“It did not, by the way. In case you were wondering.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” I paused in case she had any more updates she wanted to share. When she stayed silent, I said, “I’m looking for something, and I was hoping you could help me...”
Chapter Sixteen
Cass showed up at the café a couple days later, a big cardboard box in her arms.
“Hey,” she sang as she walked in and set the box down on one of the wrought-iron tables. “I come bearing gifts.”
“Ooh, I love gifts,” I said, walking around the counter to check out what she’d brought.
“Horst mentioned something about a bedazzled apron?” She shot me a questioning glance before continuing. “Anyway, my daughter Margot is getting into catering, so she has a bunch of nice aprons. I grabbed one for you to borrow.”
“That’s so sweet of you. Thank you.” I had completely forgotten about picking up a more professional apron, so it was a relief to know I could check that off my list.
“And we had some crystal vases that I thought you might be able to use, plus some fancy forks with fairies on the ends that seemed perfect for a princess party.”
She held out one of the forks for me. It felt like real silver, with a cherubic fairy face forming the blunt end. “These are amazing,” I said.
Cass leaned back over the box, digging around. “There are few other things in here. Some tablecloths that you might be able to use, that sort of thing.” She straightened up, gesturing at the box like she was Vanna White and I had just asked to buy the letter “E.”
“Cass, this is incredible. Thank you for thinking of me.” I put the fork back into the box with the rest of the stuff. “Let me get you a coffee. On the house. And anything you’d like to eat.”
“I’m not sure if you’re just being polite, but I don’t care. I will absolutely take you up on that. Can I get a cappuccino and...” Shewalked over to the glass display case and studied the contents. “And one of those Almond Joy cupcakes.”
“Absolutely.”
While I made her cappuccino, she meandered over to the window, where a fluffy orange tabby named Cheddar Murphy was perched, nose pressed to the glass.
“This guy’s adorable,” Cass said.
“I imagine he’ll get snapped up soon. The really pretty ones seem to move through here quickly.” I thought of Jojo, who was cursed with being unremarkable looks-wise but definitely remarkable gas-wise. He was going to be with me for awhile.
I was still thinking about how I might make cats like Jojo more attractive to adopters when there was a loud crashing sound. “What the—” Cass said, turning to face the window that looked out onto the parking lot.
Or rather, what had been a window. Now it was a hole surrounded by a few remaining bits of glass, the rest of the glass scattered across the floor under the windowsill.
“Are you okay?” I asked, hurrying over to make sure she hadn’t been hit by any bits of flying glass.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She shook her feet, dislodging a couple pieces of stray glass from her shoes, but she didn’t seem to be hurt at all. Moving closer, she bent down and scooped up a rock. “Looks like this is what did it.”
It wasn’t just a rock. Wrapped around it was a piece of paper, tied with a bit of twine. Wordlessly, Cass handed the whole thing to me, then watched as I undid the string and pulled the paper off the rock.
“It’s blank,” I said, turning it over and then back again as I scanned it for any hint as to why someone would throw a rock through my café window.
