Page 31 of She’ll Steal Your Heart
Mia smiled. “I prefer fall to Halloween, but yes, I like to decorate.”
“Those lights are super cute,” Lauren told her. “Let me know if you need a hand.”
“I will. What’s in the bag?” Mia gestured to the insulated shopping bag Lauren carried. She’d just come from the market, where she’d stocked up on groceries from the clearance shelf, a habit that was sustaining her until her finances improved.
“I grabbed a package of fresh-made raviolis and some sauce if you want me to work my weird magic later in your kitchen?” Lauren asked hopefully. Without access to a kitchen of her own, she’d been eating a lot of granola bars since she couldn’t afford to go out, but Mia seemed to like it when Lauren came over to cook her random clearance finds, something she’d done several times now.
“Sure,” Mia agreed. “Just don’t tell my father you’ve fed me store-bought raviolis.”
“Says the woman who never cooks for herself,” Lauren teased. “You’re such a hypocritical Italian, Mia.”
Mia laughed, waving her off so she could get back to work with the fall lights.
Lauren went down the hall to leave her bags in the break room. After changing into her Whiskers Cat Café staff shirt, she headed for the cat enclosure. All the cats who’d been here when she first started had been adopted now, except Gilbert. Chaos and Mayhem had been adopted together last week and were thriving in their new home. Gilbert was making progress, though. Lauren spent extra time with him during all her shifts, helping him come out of his shell.
She began her now-familiar routine, interacting with the cats and customers. Their newest arrival, an orange tabby named Pumpkin, was already a favorite. Everyone in the café was talking about him while he basked in the attention, purring loudly. Lauren had already processed two adoption applications for him by the time she took her first break.
“Hi, Lauren.”
She turned to see Darius settling into his usual seat with a cup of coffee. “Hey, Darius. How are you?”
“Enjoying this fall weather, that’s for sure.”
“Same,” she told him.
“Any new cats you think might be a good fit?” He’d been visiting the café regularly over the last few weeks, looking for the right cat for him and his daughter.
“Well, Pumpkin would be perfect, but we’ve already had a few applications come in for him.”
He followed her gaze to the orange cat in the front window, currently being petted by a little girl who looked completely smitten. “Damn. Does that mean I’m too late?”
“You could still put in an application. Sometimes things fall through, but yeah, it’s probably too late. Actually, I had another idea I wanted to run past you. Is your daughter more quiet or rambunctious?”
“Quiet,” Darius told her. “She loves to read and play with her dolls, and she has a very gentle touch with animals.”
Lauren smiled. “I wonder if Gilbert might be a good fit for you and Kelsey.”
“Gilbert?” Darius gave her a blank look.
She pointed to the black cat in his usual spot at the top of the cat tower. “He’s been here a little while. He’s shy and slow to warm up to people, but he’s really come out of his shell with me recently, and I watched him bond with a little girl about Kelsey’s age earlier this week.”
“Hm.” Darius gave the cat a skeptical look. “He doesn’t seem very friendly.”
“He finds the café a little overwhelming. The rescue thinks a quiet home would be best for him. We were thinking that meant no kids, but if you could have seen him with the little girl earlier this week…well, I just think it’s something to consider.”
“Maybe,” Darius said, but he didn’t look convinced.
“Let’s see if I can get his attention so you two can meet.”
Lauren sat beside the cat tower, talking quietly to Gilbert and clucking her tongue. She did this with him every day, and about half the time, he would come down to say hi. Hopefully, he was feeling social today since they had an audience. Sure enough, Gilbert hopped down and rubbed himself against her legs, purring contentedly.
“See?” she said softly. “He’s very friendly once you get to know him.”
She petted him for a few minutes, feeding him a couple of the cat treats she’d started keeping in her pockets for this purpose. Gilbert curled up beside her, paws tucked underneath himself like a cat loaf. “If you come over quietly, I think he’d let you pet him,” she told Darius.
“All right.” Darius got up from his table and came to join them, extending a hand toward Gilbert so the cat could sniff him. Gilbert gave him a wary look but didn’t move away.
“Excuse me.”
