Theresa Weir: The Girl with the Cat Tattoo

His shoulders dropped, and his chin dropped. And for a moment, he wouldn’t look at her. When he finally did, she saw the tears in his eyes and understood how much he loved her, and understood how much he’d been willing to sacrifice for her.

“The cupcake was good,” he said forlornly.

She laughed. She couldn’t help it. Because she finally knew her heart and her head. She wasn’t the kind of person to shut herself away and shut herself off from the people she loved. That wasn’t her.

“I want you in my life,” she said in the most straightforward way possible.

“You mean like friends? Like the letting-the-guy-down-easy thing? We’ll always be friends? It’s not you, it’s me? Because really, I’m not falling for that. Sorry.”

“No, more than friends. Let’s go back to the you and me of before. The you and me and Max of before I knew you were a cop. Let’s go back there. But this time I’ll know. I can’t say I’ll be…well, happy with it. But it will be okay. And I will be proud of you. And I will be happy for you. Yes, I will worry. Every second you are gone. But I’ll distract myself. With work. With Max. With cupcakes and costumes. And books.”

A light appeared behind the shimmer of tears in his green eyes. He pulled her into his arms, and his mouth came down on hers, and she felt like a princess who’d found her prince. And when he was done thoroughly kissing her, she pulled back so she could look at him, so she could read his face. “Do you love me?” she asked with a directness that came from her soul. “Because I love you.”

He smiled a slow smile. “You know I do.”

“Then say it.”

“No.”

“Ha!”

“I’ll say it when I’m good and ready.”

“I don’t need to hear the words anyway.” But she did.

“Maybe I want you to beg,” he said.

“I never beg.”

“I love everything about you. The way your hair smells. Your laugh. Your feet. Your clothes. Your cupcakes. Your smell. Oh, I already said that. Your joy. I need your joy. Is that enough?”

She smiled, waiting.

And then his face became serious. “I love you. You know that.”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Good.”

She took his hand. She brought it to her lips. She kissed his knuckles, then looked up at him. “Let’s go tell Max.”

Sunday morning and all was well in Max’s world. Joe and Melody were slowly waking up, and Max was lying on top of Joe’s clothes, which were in a pile on the floor, right in the sun. That perfect patch of sunlight that felt so good. In a few more minutes Max would begin to get annoyed. He might have to start walking across the bed and pawing at some faces, but right now… Right now was perfect.

Thirty minutes later, Melody and Joe were in the kitchen. Melody wore her pink cat pajama bottoms and a tank top that exposed the shoulder tattoo of Max. It was a wonderful tattoo.

Joe wore a gray T-shirt and plaid pajama bottoms. Coffee was percolating, eggs were sizzling in the pan on the stove, and Max had just finished off a can of cat food. He was ready to watch the activity on the street, but the door to the screened-in porch was closed. He scratched and meowed.

Melody unlocked the door, and Max slipped through the opening. “Oh, wow. Come see this, Joe.”

Joe appeared at her elbow, and pretty soon both humans were looking at something beyond the front door.

“That cat looks exactly like Max,” Joe said.

“I know.” Melody took a quiet step closer to the screen door. “If Max wasn’t right here next to me, I’d swear it was him. Same black mustache and all.”

Max jumped up on the windowsill so he could see what they were talking about. And there she was. Max’s sister. The Ellen gig had paid off. Life was good.

Theresa Weir (a.k.a. Anne Frasier) is an award-winning, USA Today bestselling author of twenty-one books and numerous short stories that have spanned the genres of suspense, mystery, thriller, romantic suspense, paranormal, and memoir. Her titles have been printed in both hardcover and paperback and translated into twenty languages. Her memoir, The Orchard, was a 2011 Oprah Magazine Fall Pick, Number Two on the Indie Next list, a featured B+ review in Entertainment Weekly, and a Librarians’ Best Books of 2011. Going back to 1988, Weir’s debut title was the cult phenomenon AMAZON LILY, initially published by Pocket Books and later reissued by Bantam Books. Writing as Theresa Weir she won a RITA for romantic suspense (COOL SHADE), and a year later the Daphne du Maurier for paranormal romance (BAD KARMA). In her more recent Anne Frasier career, her thriller and suspense titles hit the USA Today list (HUSH, SLEEP TIGHT, PLAY DEAD) and were featured in Mystery Guild, Literary Guild, and Book of the Month Club. HUSH was both a RITA and Daphne du Maurier finalist. Well-known in the mystery community, she served as hardcover judge for the Thriller presented by International Thriller Writers, and was guest of honor at the Diversicon 16 mystery/science fiction conference held in Minneapolis in 2008. Frasier books have received high praise from print publications such as Publishers Weekly, Minneapolis Star Tribune, and Crimespree, as well as online praise from Spinetingler, Book Loons, Armchair Interviews, Sarah Weinman’s Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind, and Ali Karim’s Shots Magazine. Her books have featured cover quotes from Lisa Gardner, Jane Ann Krentz, Linda Howard, Kay Hooper, and J.A. Konrath. Her short stories and poetry can be found in DISCOUNT NOIR, ONCE UPON A CRIME, and THE LINEUP, POEMS ON CRIME. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and International Thriller Writers.

www.theresaweir.com