Susannah stumbled down the carpeted stairs to the sixth floor. She traced her hands along the black wallpaper, her fingers tapping out a bouncy rhythm to keep stepping in time with; it made her less anxious.
She’d visited the costume department many times for fittings and alterations, and every time she’d been there, the whole floor buzzed with excitement. Now, the morning after the performance, only two sewing machines hummed. One older seamstress styled the hair of a golden wig. Susannah suspected they worked on costumes for The Dream Girl.
Behind her, Phillip trotted along, greeting the elderly seamstresses and staring into the various rooms they passed.
In a corner stood a cloth dressmaker’s dummy. Sighing, Susannah steadied herself on the dummy’s shoulder and lifted her right foot to slip her shoe off. Her feet ached, and she knew a blister or two had formed on the sole of one foot. She and Phillip had searched the Shelley Opera House from top to bottom for Roxanne without respite, and she needed to inspect the damage to her feet. The task couldn’t be put off any longer.
“How are you holding up?” Phillip asked, leaning against the wall opposite Susannah.
Susannah gave a weary smile. She hadn’t spoken much since they’d begun searching, and her mouth felt dry. She cleared her throat and muttered, “Just tired. But I need to find Roxanne. I can’t rest until I do.”
“I know,” Phillip said as he placed a reassuring hand on Susannah’s shoulder.
Susannah let her foot thud to the floor, along with the shoe. She reached for Phillip’s hand and gripped it. “I feel as if last night had been a dream,” she admitted.
Phillip squeezed her hand. “It did happen, and you triumphed.”
Grunting, Susannah pushed herself off the dummy and jammed her foot in her shoe. She grimaced from the pain from the blister. “It feels like I never even opened my mouth,” she muttered.
“You did. And in my opinion, you’re the best singer in this company. You deserve to be the prima donna.”
Susannah blushed. She didn’t know what to say.
With a crooked grin, Phillip turned and continued walking down the dimly lit hall. “Do you feel in need of a vacation?” he asked without turning his head toward Susannah.
Susannah blinked. The question had come out of nowhere. “Well…” she hesitated. “I don’t know. I haven’t sung much lately, and there are still a few more performances…”
“Not from singing,” Phillip interjected. “From other things. Maria, for one. Stone, for another. This silly talk of ghost cats. The city.”
“I honestly never considered taking a break from those…things,” Susannah said uncertainly. The thought truly hadn’t crossed her mind. It wasn’t Maria or Stone per se, but what they’d said to her, how they’d treated her. Maria accusing Susannah of poisoning her had taken a toll on Susannah’s emotional state, and Stone hadn’t been too supportive of Susannah’s career when Maria returned, regardless of whether it had been an act or not. Perhaps Susannah did need a vacation at the end of The Dream Girl’s run, or even for a few days between performances.
Phillip chuckled. “I suppose I sounded a tad blunt. I simply thought you’d like to get away from the city for a few days. You know, rest yourself after such a wonderful performance.”
Susannah raised an eyebrow. She couldn’t keep herself from grinning. “Where would I go? The balmy beaches of New York City at this time of year?”
“Nowhere so luxurious,” Phillip replied. “I was thinking of the country.”
“Oh! Your grandmother’s?”
“Naturally.” Phillip shoved his hands in his pockets and fell in step alongside Susannah. “You should see her lovely apple farm in spring, all the trees in bloom. Her farm is nestled in Cedar Flats. You’d love it.”
“Cedar Flats?” Susannah echoed. “Isn’t that an hour or so away?”
Phillip nodded, his smile growing wider.
Susannah bit her lip. “But when you took that cat away, you said your grandmother’s farm was right outside the city. An hour away doesn’t qualify as just outside the city, at least not in my opinion.”
“Does it matter?”
“I suppose not,” Susannah murmured. But it did. “You went all that way simply to dispose of the cat?”
“The girls were frantic,” Phillip said with a shrug, “and I thought taking the cat to the farm sounded more appealing than dumping it in a garbage can. I’ve always thought animals deserve the same respect as humans do, even in death.”
Susannah placed her hand on Phillip’s arm. “That was rather kind of you.”
“It was nothing,” Phillip insisted. “Anyway, I’d like to take you there. The farm, that is, not where I buried the cat.” Phillip glanced at Susannah with huge eyes. “My grandmother makes the best apple pies. And she owns a few horses. We could go riding in the mornings and sit on her front porch in the evenings.”
Giggling, Susannah said, “Tempting. I’d love to go there someday.”
“I’ll take that.”
Meowing drifted from one of the wig rooms they passed. Susannah’s eyes widened. She put a hand to her mouth and twirled around. Hope rising in her heart, she darted into the room.
On top of a pile of wigs, her red fur covered in cobwebs and dust, sat Roxanne, meowing loudly. Another cat lay sprawled next to Roxanne, but Susannah barely paid the other cat attention. Crying Roxanne’s name, Susannah rushed toward Roxanne and scooped the cat into her trembling arms.
With tears falling down her cheeks, Susannah kissed Roxanne’s soft head. The cat purred and rubbed her head against Susannah’s face, wiping the tears away.
Susannah didn’t hear Phillip enter the room. He reached a hand out toward the other cat, but the cat shrank into the wigs. The silver tabby turned its gaze to Susannah, its eyes wide and its ears pricked forward.
“I wonder where he came from,” Phillip mused out loud.
Without looking up, Susannah said, “Who knows? We’ve found Roxanne, and that’s all that matters.”
They turned to leave. As they walked out of the room, the tabby leaped from the wigs and limped after them.
Phillip nudged Susannah. “Looks like Roxanne has an admirer.”
“Perhaps he’s enamored with Roxanne’s singing,” Susannah said, giggling and feeling like Alma when she concocted all those little cat operas. She scratched behind Roxanne’s ear. Roxanne purred louder.
“She must have a great voice then, too,” Phillip said, his lips forming a soft smile. “As does her beautiful lady.”
Susannah’s blush deepened. She glanced at the silver tabby. “Then he should accompany us to breakfast at Dottie’s. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving!”
“Breakfast! I’d completely forgotten it!” Phillip exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air in mock surprise. Susannah laughed. Phillip continued, “Let’s go, then. There’s no time like the present, eh?”
They walked past the seamstresses, who exchanged knowing glances as the young couple passed them by. The tabby limped behind them at a safe distance. Roxanne placed her head on Susannah’s shoulder, her purrs not ebbing in the slightest. Susannah stroked Roxanne’s fur, feeling happier than she had in days.
When Phillip and Susannah reached the foyer, an overwhelming sensation of peace filled Susannah, although she didn’t know why. It could have been the sunlight pouring forth from the many windows at the front of the building or the fresh spring air filling her lungs as she walked to Dottie’s. Perhaps it was the young man’s presence at her side or the fact she’d sung the best she ever had last night, despite it seeming as if it had been a dream. Most likely all those things caused the lightheartedness filling her soul. Or maybe it had to do with the simple fact that Susannah had found her beloved feline companion, the cat who’d been with her before she’d joined the opera, when she was still unknown, working at a tiny diner people rarely visited.
Whatever the reason, it was a perfect morning.