One thing I love about Max is her ability to enjoy life. She seizes the joy in everything she does. She is the only cat burglar I know that prepares for a job by taking a bubble bath. That is probably her plan for cracking Lempkin’s safe tomorrow.

How to Crack a Safe

Go to work

Deliver packages

Do some recon

Go home

Take bubble bath

Zip on cat suit

Crack safe

She came in this evening while I was working out. Today was the first time I’ve picked up the weights since we got back from Cape Haven, and it’s great to feel strong again. I completed a few sets while Max updated me on her reconnaissance of Lempkin’s place. Fence, no problem, easy to jump over. Interior access via a window. Motion sensor grid monitoring access to safe. Max is not overly concerned about it. She said all it will take to bypass it is a jump, a flip and a twist. I wonder what that means?

Then she told me about her assistant, Mr. Rat, who was the perfect diversion for today’s recon mission.

"I figured one rat deserves another," she said in a complete deadpan, but the glint in her eyes cracked me up. I laughed so hard I almost dropped the dumbbell I was holding. She’s even got the rats contributing to the purchase of a new water heater! That is perfectly logical, of course. The loss of the previous one was their fault after all.

Things became more serious when she told me about the gang that approached her tonight. That got my alarm bells going. She didn’t seem to think that they were related to Lydecker, their method of operation was significantly different. That is a relief, though any number of other players could be interested in her. I’ve already put a trace on the gun she retrieved from the fight. Hopefully, it will provide some clues as to what happened tonight.

With our business concluded, Max said she was going home to relax, but instead she sat down beside me and leaned into my back. I love it when we have close, comfortable contact like that. We haven’t been that comfortable with each other since the day we stood together on the beach three weeks ago. Tonight made me even more aware of how important she is to me. Despite the humor with which she approaches things, I understand the risks she takes for me. At that moment, I felt a strong desire to let her know how much I appreciate her and worry about her.

"It’s nice to know that you think of me as more than your own private cat burglar," she said happily.

"Way more," I told her, but that isn’t the half of it. I worry about her each time she risks her life for me or for her family. I laugh at her antics and attitude. I get angry at her stubbornness and frustrated at her irrationality. I smile when I’m with her. I smile when I think about the last time I was with her, and I smile when I anticipate the next time I will be with her. I write poetry about her for goodness sakes!

Max seemed to sense my feelings today. She even asked me if her name appears in my book at times. Of course, I intended to deny it profusely. ‘I don’t write poetry and I definitely don’t write about you.’ In the end, though, I confessed to a ‘maybe’. Max seemed pleased with that. The truth is, she would be shocked if she knew just how much she is in this book. She has no idea how she permeates every facet of my life, my work, my writing. Maybe I was hoping to share some of that today, to give her a hint of how I feel. I don’t know how she would respond if she knew. The truth is, I think about her every minute of every day.