Laurie Cass - Bookmobile Cat 02 - Tailing a Tabby by Laurie Cass Read Free Book Online Page B

step backward. “Oh, my dear, I’m so glad you stopped by, so very glad.” She squeezed me hard enough that my eyes popped a little. “Cade, this is your bookmobile angel.” She grabbed my hand and tugged me to the bedside.
    “There is nothing that I can possibly do,” Mr. McCade said, the words slow and slurred but clear enough, “to repay you for what you did. Barb and I are in your debt forever.”
    I wanted to squirm. Did, just a little. “Anybody would have done the same thing.”
    “What most people would have done,” he said, “is call nine-one-one and keep driving. You went far and above the call of kindness. Thank you, my dear. Thank you very much.”
    He reached out for my hand and patted it. I couldfeel a slight heat on my cheeks and knew I was blushing. “You’re welcome,” I said. “Glad I was there at the right time.”
    His wife relieved me of my small burden (“Let me take care of those flowers”) and put it on the windowsill while she extracted a promise from me to call them Barb and Cade. “Minnie, can you stay for a few minutes?” she asked. “Please do.”
    “For a little while,” I said. “But I can’t stay too long. I have to work this afternoon.”
    “Is that why you don’t have your furry friend with you?” She smiled. “What fun to have a bookmobile cat.”
    “Is this afternoon another bookmobile trip?” Cade asked.
    I pulled up a chair and perched on its edge, explaining my split roles of assistant library director and bookmobile driver. Halfway through the explanation I stumbled a little, because I suddenly realized why I was taking such a fast liking to this man I barely knew. He looked like and had a personality similar to my first-ever boss, the library director in Dearborn, the town where I’d grown up. Mr. Herrington had given me a summer job and he’d even kept me on part-time my senior year of high school.
    Then I stumbled over my words a little more, because Mr. Herrington had passed away when my parents and I were in Florida over Christmas break, visiting my older brother. Mr. Herrington had died of a sudden heart attack in the library, during the hours I would have been there working, and I’d never quite forgiven myself for not being there to help him.
    I blinked a time or two and stumbled back to mycurrent narrative. If either McCade had noticed my falterings, they were both too polite to say so.
    “Well,” Barb said, “I’m glad the Chilson Library has a bookmobile. If it didn’t, Cade here might not be making such a fast recovery.”
    “Long way to go.” Cade looked down at his left side. “Pity I’m left-handed.”
    “You’re… left-handed?” My mouth went dry. “But…”
    “Don’t worry about his painting,” Barb said. “He’s such a nut to paint that he’ll learn how to do it right-handed if he has to.”
    Cade lifted his right hand and flexed it. “Learning new techniques is what keeps me young. Well, that and learning how to use Facebook.”
    Barb snorted. “Waste of time,” she said. “I know, I know, your agent thinks it’s giving you a better connection to your legions of fans, but it’s so artificial. How can typing two sentences to a stranger mean anything?”
    “Better to use social media than have to tour,” her husband said. “Pick your poison, my dear.”
    “Scotch,” she said promptly. “On the rocks.”
    “Gin and tonic for me.” He chuckled. “We’re quite a pair, aren’t we, Mrs. McCade?”
    She held his hand, the hand closest to her, his left hand, his weak hand, and kissed it. “Indeed we are, Mr. McCade.”
    Cade’s eyes faded shut. “Indeed.”
    The moment was rich with love and comfort and security. With all my heart, I hoped that my marriage would be as strong as this one. When I got married, that is. Not that I was thinking about weddings or anything.
    “Minnie,” Barb said, watching her husband. “Is that your full name?”
    “Nope.” I didn’t say anything else, and she