Toffee Pop
‘Harriet, your cat slept here again last night. Don’t worry I’ve fed him. I’m just letting you know where he is. I’ll expect you this evening to pick him up. Thanks. Bye.’
‘End of message.’
Toffee Pop, you silly cat, thought Harriet Brown as she deleted the message, while eating her breakfast toast. It had to be about half a dozen times he’d gone back to Lavender Cottage; the lovely home she’d left after her husband, Ross, died. The two-storey weatherboard house had been too roomy for her, as well as reminding her of their plans to fill the place with children.
Fortunately the new owner, Matthew Delaney, was a vet. He didn’t seem to mind the vagaries of Toffee Pop, a chocolate Persian, so named because of his colour and of his unusual penchant for the biscuit.
That evening, after leaving her work as a librarian, Harriet drove along to Lavender Cottage. From the outside it looked the same; she hadn’t been further than the front door the previous times when she’d collected the cat.
She pressed the bell and waited, ready with her words of apology. Matthew opened the door quickly. Had he been watching out for her?
‘Come in, Harriet. Toffee Pop is waiting in here.’ He gestured towards the front room leaving Harriet, carrying the cat box, no option but to walk past him, through the hall into the spacious cream-walled sitting room. She was pleased to see nothing had changed except for the obvious - the furniture.
‘You aren’t on call tonight, Matt?’
‘No,’ he admitted. ‘Night off.’ He didn’t say he’d swapped his duty for another on the roster. Every chance he got to see the auburn-haired, curvaceous Harriet Brown was a bonus and another opportunity for him to pluck up courage to ask her out. She’d been widowed for nine months now and he felt the time was right.
Harriet saw Toffee Pop lounging on the cushioned window seat and went towards him. ‘Toffee Pop, you naughty cat.’
Matthew listened to her inane chatter and wished she’d look at and hold him in the same way. He’d give anything to hear her say how genuinely pleased she was to see him.
‘I don’t know how I can repay you for looking after him for me, Matt,’ said Harriet.
Matthew took his chance. ‘Stay and drink a glass of wine with me?’
Harriet gave him an appraising look. Why hadn’t she noticed his heart-stopping smile before?
‘Thank you. I’d like that.’
In the past Harriet had rushed off and it took a minute or two for Matthew to realise she’d accepted his offer. He suggested she sat down, belatedly because she had already done so, before he went to gather up the two glasses and bottle of Merlot that he had put out beforehand.
An hour later Harriet left feeling she’d known Matthew for years. Their eclectic conversation ranged from hobbies, their likes and dislikes and included anecdotes about their jobs.
Toffee Pop lay on the window seat watching them with his beautiful eyes, almost smiling at them like a benevolent feline matchmaker.
Toffee Pop snoozed next to her, his chocolate head pillowed on his cream paws. Suddenly he raised his head and stared into the corner of the bedroom, his gaze unwavering and intense. Flicking his tail, he sat up quickly. He licked an imaginary spot of ruffled fur on his back, smoothing it down with rapid licks of his pink tongue. He leapt off the bed, tail high as a periscope, as simultaneously his former master walked towards the bedroom door.
‘Puss, puss.’ Ross Brown led the way out into the balmy evening and down the road with Toffee Pop running hither and thither, trying to rub himself against his master’s legs as Ross strode towards his former home. The scent of the lavender hedge wafted in the air as Ross turned into the driveway, the only noise being the faraway sound of a car travelling along the highway below the terrace.
Ross wanted Harriet to let go of his memory and move on. He’d liked Matthew from the start and knew Harriet could be happy with him. For the past few weeks his nightly excursions to the old home were beginning to pay off. Matthew and Harriet were now on first name terms, the possibility of them getting together was imminent. A gift of a new life for Harriet would give him the peace he needed to transcend to a higher plane.
Toffee Pop, enjoying his nocturnal walk, pranced along behind Ross, mewing occasionally until Ross led the way to the cat door. ‘Go on, Toffee Pop,’ he urged, ‘It’s all up to you.’
Matthew ushered her in, holding an unrepentant Toffee Pop in his arms. ‘Thanks for coming.’ Before he got cold feet he said, ‘I wonder if I could ask you something?’ When Harriet didn’t speak he carried on. ‘Would you spend Christmas day with me and my family at the beach?’
Harriet hesitated, her mind racing. Ross wouldn’t mind, would he? The revelation that it didn’t matter if he did and that she wanted to say yes, shook her. ‘I’d enjoy that. Thank you Matt.’ Harriet looked at him her heart giving a flip as he ran his fingers through his fair hair, his green eyes looking anxiously at her.
‘I didn’t think you’d accept my invitation.’ After all I’ve seen more of that damned cat than I have of you, he mused.
‘Really, I’d like that very much,’ Harriet said quietly.
She stayed for a meal, transforming their relationship to something more than mere friends. Harriet couldn’t swear to it but she thought she heard a faint ‘Hurray’ coming from Matt’s house, as she got into her car.
In bed, later that evening, before Harriet turned out the light, she reached over to stroke Toffee Pop and fondle his head. ‘Somehow I think Ross would have liked Matt, don’t you?’
Sometime during the night Ross’ ethereal form materialised. He leaned over and kissed his wife tenderly for the last time. She felt a featherlike touch on her lips; so fleeting she thought she’d imagined it. His soul was free to pass over. Harriet was going to be all right.