Like Cats and Dogs by Kate McMurray (scary books to read TXT) 📗

“All right. Come on, cat lady. We’ve got forty pounds of food to get next door.”

She wasn’t normally like this. She liked everyone, generally. She believed in being nice to people, in having empathy for everyone. But something about Caleb just rubbed her the wrong way.

“How’s that little calico?” he asked as he stepped toward the bags. “What was her name?”

“Sunday. And she’s fine. I guess the stone passed, because she’s basically back to normal now.”

“Make sure you have plenty of water out next to this expensive food. Stones happen more often when cats are dehydrated.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Caleb picked up a large bag of cat food and handed it to her. “You take this one. I’ll grab the other.”

Olivia breezed by them. “Hey, Lauren. Coming to get the cat food?”

“Yes. Thanks for ordering it.”

“No problem. There’s a form at the front I need you to sign, so stop there on your way out, please.”

“I will. Thank you.”

“You’re nice to my boss,” Caleb said after Olivia was out of earshot.

“She is friendly and respects me, unlike some other people I know.”

“Hmm.”

Lauren carried the bag of cat food to the waiting room, dropped it on a chair, and signed the form for Olivia. They exchanged pleasantries while Caleb stood impatiently at the door with the other bag, shifting his weight back and forth between his feet.

“Is it wrong to say that I’m kind of enjoying watching him squirm?” Lauren whispered to Olivia.

Olivia laughed. “Seems a little mean, but it’s only twenty pounds of cat food.”

“Can we go?” Caleb called out. “This isn’t exactly a bag of feathers.”

“You know,” said Lauren, “at my last job, whenever we needed to move something large, my boss would ask one of the male employees to do it. Ladies never did heavy lifting.”

“Seems pretty sexist if you ask me.”

Lauren laughed.

“Sometime this week, cat lady. I’ve got patients.”

Lauren scooped up the bag and headed toward the door.

***

Caleb hadn’t seen the cat room on his previous trip to the Cat Café, but he walked through it now, following Lauren to the back room where she kept supplies. It was a lot. The design was kind of retro, the colors bright and a bit garish. It read more kindergarten classroom than place for cats to live, but what did he know? And there were at least a dozen cats lounging around the room, hanging out with the six or so customers Caleb counted in a glance.

“Your vacuum must get a workout,” he said, observing the cats draped on the arms of the sofa on one side of the room.

“Yeah, we have to vacuum at least twice a day, usually just before we open and right after we close. Sometimes more.”

The plump cat who hung out near the counter—Sadie, if he recalled correctly—followed them into the back room and eyed Caleb as he deposited the sack of cat food into the bin on the shelf Lauren indicated. Lauren slid the top of the bin into place and secured it.

“The plastic keeps curious cats out. You’d think nothing could jump up to a shelf this high, but some of these cats have springs for legs.”

“Sure.”

“Come on, Sadie. You don’t need to hang out in the supply room.”

Sadie let out a squeaky meow of protest but followed Lauren out of the room. As did Caleb.

Lauren paused to speak with a couple of people who were sitting at a table. Caleb wondered if he should just leave. That felt rude, but it wasn’t like he and Lauren were on great terms anyway.

He approached her slowly and cleared his throat, not wanting to interrupt her conversation. She turned toward him and met his gaze but didn’t say anything. Her expression said, Oh, are you still here? Which, great. He felt so grateful to be appreciated.

He sighed and said, “You’re welcome.”

“Right. Thanks.”

“Patients.” He pointed to the wall that separated the café from the vet clinic.

“Of course. See you, Caleb.”

He nodded, clearly dismissed, but paused at the doorway to try to figure out the puzzle of this particular establishment. Lauren spoke with a strawberry blond who smiled a lot and gestured toward her companion, a skinny guy with dark hair and tattoos. A diverse range of customers sat at tables or on sofas, chatting and petting the cats as if this were a totally normal thing to do. And maybe it was, but in their own houses. Why didn’t these people just get cats? If the great number of patients at the vet clinic were anything to go by, this neighborhood was pretty pet friendly.

Caleb spared a thought for Hank the dog. He suspected Rachel was not really going out of her way to advertise that the dog was up for adoption, so he’d still be at the clinic at Caleb’s deadline. Caleb wasn’t really sure he wanted a dog in his apartment, although hadn’t he just reasoned to himself that if people really wanted cats, they should just adopt cats?

Caleb shook his head and left the café.

Chapter 6

Monique frowned at Sadie, who was napping on the counter. The customers were gone for the day, but Monique said, “This seems unsanitary.”

Lauren laughed. She walked over and picked all fifteen pounds of Sadie up. She got a squeaky little meow of protest, but Sadie turned around a few times and went back to sleep when Lauren placed her in the cat bed in the corner.

“One of these days, the health department is going to shut this whole thing down,” Monique said, shaking her head.

“I mean, technically, as long as the cats are separated from where we prepare and serve food, we’re okay. Or that’s what the fancy lawyer Diane hired said when she opened this place. I made an exception for Sadie, but if she gets into the food, we’ll force her to hang out with the other cats during business hours.” Lauren knelt and pet Sadie’s head. Sadie’s huge purr rolled out in response. “You’re a good girl, aren’t you, Sadie?”

Monique laughed softly. Of all