Chapter 11
ELEVEN
The coffee shop was cold and quiet when I made my way in with a tower of cake boxes, our assortment for the day. Balthazar looked tired and extra grumpy with the fur on his head sticking up wayward, but he was following me in nonetheless.
"What about breakfast?" he grumbled between dramatic yawns.
"We'll have breakfast after this. I just need to put the cakes away," I said.
"If I knew we'd be up this early, I wouldn't have agreed to be your familiar."
"That's a rude thing to say." I dropped the cakes on the counter and turned the coffee machine on for my morning brew. I might as well, since I was down here anyway.
Balthazar hopped up, entirely disregarding the rules about not putting his paws on eating surfaces. He yawned again but I was fairly sure that one was fake.
I gave him a pat on the head. "Don't be so grouchy. You know, now that Betty is gone, you don't have to share your tuna."
His ears perked up. "Does that mean I get a double portion?"
"No, but I have a special can that I've been saving for a special occasion and it's all yours," I said, thinking today was a good day to bust out the expensive stuff.
Betty was likely whiskers deep in her fish buffet so Balthazar deserved a treat too.
This was our first solo morning together and a part of me had been afraid that he wouldn't show up.
But no, he'd woken up in his bed with the most grumpiest face and followed me down instead of waiting upstairs for his breakfast.
All signs indicated that we were bonding, even if it didn't always seem that way.
Especially because he was still wearing his old bow tie.
I'd hoped he would've noticed the new collar hook and put it to good use but nope.
I was going to have to ask him about it and potentially make things super awkward.
That was a problem for later.
I put out the cakes in the display, mentally preparing for the day ahead.
I was going to be in charge of the coffee house while Gran was gone.
I'd done this before so I didn't foresee any problems but it was still a big responsibility.
I wanted to make sure there would be no disasters later on today.
I only turned my back for ten seconds but when I looked back, Balthazar was standing right next to the carrot cake with a flawless buttercream top and was holding out his little paw.
"No!" I shouted, dashing over and snatching him away. "Those are for our customers."
"But I'm hungry and I want cake," he grumbled, still looking at the cake with longing in his eyes.
"I understand but we never just bite a whole cake. You can have a slice after breakfast and you can have it on a plate, like a gentleman."
He finally looked away. "I suppose a gentleman ought to have patience."
It wasn't until the cakes were safe that I realised I was holding Balthazar in my arms. It almost felt like an embrace and I didn't want it to end.
"If you like cake so much, we could have one for our ceremony," I said, slowly moving back and forth until I was swaying him without him noticing. Was it sneaky? Yes, but he didn't seem to notice. If anything, he seemed quite content to be held.
"We can do that?" he asked, relaxing even more. His head was even resting on my arm.
I nodded. "It's our ceremony, we can do whatever we want."
"A cake made out of tuna?" Balthazar suggested, his voice holding a note of hope.
That made me laugh. "I don't think that would be tasty for me."
"But I would like it."
I risked giving him a slow stroke all along his back. "How about cake and tuna?"
"I like the sound of that." He settled even more in my arms and a suspicious rumbling came from his throat that sounded a lot like purring.
We were cuddling. Our very first cuddle!
I wanted to dance but that would risk unsettling my familiar and put an end to this lovely moment.
Balthazar looked up at me. "What else can we do for the ceremony? Can we have a motorbike?"
"I don't know how to ride a motorbike," I replied, wondering if I should change that.
"That's a shame. Viktor was very good at riding a motorbike. I liked riding with him."
"We can ride to the ceremony on my bike?"
"Bikes are... acceptable," he deemed.
I had not expected that answer but I was pleasantly surprised by it. It confirmed that he had secretly been enjoying our time together, even if he would obviously deny it. If someone asked, he probably would say he had agreed to be my familiar out of pity.
A bit of courage sparked in my stomach as I kept stroking his back. "Do you want to wear anything special for the ceremony? I noticed you've not worn your new bow tie yet. Is it wrong?"
His purring stopped. "It's... fine."
"But?"
He sat up and seemed to realise that we were cuddling because he shot me a dirty look as if I somehow tricked him into this.
I didn't say anything, just let him jump out of my arms and back onto the counter.
That was going to need a good wipe to get rid of whatever Balthazar had tracked in from his nightly adventures.
Balthazar pawed at his current bow tie. "Viktor gave this one to me. I promised I would never take it off."
So it was as I suspected. This was his only link with Viktor and I'd tried to get rid of it. That was a foolish mistake on my part.
I crouched down so my face was level with his. "You don't have to take this one off if you don't want to. Viktor was precious to you and I'm not trying to erase him or the bond you two had. I'm sorry if I made you feel pressured."
He hummed. "Okay."
"How about I modify the new bow tie so you can wear it together with your old bow tie? Would that be acceptable?" I asked, knowing exactly who I could ask to help me with a project like that. Faye's love for costume making was going to come
"Two bow ties?" Balthazar rolled his yellow eyes up in thought. "That's a lot of bow ties."
"More is always better."
He sat for a bit, contemplating while I finished putting the cakes away before he lost his composure again and tried to take a bite out of one.
After a while, he slowly nodded. "More tuna is better. More cake is better. More bow ties must be better too."
That was such adorable logic and I couldn't argue with it, especially because it had given me the answer I needed.
If I was going to win Balthazar's heart, I'd have to remember that I would be sharing it with Viktor.
It was a little daunting to think about navigating such a delicate situation but I wasn't scared.
Balthazar was worth it.