A Dating Tale

I took a girl home for Christmas one year. I was lonely and she was lonely too. I picked her up after work one night at a college campus; she lived in a wood there along with many others, related and unrelated to her. This was supposed to be temporary, just for the holidays. I promised her, and myself, that I would return her to her wood in January, but I did not live up to that promise. We have been together ever since that December 23rd day when I borrowed her to allay my loneliness. Maybe I saved her life, maybe she saved mine. Or, maybe both. I know I never regretted taking her, or keeping her. The wood I took her out of that night was Avery Wood, so that became her name, Avery. Since that solstice, she has been my best friend. I have never regretted that date. I don't know how she feels about being with me, I am sure she has had her doubts, but she never lets on. She did run away at one point not long after she came to live with me, and when she returned there was something different about Avery. Two months later, there was three of her. We kept one for our very own and that's how Alexander Supertramp came to be here with us. Alex is five now and I still never regret bringing his mama cat home to keep me company.