writing this, hungry, but with Ember asleep and purring on my lap, I’m contemplating—again—how much this cat has changed.

We adopted her on December 7, 2024, a day after our beloved Kit Kat passed away. I always feel the need to justify moving so quickly. Odd, isn’t it? But I can’t live in a home without cats. And while it was hard, I also think adding Twix and Ember to the family so quickly helped me heal.

For the first three and a half months, Ember spent her days utterly terrified in the farthest corner of our garage, behind a table that was leaning against the wall behind a shelf and a table tennis table. She was surrounded by three walls and felt safe there.

She still spends quite a bit of time in that spot. But she also spends a lot of time inside the house now. She even found herself a safe little hiding place in one of the donut caves I’d bought just for that purpose.

I remember one day when I went into the garage to get something. Ember had just been using the litter box. Her hiding spot is on the opposite end of the garage, and when she saw me, she scrambled back to it, utterly terrified, pressed low against the floor.

I obviously hadn’t moved. I’d just stood there. Worried. Sad. I was so afraid she would always be like that.

I spent hours every day sitting in the garage, reading or writing, just so she could get used to me.

Then, on March 23, 2025, I went out there to throw some treats into her hiding spot. Twix distracted me because he wanted some too. So I gave him a few, and when I turned around, Ember had come out of her hiding spot and was sniffing my hand.

I froze.

I didn’t dare move an inch.

Then I gave her treats, and she let me pet her.

From then on, it was a slow path forward. I spent an hour each evening sitting on a hard-ass cat bed on the floor, petting her and giving her treats. Eventually, she started sitting in my lap. It took months upon months before she came inside regularly and slowly got used to the rest of my family.

And you know the kicker? My spouse did nothing. She just sat in her chair in the evenings, working or playing games on her tablet.

And Ember? She imprinted on her. Started following her around like a little duckling.

And I was like, seriously? After all these hours I spent sitting on that hard floor? You just do nothing and get her? Naturally, my spouse preened.

But I’m happy. I’m happy because of how far Ember has come.

I treasure the moments when she sits on my lap, even if I’m hungry or really need to use the restroom. Sometimes, when I look at her, I still see the cat scrambling back to her hiding place in terror.

And honestly, helping Ember learn to trust me—to believe that she is safe and loved in this home—will remain one of my proudest accomplishments.

Right now while writing this…