Lauren nodded and left.
Brad got down to business. The café was still bringing in bagels from a bagel shop a few blocks away, but everything else was up to him. He figured he’d start with the human food. His first order of business was muffins, of which he planned to make four kinds: blueberry, chocolate chip, carrot, and lemon poppyseed. He figured he could change those up depending on what was popular.
His idea for the midday crew was to provide a few types of bread that could be used for premade sandwiches. So once the muffins were baking, he planned to start sandwich rolls, and while that dough was chilling, he’d make a brioche.
Lauren brought him a cup of coffee in a mug stamped with the café’s logo while he was getting the second batch of muffins ready to slide into an oven.
“It already smells amazing in here,” she said, cradling her own cup. “This was such a good idea.”
Brad laughed. “Once all the human food is baking, I’ll get started on the cat treats. I tried a few on my friend’s cat. The tuna treats were a huge hit.”
“You know, if you need a cat in your home to taste test those treats, I’ve got a few candidates.”
“I don’t need a cat.” He really didn’t. He wasn’t home much, for one thing. Plus, and not that this even mattered, he could hear his father’s voice asking what sort of straight man had cats. Weren’t the cupcakes girlie enough? He swallowed a sigh.
“You say you don’t need a cat, but… Come with me.”
They had to go back down the narrow hall to the counter in order to enter the cat room. They were greeted by mews and indifference. A chubby, striped cat trotted over and sniffed Brad’s pants. She gave a littlebrrrupand rubbed against Brad’s leg, her tail snaking around Brad’s calf.
“That’s Sadie,” said Lauren, pointing to the cat at Brad’s feet. “She’s the office manager here. She’s a permanent cat at the café. I sometimes let her up front after hours. Don’t tell the health department.”
Brad chuckled.
“The rest of these cats are up for adoption. Look at this fellow over here.” She ran her hand over a cat who was sitting on a table. The cat was the color of apricot jam. He leaned into Lauren’s hand as she pet him. “This guy is named Hamilton.”
“That’s a mouthful of a name for a cat.”
“Paige gave all of the cats in our most recent batch of new residents the names of American historical figures. Her reasoning for this guy was that Alexander Hamilton had auburn hair.”
The cats were cute and all, and Brad evenlikedcats. He wouldn’t have bothered applying if he didn’t. He just didn’t want one in his apartment. He reached over and let Hamilton sniff and then rub against his fingers. “I really don’t need a cat.”
“Give it time.”
“I should get back to the kitchen.”
Lauren followed Brad back there. After he checked on everything in the ovens, he said, “We can try the new treats on the cats today.”
Lauren grinned. “I custom-ordered some bags to package the treats in. They’re over here.” She put her coffee cup down and went to the pantry, where she pulled out a box and opened the lid. Inside were brown paper bags with plastic windows, like cookies often came in at the store, and the cat café’s logo printed on top. The bags were cute and the perfect thing to hold his baked cat treats.
“Very cool,” Brad said.
“Right? I’m so excited about this.”
He laughed, appreciating her enthusiasm.
An hour and a half later, Lauren helped him carry trays of baked goods to the display case. The bagels arrived as he was heading back to get another tray of muffins. Once everything for the breakfast rush was in place, he stood back to admire his work.
“Beautiful,” said Lauren.
A tall woman walked into the store. Lauren introduced her as Monique, one of the baristas. Brad shook her hand and then said, “Let me know if you get any customer feedback. I can adapt and change out the menu if you think some other items would be more popular.”
“Sure,” said Monique. “It smells like magic in here.”
To Brad, Lauren said, “You met the owner, Diane, at the interview, and she was polite then, but she was reluctant to sign off on having our own baker on-site. We’ve got that kitchen back there, so why not use it? And I think if we’re making our own pastries, that has the potential to expand our customer base, especially during the morning rush. If we’re offering one-of-a-kind cat treats that we sell exclusively? I think it’ll be a boon.”
“I’m happy to help.”
“And feel free to experiment. I’m sure your blueberry muffins are delicious, but you can get a blueberry muffin just about anywhere in Brooklyn. If you need any other ingredients, just let me know and I’ll see what I can do. Or I can give you some petty cash if you want to hit the farmers market at Cadman Plaza. That’s only a few blocks from here.”
