CHAPTER 1
Reg looked up and down the street for anyone. She didn’t see anyone watching so, hopefully, her arrival had been unobserved. She gathered her colorful skirts and walked up the sidewalk to Erin Price’s house and rang the doorbell.
Erin opened the door a moment later. Her eyes widened in shock.
“Reg! What are you doing here? Oh, my goodness! Come in.” She opened the door wider to usher Reg inside. Reg saw Erin arm the burglar alarm on the keypad beside the door after closing it again.
Erin hugged Reg impulsively. They had never been real huggers when they had been foster sisters in the same home, but then, physical contact between the kids was discouraged, as social services didn’t want to have to separate children who were too attached to each other or boys and girls who happened to get too friendly. But with Reg living in Black Sands in Florida and Erin in Bald Eagle Falls, Tennessee, they didn’t see each other very often and hugs were definitely in order. Reg returned the squeeze and then pulled back.
Erin’s eyes sparkled. She pushed a lock of her short dark hair back over her ear, shaking her head as she looked Reg over, from the top of her fortune-teller headscarf to the toes of her sandals poking out under her voluminous skirt. “I can’t believe that you just showed up on my doorstep. You didn’t even tell me you were coming!” A shadow passed over her face. “You’re not in trouble, are you? If you’re on the run, this isn’t the best place to land…”
Certainly not, considering the fact that Erin’s partner was a cop. A small-town cop who knew Reg and had previously had reason to suspect her in a cluster of jewelry thefts that were not Reg’s fault. She had promised herself after the last whirl-wind visit to Bald Eagle Falls that she would come back and have a real visit the next time, when everything had calmed down.
“No, I just wanted to come for a visit. We didn’t really get a chance to visit when I was chasing down that truffle company, and…” Reg shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t know. I just thought it would be nice. If you want, I will stay at a hotel…”
“Oh, no,” Erin shook her head vigorously. “There’s no hotel in town and I don’t want you having to go back and forth to the city. Even the B&B is booked up. It’s Christmas, and a lot of people are visiting, especially if they want to see the Christmas Carol Carnival.”
Reg chuckled. “The Christmas Carol Carnival?”
“I know, it’s a bit much, but small towns do that kind of thing. It’s like a pageant or a talent show, different people doing different songs or performances for Christmas. I’m helping with the performance of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Cindy Prost is coordinating The Twelve Days of Christmas—with live animals.”
“You’re kidding.”
A yowl issued out of the cat carrier Reg held at her side, as if Starlight couldn’t believe the news either. Reg’s arms were aching. She set down the cat carrier she held in one hand, and the suitcase she held in the other. She let the oversized handbag on her shoulder slide down to land on top of the cat carrier.
“Oh!” Erin’s eyes widened. “I didn’t even see! Who is this?” She crouched down to look through the metal grill at Starlight, Reg’s tuxedo cat, who blinked at her with his one blue eye and one green eye. “Aww…”
“This is Starlight.” Reg tried to think if further explanation was required. “He’s… well, I couldn’t leave him alone for Christmas.”
“No, of course not.”
“He comes with me on vacations. He doesn’t like it when I go off on my own, even if I leave him with someone to take care of him.”
“No, cats worry about their owners, don’t they?”
A large orange cat came padding down the hall, his eyes suspicious, nose twitching as he caught Starlight’s scent. He approached the cat carrier and started sniffing around it, yowling complaints at Erin.
“I know, I know, Orange Blossom,” Erin laughed. “You probably don’t like another cat coming into your territory. But Starlight is only going to be here for a little while. You guys can get along.”
Blossom hissed at Starlight, who didn’t react. He didn’t act afraid of the bigger cat, but Reg knew he wanted out of the carrier to stretch his legs and explore.
“If it’s too much trouble, I can find somewhere else to stay,” Reg repeated, hoping this would prompt Erin’s hospitality.
“No, no, of course you’ll stay here. You can stay in the spare room. Do you remember where it is?” Erin motioned toward the room Reg had previously stayed in. “There are fresh sheets on the bed, and I will bring you some towels. You can let Starlight out in there… I’m not sure how the two of them will get along if we put them together. It might be best if we don’t do that right away. Let them get used to being in the same house first.”
“Okay. Thanks. I really appreciate that.” Reg picked up her things and took them into the spare bedroom, which was homey and a good size. Better than staying in a hotel, which might not like the presence of a cat. And then there was Erin’s baking… Erin was the best gluten-free baker Reg knew. She was a top-notch baker of any kind, but the gluten-free treats she made just blew Reg away. She’d tasted some of the prepackaged commercial stuff out there, and Erin’s baking could not even be compared to such things. At Erin’s house, there would be muffins, freshly-baked bread, or cinnamon rolls for breakfast every day.
If Reg could get up for breakfast. She would eat it much later in the day than Erin, since her friend would be up before dawn to bake for Auntie Clem’s Bakery and Reg was used to waking up closer to noon.
She put down her luggage and shut the spare room door before opening the cat carrier.
Starlight flowed out of the carrier and stretched himself top-to-tail, his muscles quivering. He then stretched out each back leg, toes wide apart and extended, before flopping in the middle of the floor for a bath and grooming session.
“Well, I’m glad to see that you’re comfortable here,” Reg laughed.
Starlight paused in his licking to look at her momentarily, the white star mark in the middle of his forehead shining snowy white in the afternoon sun. Then he continued to attend to his toilet.
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