IT WAS STILLdark when Katrina woke the next morning, which was quite normal. The heavy weight snoring next to her was not.
She was already smiling when she turned to greet the animal. Doodle was sogoodand well-mannered, from her potty-training skills to her stoic acceptance of her bath last night. But unlike most dogs, Doodle hadn’t slept at her feet, but right next to her, giant block head on the pillow.
She wrinkled her nose at her dog’s breath. “Where did you come from?” she whispered, and rested her hand on the dog’s back. Doodle stretched, yawned, and continued lightly snoring. Doodle had been curled up in the kitchen next to the stove when Katrina had come upstairs to sleep. “Your sister doesn’t like sleeping with me, so this’ll be nice when we get home, though I do think you have to learn to sleep on the foot of the bed.” It was probably premature to pair up Zeus and Doodle as cool crime-fighting animal siblings in her head, but she couldn’t help it. They’d be such cute friends.
Her alarm beeped and she mentally groaned. She’d set it as a reminder aboutGood Morning Live, not that she needed one.
She shivered and burrowed deeper under the quilt. If she could stay here, bundled up forever, she’d do it. But that was impossible, and not only because the minute Rhiannon got back, she’d drive up here to check on her.
Without disturbing the dog, she slid out of bed. The weather had turned colder overnight, and her room was chilly.
She grabbed her phone from where it had been neatly plugged into the charger on the nightstand. She had multiple missed messages, and she clicked on Rhiannon’s first.
I meeeeeeesssss you!
She smiled. She replied with a heart eyes emoji and moved to the rest of her texts.
There was a message from Andy, delivered a little over half an hour ago.
Hey Katrina. I know you get up early. Call me whenever you want, if you’d like.
She made a face. It was only a matter of time before Andy saw the CafeBae nonsense. Of course her therapist would recognize Katrina and the café and check in on her.
This was timely. And talking to Andy was good for her. So why was she so reluctant to talk to her therapist about all this?
She could wait, have some coffee, but if she did wait, she’d probably put it off longer. She’d learned a long time ago some things were easier to do at dawn, when no one else was awake.
She petted the puppy for moral support and dialed. Andy picked up on the second ring, her voice calm and alert. “Hi, Katrina.”
“Hi.” She scuffed her sock-clad foot along the floor. “You saw?”
Andy didn’t pretend ignorance. “I did. Honestly, almost by accident, I ran across an article.”
“Did you recognize me instantly?”
“Yes. But remember, I saw you a few hours before the photos were taken. I can’t imagine anyone else would be able to figure out who you were.”
Wow. Had it only been three days ago that she’d sat in that café with Andy? When everything was chaos, the days could feel like years, she supposed. “Right. That’s what my roommates said, too. That chances are slim.”
“I think so.”
“I ran away.”
Andy paused. “Did you now. Where are you?”
“At my bodyguard’s family farm. NorCal.” Katrina trusted Andy to tell her the exact location, but she probably wouldn’t know the area.
There was a creak, and she imagined Andy sitting back in her leather chair. Katrina had never been to her office, but she imagined all therapists had leather chairs. “You went to stay somewhere else overnight. How are you doing?”
“Fine.” She knew what the next question would be.What did you learn from this exposure?“I learned waking up in a different place isn’t so terrible, especially if I try to keep some of my schedule the same. Actually, I’d forgotten how much I used to enjoy new experiences, and a farm is very new. There’s a lot to like about being here, beyond the fact that it’s not home.”
“Yeah, it would be new for me too. And, yes. You can absolutely make the unfamiliar familiar in certain ways.”
Katrina walked to the bureau to fiddle with her rock. “Those people—from the café—they’re going on TV today in a few hours.”
“I saw.”
“It’s going to bring more attention to me.”
