“They usually go out the third Thursday of the month,” Lauren said, flipping through her notes to find the printout of her calendar. “Why, do you want to go?”
“No, but my niece is interested.”
“Oh, great. I’ve got flyers behind the counter with all the information. Want me to get you one?”
“No, that’s all right. I’ll ask Monique on my way out. I’ll also keep an eye on things here if you want to go see the new vet now. And, hello, nice to see you!” Diane reached down and pet the head of a tuxedo cat who was rubbing against her leg.
“We can go over the rest of this later,” said Paige.
Traitor, Lauren mouthed to Paige. Then she stood. “Fine. I’ll go say hi. Keep an eye on that stripy orange cat. His name is Houdini because he thinks he’s an escape artist.”
“I’ve got this,” Diane said. “Go.”
***
Caleb pet the head of a French bulldog named Howard, whose tongue lolled out in appreciation. “He’ll be fine on the new diet,” he told the anxious pet parents. “I’ll write you a prescription for the new food. Rachel at the front desk can get you all set up with that.”
“Thank you so much, Dr. Fitch,” said the wife. “I appreciate that you helped him calm down so much. His old vet made him so nervous.”
“My pleasure.” With one last smile and nod, Caleb left Exam 1. Through the door to the waiting room, he heard Rachel say, “Hi, Lauren! Good to see you.”
He peeked through the little window in the door. He could only see her in profile, but it was indeed Lauren from the Cat Café. She had on a boxy denim jacket that obscured her figure somewhat, with her long hair splayed out around her shoulders, and she wore a friendly smile on her face.
Before he knew what he was doing, Caleb pushed through the door. On the pretense of giving Rachel the prescription for Howard’s new food, he pulled out his pad and scribbled down the patient’s name and the food he needed. He handed the slip to Rachel without really looking at her and said, “Hello again,” to Lauren.
Lauren looked a little startled. Her gaze traveled over him, probably taking in the white lab coat and the name tag. “You’re the new vet.”
“Uh, yes.”
Rachel cleared her throat. “Lauren, this is Dr. Caleb Fitch. Caleb, this is Lauren.”
Caleb couldn’t take his eyes off Lauren. It was like he’d conjured her.
“Lauren manages the Cat Café,” Rachel said.
She manages the café? “Oh,” said Caleb.
“I came over to introduce myself to the new vet because we will inevitably end up working together. All cats who live in the café come through here first. I didn’t realize you were the new vet.”
Caleb didn’t know how to interpret the way she’d said you, but he said, “Great. I look forward to working with you.”
She smiled, which Caleb took to mean she was pleasantly surprised, so that was something. “I mean, if I’d known, I would have given you a discount on the coffee or something.”
“It’s fine, really.”
“Let me make it up to you. Next time you get a break, come on over and I’ll hook you up with a cup of coffee and a pastry. We have really good blueberry scones.”
Caleb recognized this as an olive branch, not a date. Which was good, because he had no business dating so soon after the divorce. “Sure, I can do that.”
“Great. I gotta go, I was just coming by to say hi. So, hi! I’ll, uh, see you around, Caleb.”
He and Lauren could potentially spend a lot of time together, depending on what kind of cat turnover the café had. “How long has the Cat Café been open?” he asked Rachel after Lauren left.
“About a year.”
“Wow.” That was impressive for something that seemed like a fly-by-night idea. “And it’s popular?”
“Yeah. Pretty popular. She’s got a good group of regular customers, mostly people who can’t have pets at home for whatever reason but want to pet some cats. It’s therapeutic.”
“Sure.” Caleb recognized the therapeutic value of animal companions, but he still found the idea of a cat café a little silly. If one liked spending time with cats, why not just…get a cat?
Caleb loved animals, though he didn’t currently have pets because Kara had gotten their mixed breed rescue dog Jimmy in the divorce. Caleb still missed that dog.
And this was why he was never getting married again.
He cleared his throat as Howard led his owners back into the waiting room. “Howard here needs a bag of the Pro Diet SD formula,” he said to Rachel. He gave his spiel about feeding routines and where they could order more food, and once they were gone, it hit him that, well, he had a coffee date with Lauren from the Cat Café. And he was kind of looking forward to it.
Chapter 3
Lauren signed the delivery slip for three dozen bagels she had delivered every morning from, in her opinion, the best bagel place in Brooklyn.
The café had a kitchen—the space had been a little Italian bistro before Diane had the idea for the Cat Café—but it wasn’t currently in use. Instead, they ordered their array of pastries from several local bakeries and cafés. If they were going to keep all this business after some new coffee shop inevitably opened nearby, they’d need to enhance their offerings.
Something to mull over.
Sadie walked over and headbutted Lauren’s leg, then sat down and meowed.
“You need something, pretty girl?” Lauren asked.
Sadie trotted over to the door that led to what staff referred to as the cat room, the
