Nic Tatano - The Empire State Cat’s Christmas Gift

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First published in Great Britain by Harper Impulse 2016

Copyright © Nic Tatano 2016

Cover images © Shutterstock.com

Cover layout design © HarperCollins Publishers 2016

Cover design by Holly Macdonald

Nic Tatano asserts the moral right to

be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book

is available from the British Library

This novel is entirely a work of fiction.

The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are

the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to

actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is

entirely coincidental.

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and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

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Ebook Edition © November 2016 ISBN: 9780008200664

Version 2016-10-18

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‘E-book novel of the year’

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‘I truly adored this novel…One of my favourite books this

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‘The heroine is sassy, the dialogue is razor-sharp and the

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‘Fast and funny’

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For Gypsy, Pandora, Bella, Buttons, Snoopy, and J.R., my furry companions through life …

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Praise for Nic Tatano’s Debut Wing Girl

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

Bonus Material

About the Author

Also by Nic Tatano

About HarperImpulse

About the Publisher

Socks the cat (full name: Socks Fifth Avenue) had endured an awful night. Fortunately, she had managed to awaken her person after the fire had started in the house. They’d gotten out seconds before lightning hit the large tree which fell and destroyed the bedroom. The storm was bad enough, but spending the night in the hotel with the constant slamming doors and voices from the next room had left her unnerved. The saving grace was that her person had lavished her with so much love and attention, thankful that Socks had saved their lives.

To make things worse, she was now riding in her pet carrier—which all cats loathe—but was hopefully on her way to more peaceful surroundings.

Tish McKenna entered her law office in the Empire State Building with a pet carrier in one hand while wheeling a large suitcase with the other. Her petite doe-eyed assistant, Shelley Downs, got up to greet her tall blonde boss with a hug. “Tish, thank God you’re okay. You could have been killed.”

Tish held up the pet carrier to eye level. “It’s all thanks to this little one. I didn’t even know the house was on fire until she woke me and about thirty seconds after we got out a tree fell and crushed the bedroom.” She turned and looked at her fur baby, a young black-and-white tuxedo cat with four white paws. “Someone is going to be treated really well for the rest of her eight lives.”

“Like you don’t already spoil her.” Shelley shoved her long chestnut hair behind her ears and poked her finger through the carrier grate. “Hey, Socks. You’re quite the little heroine. Much better than a smoke alarm.” The cat meowed and licked her finger. “So I guess you couldn’t leave her in the hotel.”

“No, all the noise from the other rooms freaked her out all night and you know that she’d escape when housekeeping came through.”

“So where are you gonna keep her?”

“In my office, for now.”

“Seriously, Tish? A cat in a law firm?”

“Look, it will be months before my house is repaired and I can’t leave her there with all the construction going on. So I’ll be with her during the day and we’ve got the law student working here in the evenings to keep her company. I already talked to him and he loves cats. She can stay in my office and I’ll see clients in the conference room for now. And I’m staying with Madison and Nick on the weekends so she’ll come home with me every Friday and back on Monday morning. She can’t get out of this office because the cleaning crew only works on Saturdays and she’ll be with me then.”

“Okay, but what if the landlord finds out you have a cat in the building? I would imagine that would be against the rules in your lease.”

“You forget I kept his ex-wife from cleaning him out a few years ago. So the guy owes me big time. I could keep a family of ring-tailed lemurs in here and he wouldn’t say a word.”

“Right, I forgot you were his lawyer. Hey, I just thought of something… the cat you named Socks Fifth Avenue actually gets to live on Fifth Avenue for a while.”

“Yep. Monday to Friday anyway.”