Hiring At The Cat Cafe

MODERN LIFE SHORT STORY BY SUZANNE ROSS JONES

Maxine had to make sure she found the right employee to join the crew…

“Thanks, love.” Maxine took the mug of hot chocolate that Angus handed her and waited while Sadie, the little tabby, settled on her lap before taking a sip.

This was her favourite part of a busy day.

Her girls were fast asleep, the majority of her cats were settled downstairs, and she and Angus could finally relax.

He sat beside her on the sofa.

Gladys, the Norwegian Forest cat, immediately leapt on to his shoulder.

“How did the interviews go?” he asked.

Maxine winced.

“That bad?”

“I’m beginning to think we should forget replacing Josephine and just try to manage as we are.

“Today has made me realise that we’re lucky with Pauline and Billy, and we might be pushing our luck by adding to our staff.”

Josephine hadn’t exactly left them in the lurch.

She had worked the required notice, but she was a hard act to follow.

Just as Maxine’s first assistant Sabrina had been, and as Pauline and Billy would be if they ever decided to move on.

Angus put an arm round her and kissed the top of her head.

“Remember why we decided to find someone? You’re hoping to get more cats, so the more hands on deck the better.

“And the girls and I are hoping we can whisk you away for a little break, so the others will need help.”

She nodded.

“I’ll have another look through the CVs tomorrow.  Maybe there’s someone I missed during the first sifting.”

There was a remote possibility that a gem of an applicant had been overlooked, she supposed.

“How many did you get this time?” Angus asked.

“A hundred and seven.”

“Surely there must be someone suitable in amongst that lot?”

Maxine hoped he was right. After all, it was hard work giving each one the attention it deserved.

But she was pretty sure she had already selected the best of them for interview, but still something had been lacking.

I just wish the perfect assistant would turn up at the door.

She sighed.

“You’ll find someone,” he assured her, reaching for the remote control.

Before he could switch on the TV, Maxine heard something.

“What’s that?”

She broke free of the arm Angus had draped over her shoulder and sat up straight.

Sadie, startled, slid from Maxine’s lap to the floor.

Gladys gave her a disapproving look from her cosy seat on Angus’s shoulder.

Maxine put her head to one side as she listened out to see if she could hear the sound again.

“What do you think you heard?” Angus asked. “Someone at the door?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe.”

Sadie scampered back on to Maxine’s lap.

“Or perhaps a cat causing trouble down in the café.”

She glanced at the screen that Angus had set up in the corner, showing CCTV footage from the café.

It all seemed peaceful enough, but there were certainly plenty of mischievous felines.

She met Gladys’s eye.

“You’re not the only one who can cause trouble,” she told the cat.

Gladys gave a lazy yawn in response.

“Do you want me to go and look?” Angus was already on his feet.

Moving carefully so as not to dislodge Gladys, he walked towards the stairs.

While Angus investigated, Maxine darted around tidying up, straightening cushions and taking their empty mugs to the kitchen.

When she’d finished, she popped in to say goodnight to her sleeping twin daughters and kissed each forehead gently so as not to wake them.

Angus still wasn’t back from the café.

“I can only think that one of your siblings has caused a huge mess downstairs,” she told Sadie, who had curled up on the sofa seat Maxine had vacated. “Do you think I should go down and help him?”

Sadie meowed in response and Maxine smiled.

She knew Angus was happy to roll his sleeves up, but she didn’t want to take advantage of his good nature.

The café was her domain, after all.

Before she could go down, Angus was back.

She raised an eyebrow, a little hesitant to learn exactly what had happened downstairs.

“The cats?” she asked.

“All fine.”

“Then what was the noise?”

“A visitor.” He stepped aside and a tired-looking young woman stepped into the room and mustered up a smile.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

I know it’s getting late for a surprise visitor.

“Chloe!” Maxine was over at once offering a welcoming hug.

Chloe and her parents meant a lot to Maxine and Angus – even if they had moved hundreds of miles away to start their own cat café.

Chloe hugged her back.

“Why didn’t you tell us you were coming?” she asked. “We could have met you off the train.”

“I drove.”

It shouldn’t really have been such a surprise.

Maxine still thought of Chloe as the thirteen-year-old she had first met, but she was an adult now.

“I wondered,” Chloe continued, “if I could please stay for a day or two?”

“Of course you can,” Angus told her without hesitation. “Are your bags in the car? Give me your keys and I’ll fetch them.”

While he was gone, Maxine set to work to find out why Chloe had turned up here without notice and at this late hour.

“I fell out with Mum,” Chloe admitted without being asked.

Maxine wondered what had happened.

Now, though, wasn’t the right time to start this discussion with her friend’s daughter.

There were more pressing things to worry about.

Not to mention Chloe looked shattered, and a good night’s sleep was definitely needed.

“Does your mum know where you are?” Maxine asked, knowing that even while Chloe was technically an adult, Sabrina would be frantic if she didn’t know Chloe was safe.

“I told her I’d be staying with friends.”

“I need to ring to let her know you’re here,” Maxine told her gently.

She would phone Sabrina regardless, because it would be the right thing to do, but it would be nice if Chloe agreed.

“OK, that’s fine.” The young woman gave a brief nod. “But I don’t want to speak to her.”

Maxine’s heart sank.

As delighted as she was to see Chloe, she guessed this visit would not be an easy one.

“How was Sabrina?” Angus asked once their unexpected guest was settled in a spare bedroom.

“Relieved.” Maxine rubbed in hand cream and pulled a brush through her hair. “Once she realised Chloe was safe, she was a bit angry that she’d put her and Ed through the worry.

“She just packed her bag and stormed out.”

“It will sort itself out,” Angus said calmly as he pulled back the covers and got into bed.

“I hope so.” Maxine sighed. “Oh, Angus. I do hope we never fall out with our girls like that.”

Maxine just couldn’t see it happening.

Just as she couldn’t ever imagine them growing up, or even leaving nursery and going to school.

Angus laughed.

“I hate to be the one to break it to you, but I’m sure they’ll argue with us plenty as they grow up.”

“What makes you think that?” Maxine was appalled and took it out on her pillow as she thumped it into submission.

“Just a wild guess, based entirely on the fact that they’re both bright and feisty and already know their own minds.”

Maxine frowned.

She didn’t like the sound of this future Angus was predicting one bit.

“In fact, they’re just like you,” he added.

“Are you saying I’m argumentative?”

“No, I’m saying you’re bright and feisty and you know your own mind.

“I’m delighted our girls take after you.”

Despite herself, Maxine smiled.

Sabrina was on the phone first thing the next morning.

Maxine had gone down to the café to serve breakfast to her cats and, thankfully, they were silently eating by the time the phone rang.

Though maybe it wasn’t down to chance, as Sabrina knew the café’s routine well from the time she had worked here.

“Chloe’s still sleeping,” Maxine told her worried friend. “But I promise she’s fine and she can stay as long as she wants.”

“I can’t thank you enough for ringing me last night. Or for taking her in,” Sabrina told her. “I don’t know how I can repay you.”

“What you have to ask yourself,” Maxine began, “is what would you do if, in a few years, one of my girls turned up on your doorstep in the night?

“Would you let them stay?”

“Of course I would.”

Sabrina replied without hesitation, just as Maxine had known she would.

“There you go, then.”

There was a loud sigh down the phone.

“Do you think I should come up there? See if I can talk her round?”

Maxine remembered the hostility with which Chloe had stated she wouldn’t speak to her mum.

“Give her a day or two,” Maxine advised. “I’ll keep you posted, so let her have that space.”

“OK. I’ll do that.”

Despite the miles, Maxine could feel the reluctance with which her friend ended the call.

Chloe settled in better than Maxine could ever have hoped.

“I’ll do that,” she offered as Maxine went to clean the cat beds before they opened the café.

“I know what I’m doing. I’m used to helping out at Mum’s café.”

Sabrina had obviously trained Chloe well in the workings of the business.

Chloe knew exactly what was expected and worked quickly and efficiently.

“You’re a guest here,” Maxine told her when she’d finished the task. “We don’t expect you to work.”

Chloe laughed and it was good to see her happy.

“I’m pleased to help,” she replied.

“If that’s OK?” she added with a little uncertainty. “It reminds me of home.”

The young woman wasn’t quite as hostile to home as she’d seemed, Maxine realised.

“It’s more than OK. There’s always something to do here.”

Maxine didn’t want to take advantage, but despite all her brave talk to Angus about managing as they were, a willing helper was a luxury Maxine couldn’t afford to refuse.

“If you’re keen to help, I could let you have a couple of shifts here while you’re staying.

“Officially. With pay.”

The teenager beamed.

“I would love that. Thank you, Maxine.”

“You would be helping us out,” Maxine told her truthfully.

When she wasn’t working, Chloe went to meet the friends she’d left behind when the family had moved.

Rekindling old friendships seemed to be doing her good.

She’d even softened towards the idea of speaking to her mother.

“We had a chat earlier,” Sabrina confided in a phone call to Maxine after Chloe had been staying at the café for a week. “She sounds much happier.”

“She does seem happy,” Maxine agreed. “I don’t know what happened, and it’s none of my business, but she seems to be putting it all behind her.”

Sabrina took a deep breath.

“It was my fault,” she admitted. “I was pushing her to make a decision about university.

“She deferred her place this year and she’s talking about not going next year.

“She wants to work here with me at my café.”

“Would that be such a bad thing?” Maxine asked.

“I’d love her to stay at home, but she has opportunities her dad and I never did.

I want her to reach her full potential

Sabrina explained.

“I went to university,” Maxine pointed out. “Then did the whole professional career thing.

“And, in the end, you and I are both in exactly the same place in life.”

“I know,” Sabrina replied. “But I don’t want her to close off her options too soon like I did.

“I want her to spread her wings. Meet new people. To find out who she is and what she wants, away from our shadows.”

Maxine knew exactly what Sabrina meant.

“I’ll have a word if you think that would help,” she offered.

But it was Chloe’s life and Maxine didn’t feel entirely comfortable meddling in it.

Maxine left it for a few days, waiting for the chance to bring up the subject.

She nearly said something when she overheard Chloe speaking to Billy.

“You trained as a pastry chef?” Chloe asked as she helped him in the kitchen.

“I did.”

“So why are you working here?”

“It suits me,” Billy explained. “Maxine lets me work my shifts around my own business.

“I like the job. The café has a huge buzz around it. And . . .”

He paused and Maxine glanced up to see he looked a little sheepish.

“And?” Chloe prompted.

“And I love the cats.”

“That’s as good a reason as any to work here.” Chloe smiled.

There was a similar chat with Pauline a day later.

“You worked in IT?” Chloe seemed surprised.

She listened in silence as Pauline explained the large department she had been head of, specialising in cyber security.

“Will you have another think about university?” Maxine asked, joining the conversation.

“All of you,” Chloe began, moving her hand in a circle to include the entire café, “have had other careers before you came to work here.

“Yet you all say it’s the best job in the world.

“So why would I waste years at university and more years working somewhere I dislike when I’ve already found something I love?”

Her reasoning was flawless, but Maxine felt she owed it to Chloe to make sure she knew what she would be giving up.

After all, according to Sabrina, until recently Chloe had talked of nothing but university and her plans to do a business degree.

“We all brought something from our previous experiences to the café,” she reminded Chloe.

“I brought my knowledge of the financial aspects of running a business, Billy brought his baking skills and Pauline her IT experience.

We wouldn’t be anywhere as successful as we are without those skills to back up our hard work.

“And what about Mum? All Mum’s done was work here,” Chloe pointed out.

Maxine took a deep breath.

She didn’t believe that Chloe wasn’t aware of all the experience Sabrina had brought with her.

“She raised you remember,” Maxine reminded her. “And that’s one of the most difficult jobs in the world.

“Plus she ran her own child-minding business, so she was accustomed to dealing with people and juggling her time.”

Maxine could see in Chloe’s expression that the young woman was taking this in.

“Besides,” Maxine added gently, “university isn’t just about academic work and getting qualifications just so you can find a job.

“It’s an experience in itself. You widen your circle and meet friends you otherwise wouldn’t come into contact with.

“You learn to look after yourself and manage your own life.

“Most of all,” she wenton, “you find out who you really are.”

Chloe lifted her chin in a defiant gesture.

“I could do all that while I’m working.”

Maxine couldn’t argue with that.

“And surely picking up relevant experience on the job is better than taking a roundabout way like you’ve all done?

“I’m good with the cats, aren’t I?”

Maxine smiled.

“You’re already among the best of the café assistants I’ve ever employed.”

“How would you feel if I were to offer Chloe a more permanent job?” Maxine broached the subject with Sabrina when they next spoke on the phone.

“I won’t if you don’t agree, but we have a vacancy here that she would be perfect for.

“It’s as though she was born to the job.”

She heard a sigh down the phone.

“It’s maybe not what you wanted for her, but she would still be spreading her wings, away from you and Ed,” Maxine pointed out.

“I still think she needs to make her own way in the world,” Sabrina replied.

“We wouldn’t be making any allowances for her. She’d be expected to work as hard as all my other assistants.”

Maxine knew that wouldn’t be an issue. Chloe didn’t mind getting her hands dirty.

“She’s focused and she’s enthusiastic,” Maxine continued. “I wish I’d been as sure of what I wanted when I was Chloe’s age.

“All those years I wasted being miserable with accountancy when I could have been having the time of my life with a café full of cats.”

There was a short silence.

“If I’m honest,” Sabrina began, “I wish I’d opened my café sooner, too.

“There’s really nothing else I’d rather do.”

“So I can offer her the job?” Maxine asked.

“If that’s what she wants, then it’s fine with me,” Sabrina finally agreed. “She seems to have grown up when I wasn’t looking.

“I have to accept she knows her own mind.”

Maxine filled Angus in on their new recruit later that night, once the girls were in bed and Chloe had gone out to meet friends.

“Excellent news.” He looked relieved. “And now we won’t need to go through those applications again.”

“We won’t,” she agreed.

“I’ll get started first thing with letting them all know the vacancy has been filled.”

The perfect assistant had turned up at their door in the end – exactly as Maxine had wished.

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