“Yeah?”
She turns the phone so I can see it.
Saw it. He had it coming. I’m done with him for a while. Maybe a long while. Don’t need to talk anymore about it. Love you. K.
I read it. Read it again.
“She means every word,” Nova says.
“I know.”
She sets the phone face down on the counter. Looks at the kittens in the morning light. Looks at Brick. Looks at me.
“I love her,” she says.
“I know that too.”
She leans back against the counter. Just looks at the room for a minute — the kittens, the Cup, Brick with his tail wrapped around his feet like he’s been waiting for this his whole life, the plant on the windowsill still alive despite everything.
“Jax.”
“Yeah.”
“What do we do with four kittens.”
“Find them homes.”
“Brody,” she says immediately.
“Brody,” I agree.
“Aiden and Aurora.”
“Yeah.”
“Liam and Katarina.”
I look at her.
She looks at me.
“Katarina would love it,” she says.
“Yeah. She would.”
She smiles.
Small. Real.
The morning version — no performance, no armor, just her face softening because something finally feels right.
I get up and cross the kitchen. Put my hands on her face and just look at her for a second.
Morning light catches in her hair. My hoodie hangs loose around her shoulders. Both cats are in her kitchen, the Cup is on the counter, and everything that happened last night is still here with us somehow — not heavy, just present.
Real.
“Hi,” she says.