Kelly woke the next morning, late.
"Shit," he said when he realized he had slept through his alarm. He was going to drag ass into work with 4 hours of sleep. It wasn't going to be pretty.
He was also not looking forward to seeing Stella. That was a first. Since she started working there a few years ago, he had looked forward to seeing her at the start of every shift. He didn't want to fight with her. She had every right to be pissed, but he had hoped she would be more understanding. He knew he wasn't helping by forgetting their dinner plans and blowing her off, however unintentionally it was. He also knew this has been going on for weeks...that he had been doing this for weeks. He knew he needed to fix it. He just didn't know how right now. The trial was set to start in a few days and he knew he'd be working with Renee every spare minute until then.
Kelly knew he had to talk to Stella and apologize for last night and the last couple of weeks. He wasn't interested in Renee and while her son was great, Kelly wasn't trying to get too attached.
As Kelly packed his overnight bag, he thought about grabbing Stella a coffee and a muffin. Maybe if he started with a peace offering, things would calm down and they could get back on track. It was worth a try.