Take It With Me

Kitty tried to go back to sleep, but now that her headache had gone, she was feeling okay. Too okay to go back to sleep. She leaned up, looking all around. The hotel room, now that she was seeing it through sober eyes, was much smaller and danker then any hotel room she had ever stayed in. The floor was covered in green shag carpet, the wall paper was blue and flowered, and there were brass candlesticks screwed into the wall. Weird. However, there seemed to be a balcony, and Kitty was itching for some fresh air. Wrapping the blanket around herself, she grabbed her phone and made her way to the glass sliding door. She wrenched the handle, and after a few tugs, it came open in a flood of dust and rust particles. She coughed, then stepped out onto the tiny concrete balcony. She wasn't that far up; in fact, it seemed like the hotel only had five floors. If she had counted right, they were on the third. The balcony looked over a little courtyard filled with dying trees and shrubs, and Kitty caught a glimpse of black out of the corner of her eye. She looked a little closer, and sure enough, it was Tom, hunkered down on a bench between two azalea bushes. He was puffing on a cigarette, his shoulders hunched over. One of his legs with jiggling up and down to beat the band, and his hat bobbed, like he was moving his head to a silent beat. Kitty smiled. Despite his character flaws and smoking and cursing and the fact that he had quite obviously left her while she was sick to go sleep with some girl, he had been kind to her, and the perfume was sweet. And, she hated to admit, but he was attractive in his own way. He had a sharp jaw, covered in whiskers, and deep set eyes that went from gentle to intense to passionate in a split second. He was tall and wiry, and even though that wasn't what she preferred in a man, she could appreciate it. It suited him. He was twitchy and wild and intense and passionate and she would forever love him for helping her out.

Even if she did want to go home more than anything in the entire world.

She sat there for a few more moments, counting the dying leaves on a Magnolia tree and breathing in the slightly fresher air that the courtyard offered. The air was crisp; a perfect southern winter. It was warmer here than it was back home in Jackson. Kitty kind of liked it. Although it would have been better to be at home with her parents and brothers and sister and Abuela.

But it wasn't half bad here.