Romeow and Juliet (4 page)

Tara and I are closet foodies. Every Monday evening, no matter what else might be going on, we meet at my cabin to watch our favorite show,
Cooking With Cathy
. And we don’t just watch the show; we participate in the project of the evening. The really awesome thing about this specific cooking show is that the recipe and ingredients are provided online ahead of time, so you can prepare the dish right along with Cathy. This week, due to my unfortunate run-in with the fleas Romeo had felt inclined to share, I was staying in Maggie’s guest room while my cabin was fumigated, so we were cooking in Maggie’s much larger kitchen. I’d treated Romeo with flea powder I’d gotten from the vet when I returned from the bank, so he was sitting with Max and watching us as we made beefy enchiladas with a spicy red sauce.

“This looks almost as good as the seafood lasagna we made a few weeks ago,” Tara commented as she began shredding the beef we’d cooked the day before in preparation for this evening’s demonstration. “I made a whole batch of the lasagna the other day and I’m afraid I ate the entire thing all by myself.”

“I thought you wanted to go on a diet before summer,” I said.

“I do. I will. I just haven’t started yet.”

Tara is absolutely gorgeous, but she tends to carry a few extra pounds due, I imagine, to both her love of eating
and
her aversion to getting dirty and sweaty. I’ve tried several times to convince her to join Max and me on our runs, but she seems to always have an excuse to avoid doing so.

“I was thinking of joining that new exercise class they have at the community center on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.”

Tara hesitated.

“You know you want to get into that red dress for your cousin’s wedding,” I reminded her.

“That’s true. I guess I could work out two mornings a week.”

“Great. I’ll pick you up on my way.” She’d be less likely to cancel if I showed up on her front step. “The class starts tomorrow, so I’ll see you at eight.”

“Eight?” Tara said weakly as she measured the red sauce into a measuring cup. “Maybe I should start next week.”

“Two months, twenty pounds. Do the math.”

“Okay.” Tara sighed. “I’ll be ready. Maybe we can get lattes on the way.”

“Sure, if they’re nonfat.”

Tara looked at me as I grated the cheddar cheese. “How come we eat the same thing but you’re so skinny?”

“Because I ride my bike into town on nice days even if I’ll be dusty, and I run on the beach with Max even if my floors get sandy.”

In addition to being obsessively organized, Tara is a neat freak who really does believe that cleanliness is next to godliness.

“I guess you have a point,” Tara admitted. “How much sour cream are we supposed to use?”

“A cup and a half.”

“It’s too bad Maggie went up to bed so early,” Tara added. “She loves enchiladas.”

“I’m really worried about her,” I said. “I feel like the progress she made last month is slipping away. Should we add the chilies to the tortillas or the sauce?”

“The tortillas.”

“So how did things go after I left the bank?” I asked. “Did I totally blow any chance we had at getting a loan?”

Tara walked over to preheat the oven. “Quite the contrary. Mr. Bradford almost seemed,” Tara paused as she searched for the right word, “charmed.”

“Charmed? Are you kidding me? I fled his office and jumped in the harbor while he looked on. What’s charming about that?”

Tara shrugged. “You got me. I was mortified, but he actually smiled. When I left he said he was looking forward to reviewing our reworked proposal.”

“So you’re saying that my tendency to be a total mess is actually working in our favor?”

“Oddly enough, it would seem it might be.”

“Thanks for helping me,” I said an hour later after our enchiladas were assembled and the show was over. Tara had offered to help me see to the cats in the sanctuary, which I needed to do twice a day.

“What are we going to do with those wonderful-looking enchiladas?” Tara asked. “There’s no way I’m going to bust my butt exercising and then ruin it by eating any of the cheesy delights we just made.”

“I thought I’d see if I could entice Maggie to eat a couple, and then I was going to divide what was left between Mr. Parsons and Mrs. Trexler.”

Mr. Parsons was my reclusive next-door neighbor and Mrs. Trexler was my third-grade teacher who now lived alone and rarely got out since she lost her driver’s license for running into the back of Finn’s sheriff’s vehicle. Twice.

“That’s a good idea. I’m sure they’ll both appreciate the gesture. In fact, maybe we should start taking part of the food we make every Monday to those in need. I love to watch Cathy’s show, but she certainly doesn’t pick low-calorie options.”

“No, she doesn’t.” I laughed. “Last week’s cheesecake had enough calories in it to feed a small town for a week. I’ve actually been taking my half of the food we make to Mrs. Trexler and Mr. Parsons for a while. From now on I’ll just divide the entire serving.”

I entered the first cat room, reserved for moms with kittens, and began the process of providing food and water, as well as clean linens and cat box litter. Each cat room has both an indoor and an enclosed outdoor area where the cats can lie in the sun, climb trees, and romp to their hearts’ delight.

I picked up one of the resident kittens and cuddled it. Maggie made sure that all of the kittens born at the facility were given large doses of human interaction. Once they turned eight weeks of age they were spayed or neutered, given shots, and adopted by new families. The mama cats who could be rehabilitated were likewise altered and then adopted into forever homes.

“How many cats do you currently have in residence?” Tara wondered.

“Thirty-eight. Four mama cats, eighteen kittens, seven altered feral adults who have been given sanctuary in permanent quarters, and five altered males who we’re working on finding homes for, as well as four altered females who show a lot of promise.”

“That’s a lot. What are you going to do if you get filled to capacity?”

“I try not to think about that. Six of the kittens are almost ready for new homes. I’ve had success with the adoption clinics in the city and I know that once the residents of Madrona Island start hanging out with the cats at Coffee Cat Books they’ll want to adopt the cats they have a chance to meet. We’ve been aggressively altering the cats who come in, which will reduce the number of kittens born in the future.”

“What about those you aren’t able to rehabilitate?”

I bent down and picked up a huge orange tabby. “This is Moose. When we first trapped him and brought him here you couldn’t get within ten feet of him, but now he comes over to say hi when I come in. He isn’t quite ready for a home—he tends to scratch and bite if he’s had enough people time—but I have hope that one day we’ll find the perfect forever home for even him.”

“And what about Romeo? Do you think he’s here to stay?”

I thought about it. He seemed perfectly at home, but my intuition told me that he was only in my life for a visit.

“I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Akasha didn’t seem too thrilled to have another cat in the house.”

Akasha was my aunt’s cat, her first rescue. She’s a dainty black beauty who adores my aunt but only tolerates everyone else. When Maggie had gone up to bed Akasha had gone with her.

Tara bent down and picked up a multicolored kitten who appeared to be some sort of Maine coon mix. “This little guy sure is friendly. Do you have a home for him yet?”

“Not yet,” I said. “He seems to like you.”

“I have to admit I’m tempted. Living alone can get lonely at times, and a cat would provide company. Have you named him?”

“No. I always leave that up to the forever families of the cats and kittens I feel are candidates for placement. Some of our resident feral cats have names.”

Tara continued to hold the long-haired kitten with bright blue eyes. She turned him so they were face to face. “Aren’t you a cutie? Do you shed a lot?” The kitten began to purr as it swatted her on the nose. “I bet you do shed a lot, but you’re quite the charmer.” Tara smiled as she rubbed her cheek against his soft fur.

I smiled too. It looked like Tara was going home with a cat. Maybe not today, but soon. I’m convinced that cats have a way of knowing who they should be with. Tara had helped me with the cats before and had stopped to pet the kittens each time but really hadn’t shown a lot of interest in taking one home. Until today. Today the little bandit trotted over, stole a heart, and charmed his way into a forever home.

I walked over to the window and looked out as a car pulled into the drive. “Looks like Danny’s here,” I announced.

Tara immediately set the kitten down and began to straighten her hair. I suspect she has a crush on Danny. At first I found the attraction odd, but Danny
is
fun and spontaneous, with a joy for life that I seldom see in anyone over the age of puberty. I can see how Tara and Danny would be good for each other. She needs to lighten up a bit and he needs to take things a bit more seriously.

Danny must have noticed that the exterior lights of the sanctuary were on because he headed our way

“Hey, sis.” Danny bent over and kissed me on the cheek. Then he turned and kissed Tara on the cheek as well.

“So what brings you to my neck of the woods this evening?” I asked.

Danny lived on his boat in the marina and was most often found at the pub nearby at this time of day.

“I was at O’Malley’s tossing down a pint and you’ll never guess who I ran into.”

“Santa Claus.”

“What? Why would you guess that?”

“You said I’d never guess, so I tried to imagine the least likely answer.”

“I didn’t run into Santa Claus, but I did run into Cody West.”

I paled. Cody West was the boy who’d taken my virginity and then disappeared into the sunset, never to be seen or heard from again. Okay, maybe that’s not exactly what happened. Exactly what happened was that I was foolish enough to fall in love with Danny’s best friend, a boy two years my senior. According to both Danny and Tara, the only two people in the world who know the details of the series of events leading up to my still beating heart being ripped from my chest, the incident, at least in part, had been my fault.

Cody had been eighteen and a high-school senior, while I was sixteen and a sophomore. I’d been lusting after him since the moment I hit puberty, which most likely had led to my ill-advised plan. I managed to sneak into the party the senior class was having on graduation night, where I fully intended to seduce the guy I knew in my heart I was destined to spend the rest of my life with. On the surface it seemed that my seduction worked fantastically. While Cody tried to divert my attention in the beginning, I was persistent and managed to squeeze my way past his defenses. It was a magical night, a night of romance and intimacy that I assumed would lead to happily ever after. The problem was that Cody had plans for his life after graduation. Big plans. Plans that didn’t include a life with Danny Hart’s little sister.

I know now that it had been foolish to believe that I’d be able to talk Cody into discarding his plans to join the Navy and remain on the island with me. For one thing, he’d already enlisted, so despite my attempt to get him to stay, he already had an obligation to go.

In his defense, he did write to me when he got the opportunity. He apologized for our night of passion and assured me that it never should have happened. I was devastated. Beyond devastated; I was outraged that the man I loved would choose a life in the Navy over one with me.

“What’s he doing here?” I asked.

“He says he’ll be on the island for the summer. He asked about you. Wanted to know if you had a guy in your life.”

“What did you tell him?” I felt myself begin to panic.

“I told him you were juggling a few guys but hadn’t decided to make a commitment to any one suitor just yet.”

I hugged Danny. He was one of the few people on the planet, along with Tara, who really got me.

“I wanted to swing by and warn you that he plans to look you up. I figured if I gave you a heads-up you’d be prepared for when you inevitably run into him.”

“Thanks. I owe you.”

“And that,” Danny grinned, “is quite convenient because I just happen to need a favor.”

I groaned. “What do you want?” Leave it to Danny to take a beautiful sibling moment and turn it into a negotiation.

“I have a date with Melanie Hannigan this weekend.”

“So?” Melanie was a waitress at the pub who was
very
well endowed.

“So her cousin is in town and she wanted me to find him a date so we could double.”

“You want me to go on a date with Melanie’s cousin? What are you, my pimp?”

“It’s just one date.”

“Isn’t there someone else you can ask to tag along? You know lots of girls,” I pointed out.

“True, but you’re the only girl I know who won’t get jealous that I’m with Melanie and she’s stuck with Walter. So how about it?”