Fat Cat Spreads Out Read Free Page B

quit taking things that don’t belong to you.”
    â€œI know. Don’t tell him, okay? I’ll find it.” The black-haired woman turned and entered the tent behind her. The sign above the door said “Fortunes Read.”
    Chase approached Mike and the older woman.
    â€œHi,” Mike said. “I want you to meet my aunt Betsy. She’s my dad’s sister.” So Betsy was a Ramos by birth. She was much shorter than Mike, but had his same deep brown eyes and dark curls, hers cut short to frame an oval face with only a few age lines.
    Anna came running up to the group. “Quincy isn’t all that’s missing, Charity. The Hula Bars—”
    â€œMrs. Larson.” Mike smiled at Anna. “I’d like you to meet my aunt Betsy.”
    Anna halted and waited a few seconds until her breathy panting slowed down. “Pleased to meet you.” They shook hands. “We’re very fond of your nephew. But, Charity”—she turned to Chase—“Quincy got into the Hula Bars.”
    Chase gasped. “Are they ruined? How many? Are there any left?”
    â€œHe destroyed ten boxes.”
    â€œHe ate ten boxes of dessert bars?” Mike’s jaw dropped. “I didn’t think even Quincy could eat that much.”
    â€œNo, no. He didn’t eat all of them, only ruined them. I can’t tell how many bars are completely gone, but those boxes can’t be sold. They’re clawed to pieces.”
    Chase’s heart dropped toward her sneakers. “Ten boxes? That’s almost all of the Hula Bars that we brought here. They’ve been our best seller since we introduced them. We needed those boxes to sell.”
    â€œWe do have a ton of Harvest Bars, but you’re right. I guess we’ll have to make some more tonight.” Anna’s brow furrowed beneath her silver curls, and her blue eyes grew somber.
    â€œThank goodness he didn’t destroy the Harvest Bars. Where is that rascal?” Chase clenched one fist inside the other until her knuckles were white.
    â€œHe’ll come back. One of us has to start baking soon.” Anna gave Chase a look that said Chase should do it. “If you stay here, you’ll worry yourself to death over Quincy. I’ll finish setting up and you can look in on Inger.”
    Chase resisted the notion of leaving with Quincy on the loose, but Anna finally convinced her. She had searched everywhere and didn’t know what else she coulddo. “Okay, Anna. I’ll head back in a few minutes. Call me the second he shows up. “
    Anna agreed. They said good-bye to Mike’s Aunt Betsy and trudged toward their booth, leaving Mike chatting with his aunt. Chase assumed he’d tell her what a terrible cat owner Chase was, not able to control her animal’s weight, or even his whereabouts.
    Chase glanced back to see if they were whispering and pointing at her. But Aunt Betsy was walking away as Mike ducked into the fortune-teller’s booth. She wondered, briefly, what had been troubling the young woman, and how she knew Mike. The man had a talent for collecting attractive females.
    Before she left, she helped Anna finish unpacking the goods that weren’t ruined.
    â€œAnna, about that midmorning snack that Inger mentioned,” Chase started.
    â€œI made sure she was going to give him a Kitty Patty. It wasn’t anything he shouldn’t have.”
    â€œBut he doesn’t need an infinite amount of those, you know. I usually give him one about midday, not midmorning.”
    Anna gave Chase a pained look and turned away to arrange their price list on a plastic stand. A stack of the fliers describing how to save dessert bars for the holidays lay beside the stand. Anna knocked a few of them off the top of the pile and Chase bent down to retrieve them.
    As she straightened, they both heard a scream. Chase threw the papers onto the table and she and Anna ran outside their booth