A woman, a man, and two fancy cats

They were not ordinary cats, not ordinary pets. They were Himalayans, white with puckered faces and long, ornate names on their pedigree papers. In their regular life  around the house, Olivia called them Eggdrop and Chop Suey. Nick hated both the prestigious pedigree stuff and these over-cute names. He didn't much care for the cats either as far as that went.

Olivia adored them. She was as close as she got to happy whenever one or the other won a ribbon. She fussed over them at  home. She found their behavior endlessly fascinating. They chased a tied-up pair of  pantyhose across the floor! They sat in a box! She had concocted intricate personalities she professed to see in them while to Nick, it appeared that they only ate, slept, batted around sparkle balls, and were almost totally indifferent to Nick's and Olivia's presence in their lives. The cats were part of the ticket price to Olivia. He'd keep buffalos, if that would make her stay.

Carol Anshaw, Carry the One (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012), p. 79