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  Books. Change. Lives.

  Copyright © 2021 by Kate McMurray

  Cover and internal design © 2021 by Sourcebooks

  Cover illustration by Elizabeth Turner Stokes

  Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  All brand names and product names used in this book are trademarks, registered trademarks, or trade names of their respective holders. Sourcebooks is not associated with any product or vendor in this book.

  Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks

  P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410

  (630) 961-3900

  sourcebooks.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: McMurray, Kate, author.

  Title: Like cats and dogs / Kate McMurray.

  Description: Naperville, Illinois: Sourcebooks Casablanca, [2021] |

  Series: Whitman Street Cat Café; 1

  Identifiers: LCCN 2020054452 (print) | LCCN 2020054453 (ebook)

  Subjects: GSAFD: Love stories.

  Classification: LCC PS3613.C58555 L55 2021 (print) | LCC PS3613.C58555 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6--dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020054452

  LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020054453

  Contents

  Front Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from Book Two

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Back Cover

  Chapter 1

  Sadie the office manager yowled.

  “I hear ya,” Lauren said absently as she leaned against the counter and looked at her phone. There was an unusually long line of people waiting for their morning coffee. Lauren was a bit of a spy in her own kingdom as she waited for her own coffee, letting customers go ahead of her as she kept an eye on her staff.

  She glanced at her phone and refreshed the page one more time. The photos were still right there on top. Derek and Joanna’s wedding. Derek smiling like he hadn’t in years, Joanna looking ridiculously beautiful, and Lauren wondering how Derek was happy and married now when she was single and surrounded by cats.

  Literally. Sadie walked up and rubbed against her leg. The little butterball of a cat had the loudest purr Lauren had ever heard, and she deployed it now, sounding like dice being rolled across a wooden table.

  Lauren had read recently that cats likely purred not to display happiness but rather to lure prey into a false sense of security. She leaned down and pet Sadie’s head anyway.

  Evan walked into the Whitman Street Cat Café, pushing through the second door and grinning at Lauren like he’d already had three cups of coffee.

  “Derek got married this weekend,” Lauren said by way of greeting.

  “Aw, honey, I’m sorry,” said Evan. “Anything I can do?”

  “Drive to New Hampshire and punch him in the face?”

  Evan tilted his head and seemed to consider doing just that. “As fun as that sounds, Derek is kind of a big guy. He might punch back, and I bruise like a peach.”

  Lauren laughed despite herself. She shoved her phone in her pocket. “I’m over it. So my ex got married? It’s fine. I’m fine.”

  “Attagirl.” Evan looked up at the menu like he didn’t get coffee here nearly every morning.

  “Not that I’m sad for the business,” said Lauren, “but where did all these people come from?”

  “Didn’t you hear? The Star Café closed last week.”

  The Star Café was a great independent coffee shop that had, apparently until last week, been right across the street from the Cat Café. If it had closed, that explained all the people here, the last place that served coffee between Henry Street and the subway entrance on the next block.

  “I’m devastated,” Evan continued.

  Lauren raised an eyebrow at him. “If anything, this is probably better for your health. There are only so many cups of coffee you can drink per day because you think the barista is cute before the caffeine gives you heart palpitations.”

  Evan sighed and leaned against the counter next to Lauren. “Pablo gave me heart palpitations.”

  “Any idea what he’s up to now?”

  “When I got my caramel vanilla latte on Friday, he told me he’d applied to work at that little indie bookstore a few doors down. Hope springs.”

  “Crazy idea, but you could, like, ask him out.”

  Evan gasped dramatically. “Where’s the romance in that? We’re performing an elaborate dance.”

  “Right.” Lauren glanced behind the counter, where Monique looked panicked as she took another order. “Maybe I should hire him.”

  “He makes a mean caramel vanilla latte.”

  A bewildered man with light brown hair walked into the café then. Lauren had never seen him before, and she would have noticed. He was so handsome, Evan sucked in a sharp breath.

  Lauren had sworn off men ever since Derek had announced his engagement, because she was tired of getting her heart stomped on, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t look. Because this man was pretty foxy. He was tall and fit with neatly trimmed hair, a square jaw, and blue eyes that sparkled even from behind the dark-rimmed glasses he wore.

  “Hello,” said Evan.

  The man looked around. When Sadie trotted over to investigate him, he looked a little startled by her presence.

  “Oh,” he said, catching Lauren’s eye. “I’ve heard about places like this, but I guess it didn’t occur to me that the cats would just be…out.”

  “Only Sadie has free rein in the café,” said Lauren. “She’s in charge. She’s also terrified of cars, so she doesn’t try to escape. The rest of the cats are through
that door.” She pointed.

  “Ah.”

  Lauren wasn’t really sure what to say next. Evan elbowed her, though, so she said, “Did you want to see the cats, or—”

  “I just need a cup of coffee for now. This place is hopping.”

  “Go on,” Lauren said. “I’m not in line, and you look like you’re in a hurry.”

  The man pulled a phone from his pocket and glanced at the time. “Yeah, a little.” He slid forward. “Thank you.”

  “Are you new to the neighborhood?”

  “Yeah. Just moved to Brooklyn a week ago, actually.”

  “Welcome!”

  He shot her a bashful half smile and nodded. “Thanks.”

  Monique said, “Next!”

  The brown-haired man nodded at Lauren and then walked to the register.

  Victor, the other barista, must have noticed this guy was a little twitchy, probably with a job to get to—he was wearing a blue oxford shirt tucked into navy-blue slacks, the uniform of the Midtown office worker—so he grabbed the pot and poured a cup of coffee right away. Once the man paid, Victor handed him the cup and said, “Milk and sugar are at the end of the counter.”

  “Great.” The man took his cup.

  “The usual,” Lauren said to Monique now that the line had dissipated. Then she walked over to the man as he shook a sugar packet. “I’m Lauren, by the way.”

  The man gave her a genuine smile this time. “Caleb. Maybe I’ll see you around, Lauren.” Sadie meowed and sat at his feet. “And you, too, Sadie.”

  Handsome, and he liked the cats. No wedding ring. This had some potential.

  Oh, except for the part where Lauren was not dating in order to concentrate on making a fulfilling life for herself without a man.

  Caleb walked back outside.

  “Girl,” said Evan. “He was totally checking you out.”

  Warm excitement spread through Lauren’s chest. It had been a while since she’d met anyone who made her pulse race like this. She wondered if Caleb would come back.

  “Boss, your coffee’s ready,” said Monique.

  Lauren took it gratefully. “All right. Do you have to work today, Ev, or do you want to meet our newest resident? We’ve got a gorgeous new calico named Lucy.”

  “I’m meeting a client at ten, so I gotta go, but you can tell me all about Miss Lucy and report back on that tall guy over drinks tonight.”

  “Pop at seven?”

  “Perfect.”

  Monique handed Evan his coffee, which he took with a grin. He blew Lauren a kiss with his free hand and then walked out the door.

  “Come on, Sadie,” said Lauren. “Let’s get to work.”

  ***

  Caleb walked out of the Cat Café, wondering what he’d just seen. For some reason, he hadn’t expected actual cats. When his new boss had recommended it as a place to grab coffee, he’d expected beatniks or something. There was a bar on his block called the Salty Dog that contained zero dogs, after all. But, no, the Whitman Street Cat Café was a place people went to get coffee and pastries and hang out with actual cats.

  The woman had been pretty nice to look at. Lauren, she’d said her name was. A little tall, with long, straight brown hair, a fringe of bangs across her forehead, and a dusting of freckles across her nose. Pretty smile. And, okay, he’d noticed her figure, too. After his recent and very messy divorce, it was nice to know that part of him hadn’t died along with his belief in happily ever after.

  She’d been so comfortable in the space that he figured she worked there or was at least a regular, so maybe he’d run into her again.

  In the meantime, though, he had to cope with his first day at the new job. Caleb strolled all ten feet from the café door to the main entrance of the Whitman Street Veterinary Clinic. A little bell rang over the door, catching the attention of the cat perched on the lap of a woman sitting in the waiting area.

  “Dr. Fitch!” said the vet tech at the reception desk as Caleb approached. He couldn’t remember her name at first, but then noticed she had a name tag on her scrubs identifying her as Rachel. Olivia’s weird insistence on name tags would pay off after all, because Caleb was terrible with names.

  Although he’d remember Lauren.

  No, not the time. He smiled at Rachel. “Good morning.”

  “I see you got coffee from the Cat Café,” she said, pointing to his cup. “The Star Café made better lattes, but they’re closed now.”

  Caleb took a sip of his coffee. It was pretty standard drip coffee, stronger than the stuff those dumb little pods at his old job made, so he was happy enough with it.

  “Welcome to Whitman Street,” Rachel said. “Olivia’s in her office. She told me to send you there when you came in.”

  “Right. And that is…”

  “Oh!” Rachel hopped up and led Caleb to a swinging door that he remembered led to the exam rooms and administrative offices. She held the door open and said, “Go left here, then right at the end of the hall, and Olivia’s office is right there.”

  “Thanks.”

  Olivia Ling was indeed in her office when Caleb found it. She seemed absorbed in something on her computer screen, so Caleb knocked on the doorframe. She looked up and seemed confused for a moment, but then recognition dawned. “Caleb! Please come in.”

  He’d already taken care of the new-hire paperwork, so the main thing would be to work out scheduling and procedures. Caleb would be the fifth veterinarian on staff at a fairly busy clinic, but he was happy to work in a big office. The clinic he’d come from had been run by two people and constantly felt short-staffed.

  “I see you got coffee from the Cat Café.”

  “Oh. Yeah, you said it was the best coffee on the block.” Also the only coffee on the block, from what he could tell.

  “Did you talk to the manager?”

  “No. I got coffee.”

  Olivia smiled. “Well, just so you know, we have a partnership. We’re the official vet of the Cat Café, and they help us find forever homes for any cats who end up here.”

  That made sense. “Do they do pet adoptions?”

  “Yeah, that’s the Cat Café’s secret mission. They lure people in with coffee and pastries in hopes the customers fall in love with one of the cats and take it home.”

  “Sneaky.”

  “Anyway, scheduling.”

  Olivia had already explained when she expected the vets in her clinic to work—including at least one overnight per week, because this was the only animal clinic in Brooklyn that kept emergency hours. A whiteboard on the wall showed which vets were scheduled on which days. Then she took him on a chatty tour through the exam rooms.

  “Remind me where you worked before this?” she asked, sounding like she was trying to make conversation but probably gauging whether she could leave him alone with patients or if she needed to keep an eye on him until he adapted to her preferred procedures.

  “The Animal Care Clinic on 110th Street in Morningside Heights. It closed a few weeks ago.” Well, it closed because Kara had divorced Caleb, shut down the clinic, and moved to LA with her new boyfriend, but this was not information Olivia needed.

  “Let’s do the first patient together,” Olivia said. She grabbed a chart from the plastic holder on the door to Exam Room 1, then popped her head into the waiting room and said, “Jingles?”

  The woman, who’d been holding the cat in her lap when Caleb had walked in, kicked a cat carrier under the seat and carried her surprisingly placid-looking gray cat into the exam room.

  All right, that was how this would play out. Caleb plastered his best animal-loving smile on his face and prepared to examine this cat under Olivia’s watchful eye.

  Chapter 2

  Lauren and her events manager Paige sat at a table in the main part of the café, hammering out ideas for an adoption e
vent. Lauren hoped all this extra business they’d been getting in the wake of the Star Café closing meant some of the cats would be adopted by the affluent animal lovers in this rapidly gentrifying neighborhood near downtown Brooklyn.

  Lauren had gone for kind of a mod look when she’d decorated the main sitting area: bright colors, mid-century modern design, a Shag-esque retro mural on one wall that depicted cats drinking coffee. She loved this space. At first, she worried she’d grow to hate the bright colors, but there was so much visual interest in the room that she never tired of looking at it. There were, of course, structures for the cats to lounge on all over the space. She’d built some of them herself, with particleboard and some lime-green carpeting she’d gotten for a steep discount. There were also bins full of cat toys—Lauren was forever picking up little fur mice and balls with attached feathers from places where people might trip over them.

  Diane breezed in with her customary cup of tea in her hand. She wore a pink caftan that flowed over her body and, without asking permission, sat at the table with Lauren and Paige.

  Lauren didn’t shoo her away. Diane owned the building and the Cat Café, after all.

  “Good afternoon, Diane,” Lauren said.

  “Hello, dear. This place is hopping today.”

  “I know. I might have to start imposing limits on how many people can sit in here at a time. Too many people stress out the cats.”

  One of those cats, a tortie kitten named Chloe, hopped up on the table right then and began to investigate the half-eaten muffin on Lauren’s plate. Lauren scooped her up and put her in her lap.

  “Have you met the new vet yet?” Diane asked.

  “New vet?”

  “The clinic hired a new vet who started there a few days ago. He’s a cutie.”

  Lauren laughed. Diane was pushing seventy and retired from some corporate job she didn’t like to talk about. She had used her savings and the money her late partner had left her to buy this five-story apartment building with two storefronts on the first floor: the Cat Café and the Veterinary Clinic. Olivia Ling owned and operated the vet clinic, but the Cat Café had been Diane’s idea, and she technically owned the business as well as the space. She was a hands-off owner, though, and she let Lauren run the café however she liked, as long as she ran financial decisions by her, and Diane could come in for a cup of tea and some time with the cats free of charge whenever it struck her fancy. Diane reminded Lauren a lot of her own mother, although Diane was far more eccentric. Today, her short bleached blond hair had been styled into soft waves around her face, and she’d completed the look with a full face of makeup and purple cat-eye glasses.