Софи Райан - The Whole Cat Аnd Caboodle

“You still have Thursday-night jam?” Nick glanced over at the stage again. I wondered if he was remembering the first time he took his guitar up on the stage in here and sat in with the band. “I haven’t played much lately.”

“It’ll come back,” Sam said. “Or you can do what the rest of us do: make it up as you go along.”

Nick laughed. “Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve done that.”

Sam showed us to a table near the front window, grabbing a couple of menus as we passed the bar. “I’ll send Adam over.”

I slipped off my jacket and hung it on the back of my chair.

“I’ll be up in the morning to pick up the Rickenbacker,” Sam said.

“Okay,” I said. “I put it in my office. Mac knows, in case I happen to be out.”

Nick looked at me. “Sam bought the Rickenbacker? The one I played?”

I nodded.

“Nice,” he said, nodding, and I wondered if Nick was sorry he hadn’t bought the guitar.

“Think about tomorrow night,” Sam said. “Sarah and Jess are coming, and I’ll probably have the Rickenbacker.” He laid a hand on my shoulder for a moment and headed for the kitchen.

Nick pulled out his chair and sat down. “You and Jess are still friends.”

I smiled. “I think we’re like Gram, your mom, Rose and Liz. I think we’re friends forever.” I traced the edge of my menu with a finger. “She makes me laugh. She nags me about working too much, and I still can’t get her to come running with me.”

“She’s probably busy,” he said, completely deadpan.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Uh-huh. There’s a lot of that going around.”

“You and Michelle didn’t reconnect?” he said, opening the menu.

I shook my head. All these years later I still didn’t know why Michelle had stopped being my friend, all but stopped talking to me.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw our waiter on the way over. “What about you?” I said. “Did you keep in touch with anyone?”

He closed the menu and pushed it aside. “No,” he said, picking up his knife and setting it back down again. “I kept saying I’d get back for a visit but it didn’t happen that often.” He shrugged. “Time would just get away from me. You know how it is.’

I nodded.

“Mom kept me more or less up-to-date, though.”

“Yeah, so did Gram when I was away.” I didn’t say that listening to my grandmother talk about what people were doing in town—and sometimes who they were doing—after I’d lost my job kept me from falling down a rabbit hole of depression.

Nick ordered a Bear Burger, Sam’s take on a cheeseburger made with fresh mozzarella cheese, a tangle of sweet fried onions and a spicy mayo-mustard blend that was Sam’s own creation. I ordered what I’d been craving: chili over rice.

We talked about the town while we waited for our food, and then as we ate.

Neither one of us felt like dessert. Nick picked up both checks when Adam brought them to the table.

He smiled at me. “Don’t waste your breath, Sarah,” he said. “I asked you to join me and I’m my mother’s son. That means I’m paying.”

“Which way are you headed?” I asked when we were outside on the sidewalk again.

“I’m walking you home,” he said, zipping his jacket. It had gotten a little cooler and there was a breeze coming in off the water.

“You don’t have to do that.”

He smiled down at me. “I know, but, like I told you, I am my mother’s son.”

I tipped my head to one side and studied him for a moment. “You are, you know,” I said. “You both get that same look when you’ve made up your mind about something.”

He winced. “Is that good or bad?

I bumped him gently with my hip. “From my experience it depends on whether someone’s on the same side or the opposite one.”

We walked along, talking about some of the differences of opinion Nick and his mother had had over the years.

“You know, the most humbling thing is when I look back I see that most of the time she was right.” He shook his head ruefully.

“Keep that in mind,” I said.

We were in front of my house. “This is home,” I said.

“Oh, you’re living in Isabel’s place while she’s on her honeymoon.”

I shook my head. “No. I’m not in Gram’s place. The main-floor apartment is mine. Actually the whole house is mine. Gram was living here to keep an eye on things for me when I was away.”

Nick took a step backward and looked up at the house. “It’s beautiful,” he said. “How did you end up owning a house here?”

I brushed my hair back off my face. “It’s a long story, but basically I cleaned out a barn.”

His eyes darted uncertainly from side to side. “And what?” He gestured with his hands. “You found this in an old cardboard box?”

I shook my head. “No, I found a Volkswagen bug that hadn’t been driven in twenty-five years—maybe longer. The woman who owned the barn said if I could get it out of the building I could have it. So I did.”

Nick glanced at the house once more and then his gaze came back to me. “And then the car magically turned into this house? What? Were there magic beans in the glove compartment or something?”

“You’re not that far off,” I said with a smile. “I did a little work on the car—well, I bribed Liam to do a little work on the car. Then I traded it for an old MG.” I ticked off the trades on my fingers. “I traded the MG for a camper van, which I lived in for six months. I traded the camper for a one-room cabin”—I shook my head—“and when I say cabin , I mean ‘shack’—that Jess and I lived in for our last year of college. I used the cabin as a down payment on this house.” I held out my hands. “Ta-da!”

“Wow,” Nick said, shaking his head in amazement. “Why didn’t I know any of this?”

I shrugged. “Well it didn’t happen overnight.”

“I guess I should have come home more often.”

I smiled up at him. “You’re here now. You can catch up.” I looked at the stars overhead. It was a clear night, and away from the water there wasn’t any breeze. “Thank you for walking me home,” I said.

Nick smiled. “You’re welcome. I’m not on call tomorrow night. Maybe I’ll see you at Sam’s.”

I nodded. “Maybe you will.”

He took a step toward me and I thought he was going to kiss me, but all he did was lay a hand on my shoulder for a moment.

“Good night, Sarah,” he said, and then he headed down the sidewalk. I stood there for a moment, feeling oddly disappointed that he hadn’t at least tried to kiss me. Not that I wanted him to. At least that was what I told myself.

I opened the store in the morning, and once Rose arrived I printed out a copy of the offer for the pieces I wanted to buy from the Harrington property and got Mac to take a look at it. He leaned against the counter by the cash register, rapidly scanning everything I’d printed, Elvis at his elbow. The cat’s furry black head was bent over the pages like he was reading, too.

“It’s fine,” Mac said, after a few minutes.

Elvis put one paw on the pages and meowed his approval, as well.

“Thanks,” I said. I reached over and scratched the top of Elvis’s head. “And thanks to you, too.” He bobbed his head as if to say “You’re welcome”; then he jumped down and headed toward the storage room. “I’m going to drop this off and go to the bank,” I said to Mac.

“Take your time,” he said. “I’m going to finish sanding that table.”

“And I’m going to change that window display,” Rose said as she came bustling down the stairs. Halfway to the storage room she stopped and turned around. “You don’t mind, do you, dear?”

I shook my head. “No. Do whatever seems right to you.”