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

but every New York street fair is pretty similar. There are always a couple of trucks or booths with deep fryers, so you can get funnel cakes or falafel. There’s always a table with a guy selling packages of socks or bedsheets. I don’t know why. And then there are a bunch of random vendors, usually jewelry, dresses made to fit only very skinny women, and at least one table that’s just random New York tourist junk. At this street fair, most of the vendors are businesses on Whitman Street. So each of the restaurants has, like, one dish they’ll give you or samples of their popular dishes in little cups. And then all the stores are showing what they sell. Like here.”

Lauren walked over to the table in front of the yarn store and gestured toward it. There was a basket on one end of the table that held colorful balls of yarn. Hank gave it a sniff, but he wasn’t tall enough to do any damage. They also had stacks of knitting books and displays of knitting and sewing notions. A woman behind the table was having an intense conversation with a potential customer using a lot of jargon Caleb didn’t understand: roving, spinning, weight, and other terms he assumed did not mean to these women what they meant to him.

After Lauren made some small talk with the women at the table, they moved on. As they walked, Lauren said, “I’ve already had lunch, but if you see something you want to eat, let me know.”

“Rachel said something about a grocery store that used to be a bank.”

“Oh, yeah! At Court Street. That’s the biggest intersection on Whitman Street until you get to Flatbush, so it’s kind of prime real estate for the food trucks.”

“But…a grocery store that used to be a bank.”

“That’s Brooklyn. Some developer bought a bank building that has been here since the nineteenth century, and the building was landmarked, so they couldn’t tear it down or renovate it, but they could add aisles. It’s this really beautiful building with huge vaulted ceilings and these columns and arches that separate the space. So you go to buy meat in the area I think used to be the vault, and then you can admire the ceiling best from the frozen food aisle. There are cashiers where the tellers once sat.”

“This city, man. I bet most people don’t even notice the old parts of the building. Developers in New York never want to preserve, they just want to maximize profits.”

“The basis of this city’s economy has been commerce and money for four hundred years. What do you expect? Plus, shopping at this grocery store is kind of a novelty because the architecture is so unusual. I go there sometimes because they’re the only shop in the neighborhood that sells this obscure brand of yogurt I like, plus they have an amazing cheese counter.”

Caleb laughed. Lauren was never shy when talking about food. Kara had always acted in public like she never ate anything. Caleb liked trying new foods, though, and liked having someone who actually enjoyed eating to have elaborate meals with.

He wound up following Rachel’s suggestion and got one of each kind of mini-empanada from the offerings available at the truck: three meat, three vegetarian. Rachel would appreciate it if he shared.

As they walked back toward the Cat Café, Caleb admired Lauren, who seemed to be in fine form today, chatty without being too effusive. Her long hair was pulled back in a no-nonsense ponytail, which showed off her pretty face and the dusting of freckles across her nose. She wore a knee-length plaid dress and a baggy black cardigan that seemed to show she cared more about warmth and comfort than style. Still, she always looked put together, even if Caleb didn’t like how the baggy cardigan obscured her amazing body.

He sighed. It was nice of her to walk around with him, and he was enjoying talking with her and checking out the fair. It was a beautiful day, sunny but still too cool for short sleeves. Contentment washed over him as he followed Lauren down the street at a slow pace. He noticed that Hank gazed at her with adoration, and his patience was rewarded when Lauren snagged a dog treat from a table in front of a pet food store and offered it to him.

“I believe you just made a lifelong friend,” Caleb said.

“Aw. You’re a good dog, aren’t you, Hank?”

Hank barked happily.

If they were a real couple, he could take her hand. He could lend her his jacket if she were still cold. He could buy her a necklace from one of the jewelry vendors or an ice cream cone from one of the food trucks. But they weren’t a couple, and none of that was appropriate.

“Has business been good at the Cat Café table?” he asked.

“We’ve gotten a lot of traffic. The goal is more to attract future customers than to make money on the spot. A lot of people have come into the café to check out the cats, but they aren’t really buying anything.”

“You could charge a couple of bucks for people to sit in the cat room, you know.”

“I could, yeah. But the point is to encourage people to come meet the cats and fall in love with them. Hopefully the people stopping by today will come back some other day and spend money on food and beverages. It’s about long-term business, not short-term gain.”

“Makes sense.”

Lauren grinned. “And I don’t even have an MBA. I’ve learned a lot on the job, though. I may make it look haphazard and accidental, but there is actual thought that goes into keeping that place open.”

Caleb chuckled. He could appreciate that she was often self-deprecating.

When they returned to the table, Paige offered a chair so Caleb could sit and eat his empanadas, but only if he was willing to answer questions about cats from random passersby. Caleb was game, so he sat