I think it would be fine. Cats are a lot more independent than dogs, so as long as you can sort out food and litter, they’re fine to leave alone for a bit. I’ve had 4 cats in my life. The first two we had solo and the last 2 were a pair.

Having a second cat definitely makes them happier if you can’t be home often, but it’s not strictly necessary. It’s not AS much work as you’d think to take care of an extra cat, but that also depends on personality and how the cats get along. The pair of cats we had loved each other, but they’d occasionally get into some minor fights. For food we had to separate them because one would try to eat more than his share and the other cat wasn’t assertive enough to stop him. But otherwise it wasn’t that much worse than when we had a single cat.

I definitely recommend you go to a shelter and play around with the cats enough to get a sense of their personalities. All of our cats have been super friendly and didn’t scratch much. The cat from the pair that’s still alive (they’re old, so one passed last year.) is so tame I have never had to worry about him scratching me. I can safely rub his belly and stuff and the worst he’ll ever do is get up and leave. But that’s definitely not all cats. My uncle had some cats with some big behavioral issues and he used to be an animal trainer.