“I don’t want to get up,” Kate says. Her voice is thick with sleep. She’s definitely not a morning person, which is why I waited as long as possible to wake her up.
“We’re supposed to meet Gage and Hunter downstairs in a half an hour,” I say. I lean down and lightly touch her cheek until she politely moves it.
“You didn’t seem to mind my touch a few short hours ago.”
She cracks an eye at me. A slow smile spreads across her face. “That was different.” She closes her eyes again and snuggles down into the covers.
“I’m going to leave soon,” I say. “I’m hungry.”
“You would leave this sanctuary of warmth and covers for food?” She asks. I hear her yawn and groan at the same time.
“You know how I like to eat,” I say. She smiles at me. Yeah, I walked into that one. “I mean, they have a waffle iron downstairs. A waffle iron,” I say. Maybe repeating that will get her moving. “And syrup and butter. Oh. And fruit.” I throw that last one in because I know she cares more about that than waffles.
“Okay, okay. I’m up, I’m up,” she says. She flings the covers back and drags herself into the bathroom. I sit on the bed, check my e-mail, and write my mom a quick note. Within fifteen minutes, Kate comes out of the bathroom completely ready to go. Her hair is braided back and over one shoulder, which leaves a small wet mark on the front of her blouse. She looks beautiful and serious. She stares at me for about three seconds. “Are you ready? I could use a cup of coffee.” I jump up, kiss her soundly, and head for the door. She’s still a little sluggish, but she follows me out.
Hunter nods to me to get my attention when we walk into the dining area. Her plate is already piled high with waffles. I look at my watch.
“We’re even early and you couldn’t wait?” I ask. She smiles at me, a tiny piece of waffle escaping her closed lips. I laugh as she tries to suck it back in.
“Av couldn’t waif,” she mumbles around a mouthful of food.
“You couldn’t wait? Like two whole minutes?” I ask. I shake my head at her and head for the waffle iron with Kate right behind me. We get our breakfasts. Mine consists of a syrup soaked waffle with scrambled eggs, sausage, and toast. Kate’s is the predictable yogurt, fruit, and dry toast breakfast. We sit down in the empty seats and jump into Hunter and Gage’s conversation.
“Well, next year it will be different. We spent so much money on the chaser car that there wasn’t anything really left over. And, thanks to Kate, we’re going to be able to fund more teams and get updated equipment. It’s an exciting time,” Gage says. “This has been a very active season already. Just in the time I’ve been gone, Kate has seen a handful of tornadoes. Global warming, I’m sure.”
“It’s been pretty crazy so far and we already have so much video and data gathered. I’ll keep us busy this summer recording and understanding all of it,” I say.
“I don’t even know if I get to help,” Hunter says.
“What do you mean?” Gage asks.
“Well, we didn’t get our grant this year so next year is still up in the air. I’m going to talk to Williams to see if I can somehow work during the summer. Hopefully by then, Tris will have something figured out.”
“Why don’t you just apply for other grants? There has to be a ton out there, right?” Gage asks.
“Most of them are already issued. I’m about ready to hit the private sector and see if some of the larger companies who headquarter in and around Oklahoma are willing to hand out some funds,” I say.
“I don’t see why they wouldn’t help. They’re just as affected as everybody else when storms hit,” Hunter says.
“Kate got us the MWSE grant. I didn’t even know you could actually get government grants, really. The department head worked on the finances. I just spend what they give us,” Gage says. I know he’s still talking, but I’ve tuned him out. I can hear pounding in my ears. I stand up, my chair scraping the floor behind me, drawing even more attention to myself.
“You got the MWSE grant? You got the grant and didn’t say anything to us?” I ask Kate. I stare at her. My face is so hot, I know it must be red. Kate’s face turns white and she looks away. I can feel my heart hammering in my chest, the loudness inside deafening. My hands shake and I grab my backpack off of the back of my chair to have something to clench before I start throwing shit. Hunter stands in front of me, as if to run interference in case I explode.
“Yeah, why? Oh, my God. Was that the grant you were expecting?” Gage asks. He looks just as shocked as he sounds. I turn from everybody and walk away. Hunter is close on my heels.
“What the hell?” Hunter says. “It’s not his fault. It’s not their fault, Tris. You can’t be mad at them.” That makes me stop. I turn to Hunter.
“I get that it’s available for anyone who does what we do and, yes, I should have tried harder, but Kate knew this whole time. She watched us agonize over it when she was chasing with us. She knew before, during, and after we had sex. Don’t you think that’s pretty important to share with someone you’re close with?” I’m so mad at Kate right now. I see her walking toward us. I can’t get back to the room without walking past her so I turn and walk out the front door of the hotel. Fresh air will help me. I need to think. I walk across the parking lot, headed nowhere in particular.
“Wait!” Kate calls from behind me. I stop out of habit, not out of need. I really need to cool off right now, not be confronted. “Just stop, Tris. Let’s talk about this.” This should be interesting. I face her. She walks until she is almost in my space.
“That grant was out there, I found it, and I got it. I didn’t steal it from you. I’m sorry you feel that way.”
“You think I’m mad because you got the grant and I didn’t?” I take a step toward her. She doesn’t even flinch at my closeness. “I’m mad because you’ve known all this time that we were waiting to hear back about the grant, stressing every day over e-mails and phone calls while you sat in the car with us knowing that we weren’t going to get it.”
“I didn’t know how to bring it up or even if I was allowed to. I’m so new to this, I don’t know the right procedure for anything. I’m sorry I hurt your feelings, I really am. I just have a hard time opening up and you were so easy to get to know. I didn’t want to ruin what we’ve started here so I didn’t say anything to you and Hunter.” Her reasoning stinks.
“Professional courtesy, Kate. That’s what it’s called. Not that I expect a big thank you, but we took you in when your only other option was to go home. We’re a community. Chasers have respect for one another.” I don’t remember the last time I was ever this pissed off. “And you could have said something before we had sex and I became emotionally invested in this relationship.” I move in even closer to her. I can smell her hair and I hate that a part of me wants to hold her. “I feel so used right now. You got everything. The grant, the sex, your way. I have absolutely nothing else to say.” This time she flinches and, satisfied at her faltering, I walk away.