Chasing Number 7

By Nic Tatano

A kitten found on a New York subway car is more than a fur baby.

 

In this case, the little tortoiseshell is a matchmaker.

 

Number 7 (named after the subway line on which she was discovered) needs a cat sitter, as her human is heading off on a long vacation. But when Number 7's owner inadvertantly arranges for two people to take care of the cat, serendipity ensues.

 

Will a cat be able to bring two people together who have given up on romance?

 

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nic Tatano
• Release date: Mar 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215442265

Nic Tatano

I've always been a writer of some sort, having spent my career working as a reporter, anchor or producer in television news. Fiction is a lot more fun, since you don't have to deal with those pesky things known as facts. I grew up in the New York City metropolitan area and now live on the Gulf Coast where I will never shovel snow again. I'm happily married to a math teacher and we share our wonderful home with our tortoiseshell tabby cat, Gypsy.

Book preview

CHASING NUMBER 7

By Nic Tatano

CHAPTER ONE

I’m a fried sandwich .

I know, that makes no sense, so let me clear it up for you.

I’m fried after a long day at work. And it’s only Monday.

And I’m currently sandwiched between six people on a subway car, one of whom has apparently taken a bath in a gallon of Jean Nate. The aroma mixes wonderfully with the cold, dead air of the car since the heat isn’t working.

On any other day I’d head straight home, drink wine straight from the bottle and take a bath.

But Number 7 needs me tonight.

I KNOW, THAT MAKES no sense either, so again, you need the secret decoder ring.

Number 7 is a cat.

She’s my friend’s fur baby, and since said friend is on a month-long cruise with her rich boyfriend I’m handling the care and feeding of the little tortoiseshell. Unfortunately for me my friend’s apartment is clear across town, hence the rush hour subway sandwich. But while there’s not wine and a bubble bath waiting at the end of this ride, the unconditional love I get from Number 7 makes up for it.

Oh, I guess I should explain the cat’s name.

My friend Daphne found the little kitten on, of all places, a subway car while she was riding home from a Mets game a year ago. Since the Number 7 line is the one that takes you to and from Citi Field, she thought it was a cute name for a cat. I have to admit, it somehow fits.

My name, somehow doesn’t, but I’m stuck with it.

I’m Stella D’Amico, and while you may not think that’s anything awful, the history behind it has made the eye roll my personal go-to expression. Why? Well, my mother had a thing for old movies, specifically ones with Marlon Brando. And there’s a character named Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire. During the movie Brando stands at the bottom of a staircase, and in his signature mumble yells Stelll...uhhhh! Now you would think this would no longer be a part of pop culture with the movie being from 1951, but during my freshman year in high school one of my classmates stumbled on the movie and started doing a Brando impression every time I walked by. Soon every guy in the class was doing it, often in unison. Imagine going to a football game and hearing Stelll...uhhhh! from the entire student body as I walked to my seat.

I don’t look remotely like the actress who played the character, who was a petite blonde. I’m a tall, curvy, emerald-eyed redhead, half Italian (hence my passion for food resulting in said curves), half Irish (hence the red hair and green eyes.) And at the age of