Through Pain We Survive

Chapter 74

Hearing a knock on the door, Cat jumped a bit. Mira Lynne looked to Cat, but Cat only took a deep breath.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Mira Lynne asked, concerned.

"Yeah. I'm okay. I'm going to do this." She stood up, and slowly walked towards the door, looking through the peephole.

"You got this Cat," Mira Lynne said from the other room.

Cat takes another deep breath, Cat opened the door. "Hello?"

"Hi, I have an order for LeRouge?"

"That isn't me... Mira Lynne, did you order door dash?" Cat called to the other room.

"Oh! Yes, sorry, I thought I told you. I ordered some dinner for us. I know you've been stressed, and figured I'd try to help by making sure you ate a little something."

"Oh! Thanks, honey. I appreciate it." Cat smiled, some of her southern charm shining through. She turned back to the woman at the door. "Yep, that's for us!"

"Thank you!" The woman handed the food over and headed back to her car.

Mira Lynne smiled guiltily. "I'm sorry, I forgot to mention it to you. I know you wanted to open the door, and I should have said something."

"No, it's okay! It was good practice. What did you order us?" She shut the door and placed the food on the kitchen island.

"Chinese. There's a restaurant downtown that has the BEST chow mein! I'm not sure what all you like, but I got a few of my favorite dishes."

"Heh. I forgot I never really told you much outside of work. I personally go for the teriyaki chicken with white rice or the sweet and sour chicken, but I'm always looking to try new foods." She took the food out of the bag, placing it down on the counter. "That is still quite hot..." She murmured, shaking her hand a bit.

"I did get a sweet and sour chicken if you'd like. This one here." She pointed to a container. "I also got chow mein, Chicken Lo Mein, General Tso, and some fried rice. Yes, they are always really quick so it's always hot. Be careful."

"Would you mind if I take the sweet and sour chicken?" She finished placing the food on the counter and ran her hands under some cold water. "Just in case."

"No, be my guest." Mira Lynne took the General Tso container. They both sit and enjoy their dinner.

"Thank you for doing this, Mira Lynne. I owe you one."

"No problem. Wanna watch some YouTube? I'd love to see more of Random Encounters work."

"Oh, sure!" Cat took out her phone.

"They have a playlist, right? Do you just want to put it on shuffle and we just watch from there?"

"Sure. Want me to put it on the TV or something?"

"Sounds good! We can look for that Beard-guy easier that way."

Cat turned on the TV and synced her phone to it. She then played the RE Musical playlist on shuffle. They both watched intently for the Beard.

After watching some musicals, Mira Lynne is amazed how well Cat can spot him. Some were really obvious, but others were tough. "You're able to spot him so well!"

"Well, with any luck of mine, It'll get easier for me starting next month-" She bit her lip, realizing what she'd said. I guess now is the time to tell Mira Lynne.

"What do you mean?" Mira Lynne gave Cat a quizzical look.

"Ah... Well, Gwen hired me on to Random Encounters. I don't feel comfortable working at Fratelli's right now."

"That's great! I'm happy for you! I mean, not about you being uncomfortable at Fratelli's, but that you have another job with them! That's awesome." Mira Lynne paused. "How are you going to tell Nancy?"

"I don't know. Nancy will be emotional since I've worked with her for so long."

"Yeah. But she'll understand. She will want you to be safe. We all will. We've seen that jerk in the restaurant before, or at least most of us have, so we will definitely want to protect you. We're family."

Cat teared up. "I'm going to miss you guys. Laney with her speed dating offers, Nancy with her compassion... I really don't want to go." She curled up, tears streamed down her cheeks. "But I have to. I need to keep you all safe."

"Will you be back? After all this is done?"

"If Nancy will have me back, yeah. But this situation will take a while. I've already missed so much work. I just need a place where I can work remotely. Safely."

"I know Gwen and AJ and Nate will give you that."

"Yeah... Mira Lynne, I'm so sorry I dragged you into this."

"Don't. Don't start that. You don't need to apologize at all. You would do the same for me."

Cat stopped, a look of slight shock on her face. It softened into a smile. "Once this all blows over, I might take Laney up on that offer," she laughed.

Mira Lynne laughed. "She would love that, you know. She's been trying to get me to get you to do that speed dating for a while!"

"Have you done it?"

"No, I haven't. Laney wants me to, but I keep telling her not now. I just... I'm not wanting to date. But I guess just going to dinner with a guy might not be too bad..."

"Did I ever tell you that the Sara girl Nate came in with tried to defend herself by saying you were hitting on her too?" She snorted, finding the memory funny in hindsight.

"What? Oh my word. How in the world would I have hit on her? She was an obnoxious... No, ML, don't go there." She took a deep breath and talked herself down.

"Sorry, sorry. I just thought you should know."

"No, no, you're fine. I'm glad you told me."

"Thanks, hun. Will you come with me to speak with Nancy soon about work? Officer Mobus will make sure there's an officer there tailing us just in case, but I'd like the added support."

"Of course. Whenever you need me to."

Cat silently scoot over closer to Mira Lynne, and placed her arm around her. "Thank you..." She whispered.

She put her arm around Cat. "No problem." Mira Lynne leaned her head in, and Cat did the same.

Sitting back up, Mira Lynne cleared her throat. "So, do we want to keep watching more videos? I'd like to learn as much about your new employer as I can." She smiled to Cat.

"Heh. Yeah." She grabbed her phone and unpaused the playlist.

After they finished dinner, the two clean up and pack away any leftovers, exchanging playful banter and stories as they do. With her small victory from earlier in the day, Cat was more like Mira Lynne used to know her: playful and sarcastic. The two agreed to watch a few more videos before retiring for the night once the kitchen was cleaned. The night crept in on them quickly, and they went to bed, finding a small success in the day they had.