Chapter 2
Cali slammed the café door so hard the bell above her nearly rang off the mounting.
Minka had been wiping down tables, but she stopped and stared wide-eyed at Cali.
“You’re not going to believe what just happened, Minka!” The smell of warm, sugary pastries and brewed coffee did nothing to assuage Cali’s anger.
Minka squinted at Cali through perfectly drawn cat-eye eyeliner. “Uhh … the library board finally heard you out on the banned books display?”
“No, I wish. It’s on the agenda for the board meeting this month, though. My last chance before Banned Books Week.”
“Okay, so … you won the lottery?”
“Does this look like the face of a woman who won the lottery?” The volume of Cali’s voice surprised even her.
Frustrated-librarian-hiding-in-car level of loud.
She plopped into one of the café chairs and watched as her glasses slid down her nose and onto the floor.
She threw up her hands. “August is out to get me, Minka.”
Minka clutched her towel to her chest. “Cali—you’re bleeding. Don’t move.”
Cali followed Minka’s gaze to her wrist, peeking from underneath a blood-speckled trench coat sleeve and groaned. “Vintage,” she muttered. “My grandmother’s. I just found it in the basement last week!”
The corner of Minka’s mouth twitched. Her telltale sign of incoming sarcasm. “Okay, Charlie Sheen. It’s not tiger’s blood. All it requires is a little stain remover. On the other hand is your carved and leaking flesh. Just don’t … move.”
Minka disappeared into the kitchen as Cali waited.
When Minka returned, she was carrying Cali’s to-go bag, a bottle of rubbing alcohol, cotton balls, and a hot, wet towel.
Cali watched her friend wash the wound and sucked air between her teeth as Minka pressed the alcohol into her skin.
They could both make out the puffy scratches rising from her flesh like bad seams. At least the alcohol stopped the bleeding.
“Better get a bandage on that soon,” said Minka. “Or a wrap. I’m out.”
Cali sighed. “I’ve got some bandages at my desk back at the library.”
Minka’s tuxedo cat jumped onto the table between them and nuzzled into Cali’s shoulder, vibrating with affection.
“Aww, thanks, Purrcy.” Cali scratched his head then rubbed at her wrist, which itched like crazy now. She turned to Minka. “So, as you might’ve guessed, I found that Maine Coon.”
Minka’s eyes widened. “And our tiniest, fuzziest foster did this to you? Maybe it’s not the sweet kitten as we all assumed.”
“No, I’m sure it is,” Cali insisted. “It was just the circumstances. I saw it outside the library on my walk over here. But so did this other guy—one of the construction workers getting off work at the same time. The kitten would’ve been mine if he’d just minded his own damn business.”
Minka’s expression changed to worry as she resumed cleaning the café. “You think he was trying to hurt it? Or shoo it off the construction site?”
“No, he was trying to help me.”
Minka’s brows creased together. “How very …” she considered Cali’s face, “dare he?”
“Right?!”
Minka stared across from her at the tiny round table. “Okay, girl. Either I’m confused or we’re in the middle of a Vanderpump Rules episode and this ‘isn’t about the pasta’ at all.”
Cali’s nose scrunched up. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Purrcy meowed repeatedly at Cali. “Thanks, Purrs. Everyone needs a Vander-splainer in their lives. I’ll take it from here.
” She ushered the cat off the table and wiped away the paw prints.
“What I mean is: Why are you mad at some secret undercover agent sent to help end Mission: Maine Coon before it ever really got started? Isn’t that a good thing? ”
“Not when it ends in this.” Cali raised her wrist.
“Nah, kitty just got spooked. It happens with strays. And if I’m being honest, you sound spooked, too, Cals. This is bigger than a scratch. What’s up?”
Cali felt a lump in her throat. “He … he wanted to keep the cat.”
“Oh.” Minka’s expression softened, and she reached across the table to place one hand lightly over Cali’s.
This meant she understood. She understood perfectly that Cali’s dreams of having another cat “find” her were not only dashed moments ago but dashed in an epic way.
Minka was like that sometimes—full of wit and pop culture references until it was the heart’s turn to speak.
Then she’d get all quiet and just let things, well, be.
It was one of the many qualities Cali appreciated about her.
That and Minka remembered her neurotic coffee order after the first visit to the café: Can I get a triple-shot oat milk latte, half-decaf, extra hot but not scalding, with one pump vanilla and one and a half pumps hazelnut.
But could you do half-sweet on the hazelnut?
Now Minka just called it the Oat Couture.
“Well, you just point me in the direction of this jerk. Next time I see him, it’s hot coffee in the eyeball for him.
” She was teasing, but it made Cali smile.
Then Cali remembered the construction worker’s pressing gaze and felt her cheeks flood with warmth.
“There’s my girl.” Minka rose from the table and continued cleaning.
“Seriously, though, was it that grumpy foreman? Always shouting demeaning curses at the crew unless he’s got something in his mouth?
Potbelly in front, more cracks than a crème br?lée in back? ”
“No, it was one of the younger guys. Um. Tall, tattoos, umm … " Cali licked her lips as she remembered the perspiration trickling down his chiseled abs and into the band of his jeans. What was the phrase she was looking for? Rugged? Sharp-featured? Unnervingly attractive? “Athletic.”
Minka blinked twice and scurried back over to the table with a squeal. The sound almost startled Cali out of her chair. “Ethan Cross?” Minka said with heavy, breathless emphasis on each word. “Ethan wanted your rescue cat? You are the luckiest woman in all of Autumn Ridge, Cali!”
“How do you know his name?” Cali asked skeptically.
“Because I’m certifiable. No, he comes in here to get his thermos filled every morning before work. We’ve met. We talk. Did you know he’s already got a cat? I’m surprised you two haven’t run into each other already, all things considered.”
“What do you mean by that?” Cali narrowed her eyes.
“Well, he’s always got a book in his hands. Each morning, he takes the outside table and chair—you know, the one that faces the library?—and he reads his book until half the thermos is gone. Then he comes back in for a top-off, pays, and leaves.”
Cali’s head was spinning. “No, that can’t be. I – I enter through the front door every day and I’ve never seen a guy sitting at that table outside.”
Minka shook her head slowly, her expression filled with disappointment. “My dear friend, that is because you are blind.”
“Come on.”
“No, I mean it. Have you seen that crew working on the new courthouse for the past six months?”
Cali softened her voice. “Not really. I was focused on work … and the banned books effort and feeding the strays.”
“All wonderful distractions. Commendable, really.” Minka exhaled a low, deep breath. “Cali, there may be a few crew with tattoos, but there’s only one guy who someone could objectively call ‘athletic’. I’ve seen him with my own two eyes.”
“So you know how rude he is then.”
“He’s been nothing but nice to me.” Minka smirked.
Salt in the wound, and Cali felt a little stung. She tried not to show it, but she was a little jealous.
“That’s because you hold the nectar of life—a.k.a. coffee—in your hands, Minka. We’re all at your mercy. I, on the other hand, was trying to go after a cat that he apparently also wanted.” Badly.
Minka grabbed a napkin and fanned herself. “That means you haven’t even seen him without his construction hat then, have you? Hair for days. The kind you could run your fingers through. A young Cillian Murphy circa Red Eye, girl.”
“A little compassion here? This man is my cat nemesis. He’s testing the whole premise of the Cat Distribution System. Finders keepers. I spotted it first.”
Minka shrugged. “Well, Cillian’s the villain in most of his movies, too.”
“Minka!”
“What? You’ve never fallen for the villain?”
Cali considered for a fleeting second then shook her head. “That’s not the point. When he left, he pulled out his —”
“Ohh!” squealed Minka.
Cali rolled her eyes. “Tape measure and acted like he was sizing me up. Can you believe that?”
Minka gestured toward the clock on the wall then at the dessert display. “Please. Pick your dessert and get going already. You promised booze at book club tonight, and I need this after the week I’ve had.”
“Wine,” Cali corrected. “I promised wine. We’re not allowed to have hard liquor at library events.”
“Whatever. You know I spike my coffee before I bring it over for book club anyway, right?”
“Explains the cheerfulness.”
“Hello?” Minka huffed. “I’m always cheerful.”
Cali grabbed her to-go bag and cup. “Apple cider donut?”
“None just yet. But soon. Or so my shipper promises. How about a slice of peach pie? Last chance before the fall flavors arrive.”
“You know what?” Cali frowned. “I’ll just skip it tonight. Kind of lost my appetite anyway.”
Minka offered a sympathetic glance as Cali headed out the door. “That Maine Coon will show up again, Cali, or The Nine will find it. Promise.”
A small glimmer of hope rekindled in Cali’s chest as she made her way back across the street toward the library. The sun was setting earlier these days. The skyline darkened from crimson and lavender to a deep blue and an ever-so-soft chill kissed her bare cheeks.