Dinner

Katkin just finished laying the table, when the timer on Irmas phone chimed. Irma took the potatoes out of the oven and Bree carried the stew over to the dining table.

"It smells amazing." Said Katkin as she they sat down.

"Thank you. Let's hope it taste good as well then." Irma answered and gave Katkin the spoon to help herself to the potatoes.

"You don't do any prayers or anything before you eat?" Katkin asked.

Irma looked at her, questioning.

"Oh I just didn't wanna be disrespectful and start eating if that was the case." she explained.

"No. We don't do prayers. But thank you for asking." Irma said and smiled at her, then she turned to Bree. "Nice to see that your friends are well behaved. I was a bit worried to hear that you hung out with a new group of friends that I didn't know of."

"Yeah, it's all fine." Bree smiled back, a bit over exaggerated.

Bree and Katkin exchanged looks when Irma looked down on her plate. Bree put her finger over her lips, signing to Katkin not to tell too much. Katkin did a small thumbs up and winked at her.

"So Katkin, where do you live?" Irma looked up at her again.

"The stables." She felt that there was no reason to hide it anymore.

"Nearby the stables? You're not sleeping in a stall are you?" Irma chuckled a little, unsure herself it this was a joke or not.

"Well not in a stall but in a room on top of the stable. I live there and pay by helping out with the horses."

"By yourself?"

"Yes. If you ment living by myself? I don't take care of the horses myself, we're a few people who have a schedule and-"

"How old are you?" Irma interrupted.

"Eighteen." Katkin felt like this was more interrogation than conversation now.

"Irma!" Bree said with a stirn voice. "Please."

Irma fell silent, and shot Bree a warning glance. She simply continued eating. Katkin did the same, though in a more precarious way. She looked at Bree, seeking for confirmation that nothing was wrong.

"I'm sorry. I'm in my work brain." Irma said. "I work with children placed in the foster care system, or that should be placed there." She explained to Katkin.

Katkin nodded. Bree on the other hand shook her head slightly.

"You can't just ask my friends questions like that. It's invasive." Bree stood her ground.

"Yes I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be nosy. I just got concerned."

"I understand. It's only reasonable." Katkin said. "I actually was placed in a foster home. I always have been. Until I got to old."

"I see." Irma nodded.

"Can we let this go now?" Bree asked.

"It's no worries Bree, really." Katkin said and put one of her hands over one of Brees.

Bree pulled her hand to her, mostly out of surprise. She realised how it had looked though and tried to play it off.

"We talked about going out back and try out Big Boy. May we be excused so that we can get some shots in before dark?" She turned to Irma.

Irma nodded again.

"Yes but you'll have to do the dishes when you come back inside."

Back up in Bree's room, Katkin sat on the bed while Bree unlocked the safe to take out the crossbow again. She watched as Bree prepared a belt with quiver like pockets for bolts. She had been thinking since they left the dinner table. Something had felt off with the whole conversation, and she started to understand what it was.

"Bree." She said, and stood up. "Can we talk about something."

Bree turned around towards her, and raised her eyebrows.

"Yes?"

"Are you ashamed of me? Like as a friend?"

"What? What makes you think that?" Bree asked and put down Big Boy and walked over to Katkin.

"You really didn't wanna talk about like my living situation, or my life in general. And you hadn't told Irma much about me, or us."

"Us?" Bree's heart skipped a beat, what did she mean?

"Yeah, like the gang. You clearly didn't want me to talk to much about it."

"Oh…" Maybe this really was all in her head.

"We're not bad people Bree. Sure we're a little odd sometimes. But we would never do anything that was really wrong."

"No I know that. Of course I know that. Why would I hang out with you guys otherwise?" Bree closed the distance between them, grabbing Katkins shoulders. "I'm not ashamed over you, or the others. I just want some privacy from Irma. She doesn't need to know everything, which it feels like she does sometimes."

They both sat down on the bed.

"It's her job right. To take care of kids, with struggling parents, or without parents, or just kids who are struggling themselves. And it's a great job. But seeing that I'm kind of adopted too, even if she's my aunt, it feels like she brings her job home sometimes. I don't want to be her perfect project, I just want to be her normal kid. She doesn't need to know everything, since I'm not her client."

They looked at each other. Bree took one of Katkin's hands between her own.

"I'm sorry I made you feel bad. I didn't mean for you to feel that way. If anything, I think it's pretty cool that you live by yourself." Bree nudged Katkin with her shoulder.

Katkin put her other hand on top of Brees.

"Thank you for explaining. I'm sorry you feel that way too." She gave Bree a small smile. "Next time we can try have a sleepover in my room then?" She joked.

"Maybe." Bree said and stood up. "Now let's get this thing working.

She picks up Big Boy and drags Katkin with her downstairs.