Page 81 of Icebreaker
“I definitely need to pick up some cheesecake bites for Mel. Do you need anything?”
“Didn’t you like the tzatziki and pita bread we got last time?”
“Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me. I wish I knew how to make that type of meat on the spit. I think it’s probably pretty complicated.”
“You wishyouknew how to make it?” Daddy asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Okay, fine. I wish you knew how to make it,” I conceded with a laugh.
Daddy squeezed my arm and my hand, and chuckled with me as we walked just a couple of blocks down to the city park. By the time we got there, the farmers’ market was in full swing.
There were local artists and crafters, along with fruit vendors and folks selling homemade goods like jellies and jams, which were really tasty, plus flower sellers since we were in Washington. We decided to start at one end and work our way across to the other. I managed to find the cheesecake bites Mel wanted and gave them a try. I stopped to get some marionberry jelly mixed with citrus. The sample was delicious, so I decided to try some on my morning toast to see if I needed to switch to the homemade kind. The tzatziki guy was nowhere to be found, but there was someone selling salsa, so we opted for that instead.
Since moving into the cabin, I’d discovered a love for fresh flowers, so I stopped to pick up a bouquet wrapped in white craft paper with a twine bow. We walked our way through the entire section before we retraced our steps and realized we’d forgotten to pass by one of the rose vendors. There wasn’t much we needed over there since it was the community outreach aisle, but at the very end, there was a sponsored pet adoption area.
“Oh my gosh, Daddy B, look at them. They are so cute,” I gushed. The puppies and dogs were yapping at every person who walked by. Some of them slept through all the noise, but most of them were up, jumping around. They were a little too overwhelming.
“Do you want a dog?” Daddy looked concerned, and I knew why. He mostly worked nights, I worked days, and pursuing my master’s degree in library science online took a lot of my time. A dog needed a lot of interaction, and neither of us was in a great position to offer it.
“Not really, but they are cute to look at.” Who wouldn’t smile when the puppies were falling over themselves and tumbling around on the grass inside the fenced enclosures?
“Okay, so in agreement—no pets.”
“Right, no pets.” We wandered around a few more pens, petting the puppies and scratching the old ones under their chins.
“Hi, looking for a new companion?” The mountain of a man loomed over me, even towering a few inches above Daddy, which was hard to manage. He practically blocked out the sun. He might have been intimidating if not for the small midnight-black cat nestled in a sling pouch draped across his chest. His paw print covered name tag readBarrett.
“Oh no, we’re just wandering through,” I hastily responded.
“No worries, the adoptees are happy for the attention. But if you were looking for a new family member, would it be a dog or a cat?”
“We can’t have one, but it would be a cat.”
“Renting?”
“Only from his parents, but we’re really busy and work opposite shifts. Who’s your friend?” I nodded to the cat that had perked up as we chatted in the beating sun.
“This is my best girl, Elizabeth. She rules the house. Owen, my husband, and I like to pretend we’re in charge, but we only say it to make ourselves feel better. Good thing she’s a benevolent dictator.” As he spoke, Barrett scratched the cat’s ears and cooed at her. The sight of this huge guy and tiny cat made me smile.
With a meow, Elizabeth squirmed out of the pouch and leaped down from her cloth perch. She landed at Daddy B’s feet and wound around them.
“Sorry about that,” Barrett said sheepishly. “She kinda does her own thing.”
“I don’t mind,” Daddy B said, stroking her fur. She preened under his attention, then nudged against my hand when I went to pet her. After a few minutes, Elizabeth moved on and wove herself around Daddy B’s feet again. She meowed, stepped away a few feet, stopped, and looked back at us. I had no idea a cat could look exasperated, but she managed to do it.
“Uh, she wants you to follow her,” Barrett said with a shrug.
“How do you know that?” I asked.
“I’m used to it by now,” he said with an indulgent smile. “It’s easier and quicker to just do what she wants.”
“She sounds like a person,” Daddy B said with a grin.
“Sometimes I think she might be one in a mini catsuit. She, umm, knows things. It can be a little creepy.”
Elizabeth was tired of our conversation, as evidenced by the impatient noises she made. Her exasperation had turned into annoyance, and I suspected it was due to our delay.
“Sorry, Elizabeth, we’re coming.”
Daddy B must have sounded appropriately contrite because her regal head nodded, and she continued on her mission. She stopped at a crate at the end of the row that wasn’t crowded. Unlike the kitten pens, this one housed an older cat. The sign onthe pen identified him as Walter and came with a warning not to stick your fingers into the crate if you wanted to keep them.
Walter looked like he’d been through a war. He’d lost an eye, half an ear was chewed off, his tail was crooked, several scars marred his face, and his one eye didn’t quite track. He was a brown tabby mess. But with the yowling between the two of them, it was easy to miss that part. Finally, he plopped onto the floor of the crate and reached an arm through to bat at Daddy B.
Daddy B bent down to pet his paw. The rumble of his purr resembled a semi-truck. That was enough for the man who’d begun the visit with a no-pets declaration to whisper sweet nothings to a cat that looked like he’d been cold-cocked in a bar fight.
“Hey, Ellie, I think we have a cat.”