Complete Me (Book Three of The Kirkland Family)

Complete Me: Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Rose Kirkland had missed Sunday morning devotional only a handful of times since she'd been old enough to decide for herself whether or not to go. Once for the flu. Once because Mr. Shaw caught the flu. And the rest had been family-related events or vacations.

But never because she slept right through the alarm.

This was the second day in a week that she overslept. A pattern she really didn't wish to continue. It changed too much of her routine. But she hadn't been able to help it. Her first night with the kittens had been...trying, to put it mildly. The sister kittens were content to feed every hour and half to two hours, which would have allowed Rose some brief periods of sleep. But the boy...

Rose began calling him Little Jak because he wanted to eat all the time. Pushing for an hour between feedings had been miserable for poor Little Jak. Dr. Summers had been adamant about not overfeeding the kittens, so Rose stuck to a strict schedule. Little Jak didn't like that at all, mewing incessantly and suckling on anything that touched his mouth. Luckily, by seven in the morning, the kittens all curled up in their basket and fell asleep as one black lump of fur. Rose closed her eyes...just a few minutes before she hopped in the shower and got ready for Sunday service at nine...

And jerked awake when someone knocked on her door.

"Rose? It's Cole. Are you up?"

The kittens squirmed and meowed in their basket. Rose blinked the world back into focus and glanced at the clock.

9:23.

"Oh, no!"

"Rose?"

She'd missed church, the kittens should have been fed twenty minutes ago, her own stomach rumbled loudly...

"Rose?" The knocking grew louder.

...and Mr. Fuller pounded on her door.

"Coming!" she yelled through a raspy throat. Wrapping her blanket around her body, she quickly peeked at the kittens, stumbled to the door, fought with the locks, and yanked it open.

Mr. Fuller grinned at her. "Morning, Sunshine," he said as his gaze traveled around her face, over her tangled hair, and down her blanket-wrapped body. "I looked like this once...after a buddy's all-night bachelor party."

"Ha, ha," she said with a yawn. "Did you need something, Mr. Fuller?"

He held up a paper cup from the local Starbucks. "No, but you do."

Rose perked up immediately. "Normally, I prefer tea—"

"I know—"

She sipped from the cup, and... "That's not coffee," she said, swallowing the lukewarm drink.

"It's a tea latte," he replied, looking worried. "The girl at the counter said she knew you and that's what you usually order. Is it?"

Rose blinked at him. "Well, yes...I just didn't expect you to...um..."

"To know what you like to drink in the mornings?" he inquired, relaxing against her door frame. "Or to make the effort?"

Recognizing the path of dignity-suicide before her, Rose opted to keep quiet, enjoy her tea, and invite him into the apartment. "So, is the result of the kittens?" he asked, waving at her.

"Just one of them," she said wearily. "Little Jak."

He raised his eyebrows. "Little Jak? You named one after your brother...or is that your father's Jack?"