Catarina was the first to wake up. She had feared that the first thing she would see when she opened her eyes was the cold bridge. She felt like she was in a fairy tale when she awoke to find the sunlight dancing off the beautiful bouquet of flowers that sat in a crystal vase next to the bed. She sat up, her dark hair a mess, but her blue eyes shimmered with new vigor from finally having a good night's rest. She felt rejuvenated, like she could almost be a normal eight year old girl. But when she tried to hop out of bed, she stumbled and fell on her hands and knees. She had to wait a moment to catch her breath before standing up. "Take it slow..." She told herself. She turned to make sure Wendell didn't see her fall, smiling a little to see that he was still asleep, then turned and walked out of the room.
The front room smelled warm and sweet, Catarina couldn't help but drool a little. She couldn't believe that she was already hungry again. Last night she had eaten more than she had in...she couldn't even remember. The front room opened into the kitchen, where Adam sat at the island in the center, sipping coffee and reading a magazine article about one of his clients. He sighed and shook his head, setting the paper down on the stainless steel counter-top. He looked up from the paper and nearly jumped out of his seat when he saw Catarina standing at the other end of the island.
"What are you doing?" Catarina asked him, propping herself up on a stool.
"Oh, just reading." Adam answered her, smiling wearily. "How are you this morning? Would you like some french toast?" He asked, pushin a plate of the food over to her. She nodded hungrily and pulled the plate to her, grabbing a fork and digging in. Adam smiled as he watched her.
"I feel like a princess in this beautiful house." She said finally.
"It is really nice, isn't it." Adam said, looking around as if he hadn't noticed before.
"Did you do all this?" She asked around a mouth full of food. "Decorate, I mean."
"Um..no. My ex wife did this. Luckily she decided to just let me keep the house when she left me for some...Hawaiian guy." He said bitterly before sipping his coffee. "Wouldn't do her much good anyway; she moved in with him."
Catarina didn't know how to respond, so she decided to quickly change the subject. "These are really good!"
Adam chuckled, "Thanks, luckily my cleaning lady can cook too. Otherwise I would probably starve."