Page 42 of New Beginnings at the Cosy Cat Cafe
‘He’s a black cat for starters, they always tend to stay with us for a bit longer, plus he’s an older chap and needs daily thyroid meds, which puts a lot of people off,’ explained Izzy.
‘He sounds just like my mum! She’s just started on thyroid meds too,’ said Tori.
‘I won’t tell Joyce you just compared her to a stray cat,’ laughed Grace.
‘You’d better not,’ said Tori, in a hushed voice.
‘He was a stray so we’ve got no background on him but, as you can see, he loves people, he’s confident and cuddly, and I think he’ll lap up all the attention your customers can throw at him. He’s a really chilled-out boy,’ said Izzy.
‘Does that mean you’re happy to work with us?’ asked Tori, holding her breath. Izzy paused for a second.
‘It does. I know I said I had some reservations but now we’ve discussed things in person, I couldn’t be any happier. I think working with the Cosy Cup would be perfect for us.’
‘That’s fantastic news! Oh, we’re going for a name change too – what do you think of the Cosy Cat Café?’ said Tori.
‘I like it!’ said Izzy, smiling.
‘It certainly does what it says on the tin,’ said Grace.
‘Did you hear that, Mr Wiggles?’ whispered Tori. ‘It looks like you’re going to be moving to the Cosy Cat Café very soon. What do you think?’ Mr Wiggles stared at Tori and meowed. It looked like the Cosy Cat had found its first official resident.
Chapter 15
Since her visit to New Beginnings, Tori had been working hard to finish her business plan ready to show Joyce. Between that and working flat out at the tearoom every day, she’d had little time for much else. It had been a quiet afternoon at the Cosy Cup and Joyce had left early to get her regular B12 injection. Tori was working at her laptop and the last few customers of the day were chatting away happily and enjoying their tea and cake. Tori looked up as the bell on the door chimed. It was Leo. Her eyes were drawn to his smile.
‘Slacking off?’ he asked, grinning broadly.
‘As if! This is the first time I’ve had a minute to myself all day.’ Tori hadn’t seen Leo since they’d had dinner with Rose and Jake, and she was surprised by how happy she was to see him.
‘Sorry it’s taken me so long to drop by, but I remember you saying that the coffee was on you?’
‘Someone has a good memory,’ she laughed.
‘I do whenever there’s a freebie involved.’
‘What can I get you?’ she asked, standing up.
‘A flat white would be great.’
‘Grab a seat,’ she said, indicating the chair opposite her. ‘I’ll be back in a sec.’
Tori soon arrived back at the table with a tray of coffee and scones.
‘Wow, these look impressive,’ said Leo, taking the largest scone on the plate and biting into it, ‘and they taste even better!’ he continued, sighing with pleasure.
‘I can’t take the credit. Mum does most of the baking, but you’re right, her scones are the best.’
‘You’ll never get rid of me with food this good.’
‘Well, we’d love to see you.’
‘It’s notjustthe scones that are good here,’ said Leo as their eyes met, something flickering between them.
‘Well, no, we do have great coffee too,’ she said quietly.
A tension hung in the air around them and neither of them spoke.
Leo finally cleared his throat. ‘How’s it all going with the plans for the cats?’ he asked, pointing at Tori’s laptop.
