Apart from a loud hiss as we passed Jake’s house, the sweet boy stayed silent all the way back to our room at theBlue Moon.
I let him out while I filled his bowl with chicken. He’d only had a tiny breakfast in case he suffered from car sickness or nerves while we were at the law office.
The basket was the next item on my list to unpack. I shook out the blanket, the spare blanket and the other one, when I heard words behind me.
“I was hoping it’d be you.”
I spun around, to stare directly at the cat who’d jumped onto the headboard of the bed. My head swiveled as I scanned the room. Where was the person I’d heard?
I was looking back at Cosmo when he opened his mouth. “Listen up, buttercup, we need to talk.”
I did the only sensible thing and fainted.
Chapter four
“Stop that,” I muttered. I’d had an insane dream, and now somebody was wiping my face with a rough, damp cloth.
No response, apart from a quick wipe of my nose.
“Eek.” My eyelids flattered open. In front of me sat Cosmo.
He gave me a final lick before he stopped. “Are you now ready to listen?”
I blinked. Then I blinked again. Nothing had changed. I was still draped across my bed at theBlue Moon, where I’d fallen, and my aunt’s black cat was talking to me. Make that my black cat.
Trying to stay as calm as possible, I probed my head for a bump. Had I concussed myself?
“You’re fine,” the cat said. His voice held a slight lilt, one I thought I recognized.
“Why do you suddenly sound French?” I dragged myself into a sitting position. Obviously, I’d landed in the kind of dream that’s so real you couldn’t tell you were asleep.
He drew himself up to sit as regally as a statue. “Why should I not? After all, I’m Cosmo Merlin de Beaufort, in the short version of my name. And now, stop dawdling. We’ve got things to do.”
“De Beaufort?” I broke into a laugh. It turned into a hiccup as Cosmo glared at me. If my rusty French didn’t desert me, his name sounded a lot like “beautiful fur”.
He slitted his eyes. “Bex. We need to move back home. There’s no way I can do all that needs to be done here.”
“Can perimenopause drive you insane?” I wondered out loud to myself.
He covered his eyes with his paw. His tail swished in a figure of eight. A boom outside startled me. The next thing, I was falling out of bed and hitting the floor.
“Ouch.” I sat up, wide awake.
He circled me. “No injuries. Good.”
“I’m awake?”
Cosmo gave a tiny, exasperated growl. “Of course you are. I told you. Like I told you we have a lot of work ahead.”
I nodded meekly. “Care to enlighten me?”
“Wasn’t the will clear enough? You’re Violet’s heiress. That also means you have to carry on her work.”
“I know, and I’ll learn how to run a lending library.” I couldn’t help the peevish note in my voice. I might not be the smartest cookie under the sun, I mean, look at who I married, but I was smart enough to figure out my new tasks.
“That’s the easy part. The harder part will be to teach you the important stuff.”
“Like what?” By now, the part of my brain responsible for reason and logic had shut down and I was full on embracing the crazy in front of me.
