To Love and to Perish by Steve Higgs

Author:Steve Higgs [higgs, steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-03-11T16:00:00+00:00

Missing Cat

Mindy parked her car in the exact same spot mine had inhabited last night. I felt like I had crammed a lot into the last twenty-four hours. Getting out of her car, I started calling for my cat.

‘Amber. Amber are you here?’

Mindy asked with a frown. ‘Why would Amber be here? You live miles away.’

Oh. How was I going to explain this? Quickly thinking up a lie, I said, ‘I thought I saw her, is all. It must have been another ragdoll cat though.’

Mindy raised her eyebrows but said nothing, probably thinking her aunt was going a little loopy.

Unlike last night, I walked around to the front of the building and went in through the customer entrance.

An exuberant young man bounced away from a display he was tidying to greet us both. ‘Hello. Welcome to Orion Print. My name is Graham Mailer, I’m one of the sales reps. Is there something specific we can help you with today?’

I shook his hand, noting the man’s dainty grip. ‘I’m Felicity Philips. This is my niece, Mindy.’

Mindy got a polite nod from the employee who then cast his eyes down to look at Buster.

Buster’s tongue snuck out to give his nose a lick before slithering noisily back into his mouth again.

‘Wow, a bulldog. I don’t remember the last time I saw one of these. He’s so cute.’

‘Cute?’ sneered Buster. ‘I am darkness and vengeance. I am what you fear in the shadows.’ He lunged forward before I could stop him and tried to bite the man’s foot.

Dancing back to stay out of reach, the man gave a nervous laugh to cover up the unmanly squeal of fright Mindy and I both heard. ‘He’s a little feisty.’

I was about to explain that I got all my printing done here and was a very minor co-owner. I didn’t need to though because Tamara appeared.

‘Oh, hi, Felicity,’ she smiled at me as she came through from the office I was in last night. ‘It’s so good of you to come to me.’

A little lost for words but guessing she believed I was here to pick up where we left off yesterday, I said, ‘Of course. My clients get the best treatment, even if they are the daughters of my friends. We all want your big day to be as special as it can be. I just popped in to rearrange a few things with you.’

Mindy shot me a confused look. ‘I thought we were …’

Shutting her up as quickly as I could, I said, ‘That’s why we came, Mindy. Tamara is going to be one of our fabulous brides.’

Still looking confused, Mindy said, ‘Okay,’ and gave Tamara the professional smile I’d been teaching her.

‘We never did get to discuss the dress yesterday, did we,’ I gave her my most excited eyes. If there is one thing I know for absolute certain: every bride on the planet wants her wedding dress to be amazing. If you can sell a client on the dress, the rest of it is easy.

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