“Have a good night, Sage. It was nice to meet you.”
As soon as she left, I bolted the main door while I gathered my things. It had been such a long day, and I was very tired from my lack of sleep the night before.
The house was dark and quiet when I returned. A large basket filled with cookies, brownies, and an entire loaf of fresh baked bread waited for me next to the door. Whoever left it had tucked a card in with the treats.
Sage,
Just thought I’d send you some treats and say welcome to Woods Crossing! I’m so excited to get to know you better. Feel free to call or stop by anytime you want to hang out.
-Maria
She’d left her cell number and address at the bottom of the card. My heart filled with warmth at the gesture. I picked up a cookie and took a bite. I wasn’t sure how she’d done it, but the cookie was crunchy on the outside and gooey on the inside, with just the right amount of chocolate chips.
I was about to cram the rest of it into my mouth when a loud hiss suddenly sounded at my feet. I jumped back and yelped, the cookie going flying, my heart thudding in my throat. A dark shape shot past me, snatching up the cookie and swallowing it whole.
“You again!”
It was the same black and gray striped cat from the shop. It leveled its orange eyes at me, its unnatural stillness freaking me out.
As the cat sat there, unmoving, licking her crumb covered lips, I started to feel bad for yelling at her earlier. She had swiped at me, but it was probably what most cats would do if a stranger tried to touch them.
“Okay, cat, I got the message. You don’t like being touched. Would you like some milk? Or I might have some tuna. You must be hungry with the way you scarfed that entire cookie.”
The cat licked its lips, which I took to be a yes.
“Come on inside, then.”
I unlocked the door and the cat trotted in, looking a bit pleased with herself. As I followed her into the kitchen, I noticed that her coat looked a bit thin. She had silvery hairs around her whiskers that didn’t match the color of her coat.
“You must be getting on in years, little lady.”
The cat let out a sharp yowl, making me jump. I pressed a hand to my heart, trying to calm its rapid beating.
“Alright, I guess cats are sensitive about their age, just like people.”
To my surprise, the cat walked straight to one of the lower cupboards and put her paw on the door. She looked up at me, sitting on her haunches while she waited. I opened the cupboard and found a several cans of tuna inside.
“Well, look at that! Did you belong to Grandma, then? Or did she just feed you sometimes?”
Grabbing a can, I opened it and emptied it into a bowl. Since I’d promised milk too, I filled another small bowl and set both of them before the cat. She practically pounced on the tuna.
Too tired to make real food, I boiled some ramen and made a salad to go with it. The cat slurped the milk while I slurped my soup. It felt nice having another living creature in the house.
While I ate, I looked up places to buy apothecary items on my phone. If Grandma really had run some sort of weird apothecary, and ingredients were as expensive as Theresa implied, then I could make pretty good money selling the stuff.
Nothing came of it, though. Everything that popped up looked like it came from a joke shop. Where had Grandma gotten all her ingredients, then? Was there some kind of Frog Guts black market operating nearby that sold mysterious powders at wholesale prices?
With a sigh, I put the phone aside. I’d have to worry about the apothecary later.
As I climbed the stairs, I realized I hadn’t peeked into Grandma’s old room yet. I’d thought about taking her room since it was the master bedroom, but it felt weird somehow, so I’d chosen the blue room.
I pushed the door open and wandered inside. The walls were painted a pretty shade of sea green, with a Chevron quilt on the bed that matched the color of the walls. Lots of decorative pillows covered the bed, a few of them with handmade lacy covers.
The bathroom was nice, with a jetted tub, a glass standing shower and a large double sink made of white marble.
A small basket under one of the windows in the bedroom caught my eye, so I crept closer to investigate. It looked like some kind of pet bed, with tiny black and gray hairs all over it. On the padded surface lay a collar with a tag and a single word etched onto it.
Jade.
Sitting back on my heels, I took the tag in my hand.
“So that cat does belong to Grandma. I’m glad I fed her, then.”
I put the collar back onto the pet bed and made my way back downstairs. When I walked into the kitchen to see if Jade was still eating, I noticed a small cat door built into the door leading out to the backyard. The empty bowls sat on the kitchen floor where I’d left them.
I felt an unexpected pang of disappointment at the cat’s departure, wishing it had at least stayed the night. Cats were nocturnal, though, so she had probably gone out to hunt. With a shrug, I went back upstairs, feeling very tired.
After making a cup of coffee and some breakfast the next morning, I sat down to make a list of everything that needed to be done in the house and the shop. Though the old house was cleaner than the shop, it still needed a good deep going over and an airing out.
I decided to work on the house that morning since I’d done a lot at the shop the day before. Turning on some loud music, I opened all the windows and dusted all the surfaces thoroughly. After that, I did some sweeping, mopping and vacuumed the rugs.
As I went along, I daydreamed about the furniture and fixtures I would someday buy. That awful claw-foot tub in the upstairs bathroom would be the first to go, followed by the dated gas stove and tiny fridge.
The first floor looked and smelled great by the time I finished, the fresh air from outside helping with the mustiness. As I walked into the kitchen to put away the breakfast dishes, the door flapped and Jade walked in.
“Hello, there. Did you have a good hunt last night?”
Giving a grumbly meow, Jade stretched out on the floor, making little scratchy motions with her paws. The stretch was so cute that I had to resist the urge to reach out and pat her head.
