Chapter 16

By the time she woke up on Saturday, Megan was feeling more confident about her future. Yesterday had been a difficult emotional roller coaster, but it had been helpful to dig into the complex issues that she was facing. She and Sophia slept on the air mattress again, although as she opened her eyes she noticed that she was now alone in the living room. Megan stood up and padded quietly to the bedroom door. Peeking in, she saw that Sophia had crawled into the bed and was sleeping peacefully next to Tasha. Her friend was awake as well, scrolling through her phone. Megan beckoned Tasha over while also signaling her to stay quiet.

The two adults reunited in the kitchenette a few minutes later. Megan noted that Tasha had moved from pajama pants and a long-sleeved nightshirt to pajama shorts and a tank top. She felt bad that Tasha had been uncomfortable about showing off her tattoos before.

“Good morning,” Megan said quietly. She reached over to touch the cat pawprints on Tasha’s left arm. “Where do these go?”

“Good morning to you.” Tasha reached over to pull down the left strap of her tank top and lowered the shirt enough to show the cat paws coming to an end right above her heart. “You are now the third person to see where these end. Okay, fourth, including the woman who inked this. I adopted Nocturne right after I moved out here, and she has been such an important part of my life since then, I decided to get this done in her honor.”

“Thank you for showing me. That’s really sweet about Nocturne. She’s a good cat.”

“She is, but I think that she might like Sophia more.”

“I’m sure that Nocturne still loves you, too. Did you sleep okay? I hope that Sophia didn’t bother you.”

“I slept fine. She didn’t bother me at all. I didn’t even hear her come in, so it was a surprise when I woke up and she was there.”

Mgean gathered Tasha in for a hug. “Thank you for that. It means so much to me that you’re okay with Sophia.”

“Of course. Speaking of Sophia, there’s a park nearby that might be nice for a walk and to give her a chance to play while the weather is still dry. Do you wanna go?”

“That’s a great idea. Sophia should be up soon, and we can all go after breakfast.”

Megan rummaged around in the refrigerator for a minute, then looked at Tasha who was watching her with a bemused smile.

Tasha asked, “Anything that you are looking for?”

“I’m thinking bacon and eggs with toast. Do you have any bread?”

“I like it. Would English muffins do?”

The smell of bacon brought Sophia out and the trio sat down for a nice hot breakfast.

Afterward, Megan and Sophia got ready together for their excursion with Tasha.

As they walked out of the apartment, none of them noticed the oversized pickup truck parked down the block. Nor did they see a man exit the truck and start to follow them.

It wasn’t a long walk to the park. Once there, Megan and Tasha sat on a bench and watched Sophia clamber up on the playset. The two were idly chatting when Megan heard Sophia exclaim, “Mommy, look! Daddy’s here!”