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Howard raised his head and stared at me for a moment before returning to his breakfast. I set my coffee cup down and rested my head in my hands as I fought back the sadness that threatened to engulf me. If Blake was gone for good, then that meant everything associated with him was gone, as well. No more dinners with his family or movie nights with him and Nina. The thought of losing the little family I’d begun to build knocked the wind out of me, and I began to cry.
Howard head butted me and mewed as I dropped my head to the counter and cried.
“Em? Are you home?” a voice called from the front entry. “Hello?”
“KO?” I said hopefully. “Is that you?”
“Hey, girlfriend, what’s going —” KO cheerfully said as she entered the kitchen. Her tone quickly shifted to concern as she saw my tear-stained face. “Girl, what’s going on?”
“Oh, KO!” I cried. “He’s gone! I did something stupid, and now he’s gone!”
“He’s gone? Who’s gone?” she said, dropping her bags and wrapping her arms around me. “What the hell is going on around here?”
“I was with him the other night when Nina disappeared and then she came back, and I didn’t tell him right away now he’s mad at me, and he won’t answer my calls!” I sobbed, in one continuous sentence.
“Girl, I have no idea what you just said,” KO chuckled softly. “So why don’t you start from the beginning and tell me what happened while I was gone.”
“Hey, fat man!” she said, as she reached out to pat Howard and was rewarded with a swipe of his claws. “Ouch! Damn, that hurts!”
“I don’t think he likes being called fat man,” I said quietly.
“Well, if the shoe fits…” KO laughed, as she moved to the sink and rinsed her hand. She poured herself a cup of coffee and then sat down next to me and listened. For the next hour, I told her everything that had happened since she left, ending with the debacle that was our Valentine’s Day date.
“I don’t know what to do now, KO,” I said, starting to cry again. “I miss him! And I want to work things out, but I don’t know how to get him to talk to me. He’s just too angry.”
“Hmm, it sounds like he’s angry about things that have nothing to do with you,” she said, as she drank the last of her coffee and began picking at the leftover waffle on my plate. “I’d give him a little space before you start to do the hard-court press.”
“I’m not going to act like I’m desperate,” I said grumpily.
“But you want him back, don’t you?” she asked, as she popped a piece of waffle dipped in syrup into her mouth and chewed.
“Yeah, but he doesn’t need to know how much,” I said, folding my arms across my chest like a stubborn child.
“I’d argue otherwise, but I see your point,” she nodded. She chewed thoughtfully for a bit before she spoke again saying, “Don’t worry, Em. We’ll figure this out.”
“Are you back for good?” I asked, realizing I had no idea why she’d returned. “What made you come back?”
“Eh, family stuff,” she said, waving me off. “I don’t know how long I’m back for, but while I’m here, I’m going to try and help you get your man back!”
“You make it sound like a Wild West caper,” I giggled, despite the tears still flowing down my cheeks.
“Maybe that’s just what we need,” KO said brightly. “We need a plan, my friend!”
I wanted to push KO as to why she was back and how long she’d be staying, but I knew from past experience that if she didn’t want to talk about it, no amount of questioning was going to get the information out of her. I decided to let it go and focus on her plan to help me find a way to get Blake to talk to me.
We spent the rest of the day talking about how to solve the problem. Around 5, KO got up to get ready to head to The Lucky Clover for her shift.
“You’re already going back to work?” I said, surprised that she was slipping right back into her regular schedule despite having been gone for several months.
“Yeah, I need to make some bank this week,” she sighed, as she walked into the bedroom and dug through her closet. She came back to the kitchen pulling on a shirt that said “I’m Not Yelling. I’m Speaking with Authority.”
“What do your customers think of your T-shirts?” I laughed.
“They love it!” she said, grabbing a hoodie from the back coat rack and pulling it on. “Hell, some of them come to the bar just to find out what I’m wearing on any given night!”
“You’re one in a million, KO,” I said, shaking my head.
“So are you, Em,” she said, pulling me into a bear hug before she kissed the top of my head and slapped my ass. “Now, we just need to get that man of yours to remember that fact!”
