“Go on,” Lauren said. “I’m not in line, and you look like you’re in a hurry.”
The man pulled a phone from his pocket and glanced at the time. “Yeah, a little.” He slid forward. “Thank you.”
“Are you new to the neighborhood?”
“Yeah. Just moved to Brooklyn a week ago, actually.”
“Welcome!”
He shot her a bashful half smile and nodded. “Thanks.”
Monique said, “Next!”
The brown-haired man nodded at Lauren and then walked to the register.
Victor, the other barista, must have noticed this guy was a little twitchy, probably with a job to get to—he was wearing a blue oxford shirt tucked into navy-blue slacks, the uniform of the Midtown office worker—so he grabbed the pot and poured a cup of coffee right away. Once the man paid, Victor handed him the cup and said, “Milk and sugar are at the end of the counter.”
“Great.” The man took his cup.
“The usual,” Lauren said to Monique now that the line had dissipated. Then she walked over to the man as he shook a sugar packet. “I’m Lauren, by the way.”
The man gave her a genuine smile this time. “Caleb. Maybe I’ll see you around, Lauren.” Sadie meowed and sat at his feet. “And you, too, Sadie.”
Handsome, and he liked the cats. No wedding ring. This had some potential.
Oh, except for the part where Lauren was not dating in order to concentrate on making a fulfilling life for herself without a man.
Caleb walked back outside.
“Girl,” said Evan. “He was totally checking you out.”
Warm excitement spread through Lauren’s chest. It had been a while since she’d met anyone who made her pulse race like this. She wondered if Caleb would come back.
“Boss, your coffee’s ready,” said Monique.
Lauren took it gratefully. “All right. Do you have to work today, Ev, or do you want to meet our newest resident? We’ve got a gorgeous new calico named Lucy.”
“I’m meeting a client at ten, so I gotta go, but you can tell me all about Miss Lucy and report back on that tall guy over drinks tonight.”
“Pop at seven?”
“Perfect.”
Monique handed Evan his coffee, which he took with a grin. He blew Lauren a kiss with his free hand and then walked out the door.
“Come on, Sadie,” said Lauren. “Let’s get to work.”
***
Caleb walked out of the Cat Café, wondering what he’d just seen. For some reason, he hadn’t expected actual cats. When his new boss had recommended it as a place to grab coffee, he’d expected beatniks or something. There was a bar on his block called the Salty Dog that contained zero dogs, after all. But, no, the Whitman Street Cat Café was a place people went to get coffee and pastries and hang out with actual cats.
The woman had been pretty nice to look at. Lauren, she’d said her name was. A little tall, with long, straight brown hair, a fringe of bangs across her forehead, and a dusting of freckles across her nose. Pretty smile. And, okay, he’d noticed her figure, too. After his recent and very messy divorce, it was nice to know that part of him hadn’t died along with his belief in happily ever after.
She’d been so comfortable in the space that he figured she worked there or was at least a regular, so maybe he’d run into her again.
In the meantime, though, he had to cope with his first day at the new job. Caleb strolled all ten feet from the café door to the main entrance of the Whitman Street Veterinary Clinic. A little bell rang over the door, catching the attention of the cat perched on the lap of a woman sitting in the waiting area.
“Dr. Fitch!” said the vet tech at the reception desk as Caleb approached. He couldn’t remember her name at first, but then noticed she had a name tag on her scrubs identifying her as Rachel. Olivia’s weird insistence on name tags would pay off after all, because Caleb was terrible with names.
Although he’d remember Lauren.
No, not the time. He smiled at Rachel. “Good morning.”
“I see you got coffee from the Cat Café,” she said, pointing to his cup. “The Star Café made better lattes, but they’re closed now.”
Caleb took a sip of his coffee. It was pretty standard drip coffee, stronger than the stuff those dumb little pods at his old job made, so he was happy enough with it.
“Welcome to Whitman Street,” Rachel said. “Olivia’s in her office. She told me to send you there when you came in.”
“Right. And that is…”
“Oh!” Rachel hopped up and led Caleb to a swinging door that he remembered led to the exam rooms and administrative offices. She held the door open and said, “Go left here, then right at the end of the hall, and Olivia’s office is right there.”
“Thanks.”
Olivia Ling was indeed in her office when Caleb found it. She seemed absorbed in something on her computer screen, so Caleb knocked on the doorframe. She looked up and seemed confused for a moment, but then recognition dawned. “Caleb! Please come in.”
He’d already taken care of the new-hire paperwork, so the main thing would be to work out scheduling and procedures. Caleb would be the fifth veterinarian on staff at a fairly busy clinic, but he was happy to work in a big office. The clinic he’d come from had been run by two people and constantly felt short-staffed.
“I see you got coffee from the Cat Café.”
“Oh. Yeah, you said it was the best coffee on the block.” Also the only coffee on the block, from what he could tell.
“Did you talk to the manager?”
“No. I got coffee.”
Olivia smiled. “Well, just so you know, we have a partnership. We’re the official vet of the Cat Café, and they help us find forever homes for any cats who end up here.”
That made sense. “Do they do pet adoptions?”
“Yeah, that’s the Cat Café’s secret mission. They lure people in with coffee and pastries in hopes the customers fall in love with one of the
