Was this the shadow she’d seen, the slight movement at the corner of her eye? Was it the same cat that had scratched at the front door in the middle of the night? Had the poor thing been lurking near the cottage for days? For a moment, as the light caught the cat’s fur, she thought she saw an aura, a subtle rainbow of color surrounding the cat, as if the creature was not of this world. Most peculiar and ethereal—one lambent eye was blue, the other green. An angel cat. But when the cat moved into shadow, Lily saw merely a furry animal with dirty paws—a vagrant in search of sanctuary. The cat could be feral, sick, or rabid. And now a precious vintage tea set lay in pieces on the floor—a broken wedding gift from Josh’s mother. The jagged shards reflected the sunlight, forming a chaotic mosaic on the floor. What a grand opening for my boutique. A tea set worth a fortune, destroyed in a heartbeat. But then, anything beloved could shatter without warning, without hope of repair. Lily knew this only too well.
