Cupid's Revenge Read Online Free Page A

breakfast.”
    I saw movement from the corner of my eye and caught Bob slipping through the connecting door. I couldn’t be sure but I thought he was laughing. That was good. At least one of my future in-laws had a sense of humor. Alex’s aunt, Mary Elizabeth was a nice woman, but I wouldn’t say that she was over-endowed with playfulness and whimsy. And if Rosemary had any sense of humor at all, I’d seen no signs of it.
    Bob and Rosemary were going to breakfast with Mary Elizabeth, so I was again thwarted in my attempt to have a solo conversation with either of them. I was thinking unkind thoughts about couples who become conjoined twins, but stopped myself when I considered how I was with Blue. And how much did I want to talk with either of them anyway?
     Alex could have been having breakfast with me, but he was out giving my dad a jump-start since his van’s battery was dead and it looked bad when the new mayor wasn’t in his office by eight. So I was alone, baby-sitting spoiled cats and supervising the interspecies encounter group.
    We were trying the group experience since, left on their own last evening, the cats had attacked the drapes and screamed ceaselessly until Bob and Rosemary got back from their walk. Hence my lecture to the cats about respect for personal property. All things considered, I thought we were doing pretty well. There had been no hissing, spitting or barking when the connecting door opened and worlds collided.
    Just as I was patting myself on the back, two things happened almost at once. Bob and Rosemary left, the wind banging the door loudly and making us all jump. Then the phone rang and I got up to answer it, turning my back on the ungrateful vipers I was trying to nurse to my bosom. Seeing an opportunity to eat something other than health food, Zoom skidded across the table, scooping up my bacon and knocking my abandoned toast on the floor. The plate it was on didn’t break but my coffee cup went over and there was mocha everywhere, including my shoe.
    I gave a bellow of rage which startled Alex and he immediately began demanding to know what was wrong. I ignored him except to say ‘damn cat’ and hung up the phone.
    Blue, torn between taking part in my plan to catch the bacon thief and cleaning up my spilled toast and coffee made the correct decision and pounced on the feline marauder first.
    Zoom, faced for the first time in her life with a stronger personality, wisely went limp. Blue, roused to unprecedented action, picked her up by the scruff and brought her over to me.
    “Oh God. Good girl,” I said to Blue, taking the cat from her. Blue has a soft mouth and was doing a low, slow tail-wag, but I was terrified at how close the stupid feline had come to disaster. I don’t know how many PSI’s a Rottweiler’s jaw can exert but it is surely enough to snap a cat’s neck.
    “Dumb kitty,” I said resuming my seat, but stroking the cat with gentle hands. Her gray coat was blotched with drool and coffee. “Stupid, stupid kitty. What if Blue wasn’t a good doggy? Next time just ask for bacon. I’ll share if your mommy isn’t around.”
    Blue, her job as enforcer complete, sat down to enjoy some slightly dusty toast with jam and coffee. The other three cats were on the back of the sofa looking on with enormous eyes. Apollo and Aphrodite had never seen Blue acting like a dog, and Lucy had never seen any dog act like a dog. They may not have seen a dog period.
    The phone rang again. Laying the cat over my shoulder, I went to reassure Alex.
    “It’s okay,” I said at once. “Blue didn’t eat her.”
    “That’s good to know,” the chief said agreeably. “Though I am sure whoever ‘she’ is that she deserved it. Blue is an excellent judge of character.”
    I snorted. “You have that right. My mother-in-law-to-be’s cats are the worst-mannered animals I have ever met. They already tore up the drapes in Alex’s office and stole my breakfast.”
    Zoom began purring