Page 81 of New Beginnings at the Cosy Cat Cafe
The morning sitting was a sell-out. Not only had the online slots been fully booked in advance, they’d also had a few walk-ins that had filled the café to capacity, mainly touristson their way to Rye, plus lots of regulars, intrigued to see what was happening at their beloved Cosy Cup. Tori hadn’t had a chance to draw breath all morning, but from what she could see the customers had loved playing with the cats; there’d been lots of ‘oohing’ and ‘aahhing’ and everyone had stuck to the rules.
Valentine had made a beeline for a particular couple that Tori didn’t recognize, who had spent their entire visit playing with him, and he’d fallen asleep in the woman’s lap. Mr Wiggles had been strutting around like he owned the place, checking out each customer with a firm sniff and a nuzzle, much to everyone’s amusement, and Daisy and Norris had provided the perfect Insta opportunity by curling up together in a heart-shaped pink basket. ‘Don’t forget to tag us in your posts,’ called Tori to the customers who had leapt up to take a photo. As Tori was clearing tables and getting ready for lunchtime, the young couple Valentine had been sitting with approached her.
‘Excuse me,’ said the woman.
‘Hi, how can I help? I hope you’ve enjoyed your visit?’ asked Tori, praying she didn’t have a customer complaint to deal with on day one.
‘Is it true that all the cats are up for adoption?’ the woman asked.
‘Oh yes, absolutely. Has someone caught your eye? Let me guess, Valentine?’
‘Is that the grey one?’ asked the man.
‘Yep, that’s him,’ replied Tori, pointing at Valentine, whowas curled up next to Angel on a shelf. ‘I noticed he spent most of his time with you guys.’
‘We’d love to adopt him,’ said the woman. ‘If we could?’ she continued quickly.
‘That’s wonderful,’ said Tori, grinning widely. ‘If you give me your email address, I’ll pass it on to Izzy, the manager of New Beginnings Rescue Centre, and she’ll be in touch with the forms to start the adoption.’
‘Awesome,’ said the woman, clapping her hands together. ‘I’m Simone and this is Tom,’ she said, gesturing towards the man at her side. ‘We saw your post on Instagram yesterday and I was desperate to come and meet Valentine before someone else snapped him up.’
‘Are you local?’ asked Tori. ‘I don’t think I’ve seen you here before.’
‘Brighton; we thought it was worth the drive to visit,’ said Tom.
‘We’ve just bought our first house together and we’ve been desperate to get a cat for ages, but it was tricky when we were renting before,’ explained Simone.
‘I do have to tell you,’ said Tori seriously, ‘Valentine is recovering from a car accident, he’s got a metal plate in his leg.’
‘Oh, poor baby,’ said Simone, a sad look passing across her face.
‘Izzy can talk to you about what that means in the longer term, but I wanted to tell you in case that changes your minds at all,’ said Tori.
‘Not in the slightest,’ said Tom, taking Simone’s hand.
‘It makes no difference to us. We’d love to give him a good home and if he needs a bit of extra help, we can certainly give it,’ said Simone.
‘Wonderful,’ said Tori, passing a notepad across to her. ‘Just pop your contact details on there for me and Izzy will be in touch.’
‘I’m so glad we came in today,’ said Simone. ‘I’ve got everything crossed that Valentine can come and live with us; it will really make our new place feel like a proper home. I’m pleased we spotted your Instagram post.’
‘Me too. It’s good to know our social posts are working,’ said Tori.
‘Oh, they definitely are, and I’ll make sure I tell all my friends about this place,’ said Simone.
‘I’d appreciate that,’ said Tori, ‘and I hope everything goes well with Izzy. Feel free to pop in anytime to see Valentine while you’re waiting for the adoption to go through.’
‘Great, we’ll see you soon,’ said Tom.
As soon as the couple left, Tori messaged Izzy.We’ve got a potential home for Valentine already. Seem like a lovely couple, can you email an adoption form over to them?If this morning was anything to go by, the Cosy Cat Café was well on its way to success.
Chapter 27
The week since the reopening had been so busy. There had been a steady flow of new customers and Tori was pleased to see that almost all their regulars had been coming in as usual. Apart from one. Violet Davenport hadn’t shown her face once. What was her problem? For as long as Tori could remember, Violet had been the village loner and moaner. She didn’t think she’d ever had a good word to say about anyone, and Tori was pretty sure she’d never married or had children. It must be a pretty lonely existence. Tori wondered if, now she was back permanently, it might be time to make peace with Vicious Violet, maybe take her some of the new Japanese-inspired cakes, show her some of the new logo merchandise, entice her into the Cosy Cat with the promise of a taste of their new smashed avocado on sourdough?
There was another regular Tori had been hoping to see, but so far Leo hadn’t had time to pop in. They’d arranged to have dinner, on Thursday night at a new fish restaurant in Rye that Tori had been dying to try and she couldn’t wait tosee Leo again. Thankfully, she hadn’t heard anything more from Ryan. She’d nearly replied to his message a couple of times, but something had stopped her. Things between them had ended so abruptly, they’d never talked things through. Was it possible he’d had a change of heart? Could being without her have made him realize that he’d made a mistake? Acted rashly? The not knowing was the hardest part. Every night this week she’d found herself staring at his message,I miss you, before she went to sleep, wondering if she felt the same. It was early days for her and Leo, but she’d been with Ryan for four years… If there was a chance for them, shouldn’t she at least explore it? Hear him out?
The busy days spent in the café helped to take Tori’s mind off her increasingly confusing love life. Izzy had called this morning to let her know that she was home-checking Simone and Tom, the couple who had offered to adopt Valentine, next week and, if all went well, they’d be able to take Valentine back to Brighton soon after. Izzy was thrilled and was already talking about which cat at the shelter might be able to take Valentine’s spot at the café. Tori knew she was going to miss him, but she was happy he’d found his forever home. She hoped Tom and Simone knew how lucky they were.
