We both fretted (well, Axl didn’t fret, but I could tell it was a concern) that Cleo wouldn’t take to her new circumstances. But the second she was let out of her carrier, she looked around, went right to my colorful beanbag, jumped on it, collapsed to a hip and started licking her foot.

So, the queen accepted her new dominion by immediately finding her throne.

All good.

It was back to life after that, and that was normal life with some (tentatively) fantastic twists.

It had been deemed safe for the women to do their thing without being protected, so I was able to get back into my studio and start working on the new piece I’d been wanting to dive into.

And when I did, I realized it was a mild form of torture to have to tamp down the need to create.

It was heaven being in the studio. Almost as good as choreographing a new song.

Okay.

No.

Maybe better.

And that was a point to ponder, though I wasn’t prepared to ponder it just then.

Onward with the awesomeness, Dad had surprised me when I went over on Tuesday because he’d discovered online grocery shopping with delivery.

And when I inspected what he got, I saw he didn’t buy a bunch of crap. Most of it was actually healthy.

He also told me I didn’t have to come over Wednesday, because he’d reconnected with his bud, Jim, and they were going out to some sports bar to have dinner and watch the game.

I remembered Jim. He was a nice guy. He and his wife had gotten divorced around the time Mom and Dad did.

And I was glad Dad was finding ways to get out of the house and be with people that weren’t me.

Dad also let me off the hook for that night, saying he was going to try some new recipe, which meant Axl and I could eat and hang before I had to go to work without me having to be anywhere it wasn’t really my choice to be.

And tomorrow night, Dad was going out to dinner with me and Axl and then he and Axl were going to take in the show.

I was a little nervous about that.

But I was also a little excited for Dad to see that I was dancing because I loved it, and although the memories were jaded, the bottom line was, he played a part in giving me that.

The only thing hanging over our heads was that Axl had double parent duty tomorrow, seeing as he was having lunch with his mother.

He’d heard not one word from his father, which I thought was awesome.

And from his take on his mom’s texts, he said, “She sounds like she has it together.”

So that was tentatively awesome too.