Jenny is the one who hides a cat in the barn. Abbie is dubious and worried, because she's pretty sure it's not something their foster parents of the moment would appreciate, but Jenny says, "It's snowing outside," and, well, fair's fair. So the cat stays in the barn, and Abbie ends up being tangled in a conspiracy of hiding her and bringing her scraps of their lunches and dinners, and, mostly, standing guard over Jenny communing with the cat.

(Jenny communes with the cat by laying very still next to her and staring at her intently. It's hilarious and a bit wonderful, and Abbie's pretty sure the cat only tolerates the attention because she made the connection that Jenny = barn = food).

The cat is nothing special, a grey tabby with a scarred ear, and while Abbie thinks she's pretty smart, she's neither beautiful not overly friendly. Her fur is not smooth or particularly soft; she never purrs. She just prowls the barn, snatches the food they bring to take it away and eat somewhere, and stares at them with her flat green eyes, mistrusting and cagey. They don't even name her, because what's the point?

But sometimes Abbie sneaks to the barn without Jenny in tow to account for it. Sits down near the door and talks, little unimportant bits about her routines and grades and Jenny and fosters and things she doesn't have and things she'd like to have; and sometimes, after a while, the nameless cat will come out of the darkness and sit by her knee, and maybe listen.

She disappears as soon as snow melts, of course. Jenny's bereaved and Abbie's resigned, but for years after, when things are bad, Abbie sometimes dreams about green eyes in the dark and warm solid weight by her leg, and breathes easier in her sleep.