Released (Caged 3)

“Okay with me,” Tria replied with a shrug.

I told Damon where I wanted to go, and he eyed me in the mirror for a minute before Tria told him to just drive. It didn’t take long to reach my destination, and I told Tria she could just wait in the car.

“Are you telling me I have to stay,” she asked, “or are you giving me an option?”

I thought about it for a second before I pulled the little photograph of Krazy Katie’s mom out of my jacket pocket. I had flattened it out and put it in a little wooden frame, and it had ended up looking pretty nice.

“I was going to put it…you know…on her grave.” The whole idea suddenly sounded stupid when I said it. “I mean, I don’t know what good it will do at our place, you know?”

“I know,” Tria said quietly. She wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. “You go. I’ll wait here.”

The ground was muddy with the melted snow from last weekend, and it was getting caked on my shoes. I hoped I’d be able to get them cleaned off on a curb or something before getting back in the car, or Michael was going to kill me.

“Hey,” I said as I stared down at the simple stone that read Katie Took on it. “I…um…”

I cleared my throat.

“I guess I’m talking to myself here,” I said. “I just wanted you to know we had the baby, and we named her Katie. She’s Baby Katie, though—not Krazy Katie. I don’t think she’s crazy anyway.”

Chuckling a little, I crouched down in front of the stone.

“I’m crazy about her,” I admitted. “She’s just…fucking amazing. I don’t know how else to describe her. Tria is awesome with her, too, though she had a tough time getting her out. She ended up having to have a C-section. It’s not what she wanted, but…well…it’s what we had to do, ya know?”

I sniffed a couple times. The cold wind was making my nose run. I glanced over my shoulder at the car and saw Tria staring out the window at me.

“Well, I have to get Tria to dinner,” I said. “It’s the first time we’ve been out since Baby Katie was born. I just wanted to stop by and give you something.”

I placed the framed picture at the top of the gravestone.

“I found it when I was cleaning out your place and thought you might like it. Thanks for grabbing the bookshelf and my boots. It kinda sucked when I thought those were gone.”

I stood back up and looked down at the picture of Krazy Katie’s mother.

“Anyway, I’ll see you later, I guess.” I felt like a total fool and looked around to make sure there weren’t any other fools out there looking at me. I didn’t see anyone else standing in the cold, so I backed away a couple of steps before turning to go back to the car.

“Well?” Tria said after I had cleaned off my shoes and climbed back into the warmth of the Rolls.

“Well what?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Tria said. “How did it go?”

“Okay, I guess. I put the picture there, so mission accomplished.”

Damon started off down the street, and I felt Tria’s fingers wrap around mine. When I looked down, she gave them a little squeeze with her warm fingers.

“You’re a good guy, Liam,” she said softly. “Did you know that?”

Shrugging, I gave her a half smile.

“You made me that way,” I told her.

“No,” she contradicted, “you were already like that.”

“Nah.”

“Yes, you were,” she said.

She leaned over close and placed her palm against the side of my face. I turned and quickly kissed the edge of her hand.