“Or you could ask me to do it,” he said picking up his fork and knife and continuing his meal.
“But you have a bookstore to run and….”
“If you are about to say that I don’t have any experience managing projects save your breath.I worked as a plumber on some very large projects.I know how to plan and run a building project.”
“But what about the funds?”
“I think what we do is get my aunt Betty to bring the board together and Zoey would be happy to help with the marketing and tech support.She’s getting some very good experience with that job of hers and her friend Axel will help.He’s been a great resource so far.”
“But…”
“Are you just saying but because it is one of your favourite words?Or do you have a particular reason we can’t do this?”
She closed her mouth, looked down at her now empty plate—no excuses left there.“I suppose it is one of my favourite words,” she said.“ I hadn’t thought of it that way but maybe you are right.”
“So you agree.If we pull together a meeting with Zoey and Betty…”
“We need to include Mal and Daisy too.They have been on me about this expansion and I have them doing some research.They seem to think that the recovery model being used down island may work.”
“Well then, we can include them as well.What do you say?We can meet after the Pages and Paws event.Maybe have an initial meeting over dinner that evening.”
“Okay,” said Raven, after searching her mind for more reasons to object and finding none.“Let’s do that.”She picked up her cup of herbal tea and took a sip.
He clinked his coffee cup against her cup and said, “A toast to the beginning of a fantastic enterprise.”
“A new enterprise?”asked Esther who was making her way to their table.
“We are going to explore the possibility of expanding the Cat’s Meow to include a recovery centre,” Raven explained.
“Well, let me know if there is anything I can do to help,” said Esther.
“You’re already helping with our publicity for the Pages and Paws event,” said Raven bending down to pick up her bag.“I brought the posters.”
“Oh, and tell Pinky that I will have the cookies ready by eight that morning, and here are the free coupons.”Esther handed a stack of cards to Lance.“I’ve also got some of your cups here…” she pointed to the shelf near the cash register where she often sold art or pottery on consignment for the artists in town.“Thanks for these,” she added as she took the posters from Raven.
“Cookies?”asked Lance.
“And cupcakes,” said Esther.“Shaped like cats of course.”
“That’s way above and beyond,” said Lance.
“I’m happy to do them.Most of my baking is pretty standard so it’s always fun to have a new project.In fact, if you need a fundraising idea, I could sell special cat cookies once a week and all the extra proceeds could go to your project.And happy to put other items, like the cups, up if that would help.”
“You’d do that?”asked Raven.
“Of course.People love cats and if they happen to buy a latte and stay awhile well… that’s okay by me.”
Lance laughed at the face Esther pulled.She looked like an innocent child who just found the key to the candy cupboard.
They spoke some more and then Lance and Raven took their leave.As she pushed open the door to the street beyond, she felt a little lighter.Maybe they could put an addition onto the centre after-all.
She walked beside Lance to the Bookworm to gather the cats again.Glancing over at him, more weight seemed to dissipate from her shoulders.He said he would help.And from what she knew of Lance, when he said he’d do a thing he would.
Imagine finding a reliable man at her age.
And imagine finding one who liked her.
Her life was getting better by the day thanks to Lance’s steady patience.
