Christmas at the Cat Cafe

He stepped closer and his wary expression softened, as if my proximity was bringing out his vulnerability. When Eddie sat down in front of me, he lowered his head and looked up submissively, just as he had when he was a kitten expecting a telling-off. ‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered.

Feeling my throat tighten and my eyes tingle, I leant towards him, allowing our noses to touch, before nuzzling my face into the fur of his neck. I closed my eyes, the better to allow my sense of smell to glean all it could about where Eddie had been. He smelt of hedgerows and damp earth, but also of furniture polish and log fires and people.

‘Molly, look.’

I opened my eyes, fleetingly annoyed by the interruption. Across the café, Debbie was beaming at me, one arm extended, her finger pointing across the floor. I followed her arm and saw that, sitting in front of the open carrier, with a look of paternal satisfaction, was Jasper. I stared at him in stunned disbelief and, when he blinked slowly, his amber eyes twinkling, I thought for a moment that my heart might burst with happiness.

Eddie’s deep purr filled the living room as I drew my tongue in long, sweeping movements over his fur, determined to lick away the tangles and make him smell like home again. We were in the shoebox and Purdy was watching us from the sofa arm, her face alert and curious, while Abby and Bella huddled together in the alcove, taking it in turns to peek out from behind Beau’s pet carrier. Jasper was sitting proprietorially on the rug in front of the fireplace, where Maisie had sidled up beside him, washing diligently in a manner that I knew was designed to elicit his approval.

On the other side of the room, Debbie and John were at the table, picking at the cold leftovers of their dinner. The candles had burnt down almost to stumps, the long flames dancing vigorously in the draught from the window.

‘Someone called while Linda was here,’ John explained. ‘Said she thought she had your cats. I didn’t want to get your hopes up, until I knew for sure. Besides, you were a bit busy at the time, so I just slipped out.’

Debbie smiled ruefully. ‘So, where were they?’ she asked, popping a piece of cold potato into her mouth.

‘A village a few miles south of here. The woman said Eddie had been visiting her house for a while. She’d assumed he belonged to one of the neighbours, till she asked around and realized no one owned him. Jasper had been hanging around too, but she thought he and Eddie were the same cat, until she saw them both in the garden together. It took her a few days to round them up and get them to vet to be scanned. She thought the vet was joking when he told her both cats were registered to the same owner.’ Debbie chuckled.

‘But what a coincidence that they ended up together,’ Debbie said incredulously. ‘They disappeared a good few days apart.’ She looked towards the shoebox, baffled.

‘I’ve given up trying to make sense of what these cats of yours get up to,’ John shrugged. ‘I’ve always suspected they’re playing us for fools.’

Licking the top of Eddie’s head, I glanced towards John, but he had already turned back to face Debbie.

When I had finished grooming him, Eddie quickly fell asleep, his warm body pressed up against me, his legs entwined with mine. Debbie and John had taken their drinks to the sofa, and the conversation had moved onto Linda.

‘I know I probably got a bit carried away,’ Debbie said regretfully, ‘but, to be honest, I’m relieved that she’s gone. This business with Margery’s legacy, on top of everything else . . . it was just the last straw.’ She trailed off, a familiar weary expression flickering across her face.

‘I think it was probably long overdue,’ John said tactfully. ‘Whatever you said to her, it needed to be said.’

Debbie yawned and stretched her legs out across John’s lap. ‘When I realized you’d disappeared tonight, I thought I’d blown it,’ she said with a sleepy smile.

‘It would take more than a row with Linda to scare me off,’ John reassured her, rubbing her feet.

‘You looked as if you wished the ground would open up beneath you,’ she teased him. ‘But, after the last couple of weeks, when I hadn’t heard from you . . .’ she persisted, biting her lip anxiously.

‘I didn’t want you to think I was getting ideas about the legacy – that I wanted you to keep it and was only hanging around for the money. I guess maybe I went a bit too far the other way, backed off too much,’ John said apologetically.

‘Perhaps just a little,’ Debbie replied. Her eyelids were heavy and I could see her chin begin to sink closer to her chest. ‘What a day,’ she mumbled drowsily. Then her eyes closed and her head lolled sideways onto the cushion.