Girl Trouble by Miranda Baker

and she hid a smile. She and Herb were an excellent team, and she hoped he was becoming aware of that fact. She had been his first call today, after all. First they would see to Cindy and Kat, and then maybe…dinner?
    They caught up with Cindy at the security desk, where she was sniping at a guard. The poor man had probably only detained her in order to get her phone number. Eileen snapped her fingers lightly to get Cindy’s attention.
    “Herbert,” she prodded. “Cindy needs a manager.”
    “Are you out of your mind? She just tried to put me out of business.”
    Eileen crossed her arms and kept her gaze on Cindy.
    Without Kat in the room, Cindy had a glow of her own, and Herb wasn’t a stupid man. Cindy looked as if she wanted to spit nails, but she wasn’t stupid either. She stayed quiet.
    “Aw, hell,” Herb finally said. “But no more bullshit.”
    Cindy’s terse nod sparked a warm glow in Eileen’s heart, and the blaze grew when Herb’s hand brushed her lower back as he gestured gallantly back toward the studio. “Shall we?”
    Before they could turn, the front door opened and Bonita rushed in. Eileen could no longer contain the joy bursting inside her. They would miss the first segment of the show, but that didn’t matter now. The most important person in Kat’s cheering section had arrived.
    “Mrs. Clarke, where’s Kat?” Bonita called urgently.
    Eileen motioned for Bonita to give her purse to the guard. Coming through the front door took longer than being escorted through the back, and Eileen waited impatiently as the uniformed men accompanying Bonita emptied their pockets into plastic bins. Bonita raced through the metal detector and grabbed her purse.
    Eileen urged her down the hall. “Right this way.”
     
     
    The audience was dead silent as they cut to commercial.
    Everyone was staring at her, and the sound of her own breath filled her ears.
    Then a ripple moved through the crowd.
    Kat blinked as Bonita appeared in the center aisle, flanked by a grinning policeman and another man. Herb and Mrs. Clarke were right behind them. “You weren’t really going to do this without me, were you?” Bonita called as she walked toward the set.
    “Only if I had to.” Kat’s voice was little more than a whisper, but the microphone amplified it.
    Not good enough…never good enough.
    She couldn’t imagine Bonita would have come back for any other reason, but what if…
    Bonita stopped in front of her. “Ask me again.”
    Kat sucked in a deep breath, wanting to ask so fiercely the desire felt like a spear lodged in her chest, but this wasn’t about her. If it had been up to her, they would have found their way to a life together a lot sooner. Slowly, she shook her head.
    “Kat?”
    Bonita’s voice trembled with uncertainty, and it killed her, it really did, but if Bonita couldn’t ask for what she wanted, it wouldn’t work, no matter what demands Kat made, no matter what Bonita agreed to now, no matter how many witnesses they had.
    She met Bonita’s gaze. “I thought I wasn’t good enough for you. When I left, I thought I had something to prove—even to you. Every year, you let me go again, and I kept trying. I’m still trying.”
    Bonita dropped to her knees in front of her and grasped her hands. “You don’t have to prove anything to me, Kat. I love you. It’s always been you for me, and I was terrified of the power that gave you. I was afraid to ask you to stay with me because I knew it would kill me if you said no. As it turns out, I can’t control everything, and if taking risks is the price I have to pay to be with you, so be it. Stay with me. Love me. Be with me. You offered me all or nothing, and I want it all. I want everything.”
    Tears poured down Kat’s cheeks, a hot cascade of relief and joy. “It’s yours.”
    “Camera One caught that on tape, Kat,” Jenna interrupted. “Can we use it?”
    Kat nodded firmly.
    As their words flooded the studio, Bonita’s grip on her