It had been two weeks since Katrina walked out of the house which was a symbol of her old life. She'd gone through all the stages of grief besides denial and bargaining. She knew the truth. The man she loved and was married to was a habitual liar and a cheater and there was nothing she was going to sacrifice to live the mirage of a happy expectant mother and wife. She'd rather be an expectant mother with her peace of mind; which was what she regained a week ago.

Granted, Terrence still called her phone as if they were the best of friends and dropped by her house as if he had an open invitation. Which was why she hadn't been there for the last three days. She wished he was as committed to being faithful as he was to get her to talk to him. But he wasn't. The last time she spoke to him was the day she walked away from him. The last communication she had with him was a text informing him that the only interaction between them would be through lawyers.

Almost three months pregnant, she knew she'd have to talk to him in person eventually but she had a couple more months before having to cross that bridge. Hopefully, by then he'd gone through his stages and stopped bargaining with her and accepted that she was no longer his wife in mind, body, and spirit and with time in the eyes of the law, also.

"Are you sure that's right?" Keir asked, his face painted with his unsureness.

Katrina sprinkled the remaining corn meal into the mixing bowl eyeing him with mischief toying in her eyes.

"I'm a southern girl with southern roots and you question me."

"Yes." He said, his lips curving up. "Absolutely, yes." His smile ushered in a laugh that prompted one from him.

It had been a phenomenon that inflicted her since they'd been spending more time together. His laugh made her laugh and his presence made her calm. She tried not to linger on the occurrence. Overthink it all but it was moments like these that gave her pause.

"I thought it was cumin."

His eyes widened with humor. "But it was cinnamon."

"It was that bad." She insisted, emptying a diced jalapeno into the mixture. "You ate it all."

"Well, that's because..." He glanced over at Clive resting on his bed which was too big for the quaint living room. "...you made it."

"If you're not honest with me how am I going to get better at this cooking thing?" She held her waist, the waistband of her yoga pants resting just below the small curve of her stomach visible under the neon orange crop top.

"You don't have to." He slid off the bar stool and plucked the jar of onion powder from the counter. "I'm the cook in this relationship."

She let him sprinkle more of the seasoning into the bowl. "Friendship."

"Friendship." He echoed, lowering the jar to the counter, and raising his eyes back to her. "I'm still going to kiss you from time to time.

She shook her head. "Friends don't kiss."

"So..." He stepped back, eyeing her with suspicion. "So you're saying you don't want to kiss me."

"I'm..." She rolled her eyes with a shake of her head, laughter warming her face as a giddiness swelled in her chest every time his sight lingered on her. "Just stating that friends don't do the things that you want to do."

"Who made that rule?" He asked leaning against the island and watching her bury her hands into the salmon concoction mixing the onions, peppers, and seasoning together. "If it's you then I'm fine with it. If it's someone else...people...or society in general then I don't give a damn?"

Her hands stopped moving, matching her sight with his seeing that he was being completely serious. The day before he extended the offer that she could spend a couple of nights at his cabin to unplug from the world and her estranged spouse she made it clear that she only had the bandwidth for a friendship. Nothing more. Possibly something less. But nothing romantic. She didn't have the energy to cultivate a relationship. Her heart was still bruised and her feelings were red and raw.

"Keir—" She paused, searching her mind for the words to express the way she felt without causing harm. "I'm not looking for anything more than a friend. I thought you understood that." She pulled her hands from the mixture and turned the faucet on. "My only concern is having a healthy baby and regaining some joy before Labor Day comes. That's all. I thought you were fine with that." She quickly washed her hands.

"I do." He informed, wrapping the towel around her hands before she reached for it. "I'm just proposing that we define our friendship how we want to define it."

She concentrated on the delicate way he patted her hands dry. "Intimacy complicates things. I don't need anything complicated in my life. It's already complicated enough."

"And I don't want to do that to you." He draped the towel over his shoulder. "We're both adults. I want you to have a healthy baby. I want you to be healthy. I care about you. Friends care about each other, right?"

She nodded. "They do."

"And friends are honest with each other right?"

She nodded again unsure where his line of questioning was going."

"And we're humans, right?"

She smirked, getting a hint of where he was going. "We are homo sapiens."

"With needs, right?"

"Many...many needs."

"Which is just why I'm saying if you have a need..." He interlocked his fingers with hers. "I'm here to fulfill it, be it a strange craving in the middle of the night or dick in the early morning."

A shiver ran up her spine as she took in a sharp breath. Her eyes glazed over and she tried to fight the urge. Hold it in but she couldn't. The tears streamed down her face and her body began to shake. She thought she was over this. Crying at the drop of a dime but his words stirred up something she tried to bury deep down in her soul.

"This isn't how it's supposed to be." She cradled her baby bump. "I don't know what I'm doing. I'm supposed to have it all figured out."

Keir pulled her against him and wrapped his arms around her body. "K, no one has it all figured out. We're all making up shit as we go along. It's life."

She circled her arms around him, holding him tightly as her tears soaked his t-shirt coming to grips with what she wanted and had lost. She wanted to have a partner during her pregnancy journey. She thought it would be the father of her child; that Terrence would be the one to be promising to be her teammate during this process of bringing a baby into the world but Keir was right. Life was filled with uncertainties.

And she didn't have to carry the mantle of unwavering strength, doing it all along just because Terrence broke their agreement to be a union, a team, a partnership. She could get a new partner.

She peered up at him with tear-stung eyes, "I don't want to use you. Waste your time."

"I want to be here." He stroked her damp cheek with the back of his hand. "Anytime I'm with you isn't a waste."

She blinked at him. "Then we can be friends that do whatever the hell we want."

His thumb brushed her lips and she fought the urge to kiss it, "And what do you want?"

"For you to forget the fact that I can't cook and let me experiment." She chuckled as a remaining tear slipped from her eyes.

"Experiment away." He released her from his embrace and started to back away but his attempt was futile.

Katrina's arms stayed around him. She studied his face, searching for something, anything that could clue her into what could happen in the future between them. She wanted to know where this experimental, unconventional friendship might go. But nothing was lingering in his features. No clues or hints. He didn't have a plan. This was all spontaneous. She wasn't good with spontaneity. She used to be though. When she was twenty-something and freshly out of college.

Could she relinquish control and just be? Let life take her where it wanted her to go. Take one day at a time. She didn't know but it was an experiment she dared to try.

Her sight shifted from his eyes and lowered to his lips, to the mouth she'd tasted and enjoyed. To the mouth that uttered all the words she yearned to hear and she hoped he meant every one of them. For the short time, she'd known him his actions backed them up but she thought the same thing about Terrence.

However, things between her and Keir would be different. They weren't married. They were friends. Just friends. Only friends. That's all. That's it. 

She let him go and declared. "These are going to be the best salmon croquettes you've ever eaten."

Do you think Keir is right, they can make their own rules for their friendship.

Why do you think Katrina's emotions got the best of her?

What do you think will happen with this 'friendship'?