Page 110 of New Beginnings at the Cosy Cat Cafe
‘Oh, I meant to tell you,’ said Rose, suddenly changing the subject. ‘I went to see Claire for a haircut on Saturday, she gave me a right grilling about you and Leo.’
‘Did she?’ asked Tori, arching an eyebrow.
‘She really did. She heard you’d been on a date and wanted to know if you were still seeing him now Ryan’s back.’
‘What did you tell her?’ asked Tori, taken aback.
‘Nothing really, I kinda changed the subject. I didn’t think you knew each other that well.’
‘We don’t. We went out for lunch a few weeks ago but I wouldn’t say we were close. She’s been a bit frosty with me the last couple of times I’ve seen her.’
‘Weird that she’s asking then,’ said Rose, shrugging.
‘It is a bit. Hey, it looks like we’ve got company,’ she said, nodding towards the door, through which a stream of children was being led into the classroom by a lunchtime assistant in a fluorescent tabard.
Rose immediately snapped into teacher mode. ‘Good afternoon, Butterfly Class, come straight in and sit down on the carpet for me… quickly Billy, Mason, Tiffany.’
Tori smiled at the wide-eyed children as they murmured to each other at the sight of a visitor in their classroom.
‘Tori!’ shouted Lara from across the room, ‘what are you doing here?’
‘Just sit down quietly, please, Lara, and I’ll explain everything in a moment,’ said Rose.
‘What’s in there?’ said a boy with the remains of his lunch smeared around his cheeks, pointing towards the pet pen.
‘I said sit down quietly, Billy,’ said Rose.
‘Wow, Miss, there’s cats in there,’ squealed a girl wearing red patent shoes and, as if on cue, Daisy let out a little meow.
‘Therearecats in there, aren’t there, Miss? I heard them,’ a girl with her hair in pigtails said excitedly.
‘I said, sit down, Poppy,’ Rose repeated.
‘Where? Let me see?’ A cacophony of voices echoed around the room.
‘Butterfly Class, if you don’t all sit down this instant, none of you will be meeting the cats.’
A hush descended and Tori was impressed at how quickly Rose was able to bring the excited group under control. She made a note never to mess with Rose when she was in teacher mode.
‘Thank you. Now everyone is listening,’ said Rose slowly, staring pointedly at Billy and Poppy, ‘we’ve got a very special guest joining us this afternoon. This is Tori and she runs the Cosy Cat Café—’
‘Oh, I’ve been there!’
‘Billy, we do not shout out in class, do we?’ said Rose.
‘Sorry, Miss,’ said Billy, looking crestfallen.
‘I’m sure many of you have visited with your mums and dads, but who can tell me what’s special about it? What makes it different to other cafés you might have been to?’ Rose asked.
A sea of hands shot into the air. Rose scanned the room. ‘Tiffany?’
‘It’s got cats in it, Miss.’
‘That’s right, Tiffany. The Cosy Cat isn’t a regular café, it’s a cat café. And Tori, who runs the business with her mum, Joyce, has been kind enough to come and join us today to tell us more about the café and let us meet some of the cats that live there. Isn’t that exciting?’
Thirty little heads nodded enthusiastically. Tori noticed lots of the children whispering to each other and smiling and she could feel her nerves ease a little.
‘So, let me hand you over to Tori and she can tell you all about life at the café,’ Rose continued, giving Tori a small nod of encouragement.
