A Tale of Two Tabbies Read Online Free Page B

make them see this.”
    “How am I supposed to convince two cats who don’t get along to work together?”
    Tansy smiled. “You’ll find a way.”
    Great.
    “These muffins are delicious.”
    Bella set a pot of tea and three cups on the table and sat down before pouring the tea into the cups.
    “Thank you,” Tansy answered. “They’re a special recipe I’ve developed. I had a feeling you would like them. I’ll bag some up for you to take to Siobhan. I’m afraid they won’t keep until Maggie returns, but I can make another batch for her next week.”
    “You know Maggie’s away?”
    “Of course.”
    I should have figured. Tansy knew everything.
    “I don’t suppose you could tell me where she’s gone off to? Siobhan and I are worried about her.”
    Tansy looked directly at me. She paused, as if trying to make up her mind about something. “Maggie isn’t ill. There’s no cause for concern. She’s just trying to make up her mind about something and she needs the space to do so.”
    I smiled in relief. I was still curious about where Maggie was, but if Tansy said she wasn’t ill, chances were she wasn’t.
    “As long as we’re on the subject of people making up their minds about things, you wouldn’t happen to know what Cody has on his mind?”
    Tansy smiled at me with a twinkle of knowing in her eyes. She glanced at Bella, who nodded before taking a sip of her tea. It was sort of creepy the way the two women seemed to communicate without either of them saying a word.
    “Cody’s secret is not ours to tell,” Tansy replied. “He’ll tell you when the time is right.”
    “I’m trying not to worry, but it’s hard. I want to help. He seems distressed, or maybe it’s more like confused.”
    “Cody is facing a difficult decision, but I wouldn’t worry. My intuition tells me that everything will work itself out as it should.”
    I wasn’t sure if that made me feel better or not, but I didn’t suppose there was anything I could do about the situation at that point in time, so I chatted with Tansy and Bella a while longer and then Max and I headed back toward the peninsula. I fed Max and headed over to the sanctuary to feed the cats before heading in to shower and get ready for work. I love the bookstore my best friend Tara and I run, but today I wished I could just stay home and work on a few of the theories I’d begun to develop.
     
    “Everything is set for the advertising for the sale this weekend,” I informed Tara later that morning.
    “Great. I know it’s only a two-day sale, but I’m really hoping for a good turnout. We could use a boost to our income after a couple of slow months.”
    “Where are we with the new inventory?”
    “Destiny catalogued it into the computer before she left for her lessons, and I have half of it set out. The rest is in the back.”
    Destiny was our part-time employee.
    “Did we get in any more of the new spring mugs? It seems they’ve been selling faster than we could put them on the shelves.”
    “I set out the last batch yesterday and by the end of the day they were gone. I guess I’ll double the order next time.”
    “Or triple it. The mugs have been our best-selling item the past couple of months. We should start planning a summer design now.”
    “I’ve sketched out a few ideas. I’ll show them to you later. The ferry will be here in a few minutes. We should get the coffee bar ready.”
    Tara started a fresh pot of coffee and then began refilling the other supplies we’d need to make the hot beverages we were known for. So far it seemed that combining a coffee bar with a bookstore and a cat lounge had proven to be a popular and profitable idea. January and February had been our slowest months since opening the store the previous August, but that was probably to be expected. The winter months were the slowest on the island in general.
    “By the way,” Tara filled the grinder with coffee beans as I gathered the boxes we’d unpacked in