I slept better than I'd slept in ….forever. It was a sweet, contented sleep. Filled with wonderful dreams.... none of which I could recall, except for the fact that they were ….wonderful and life affirming... I was a bit annoyed at myself for savoring the tenor of my dreams without being able to consciously recall a single one. Still, I awakened refreshed and content in my own ….Katherine's own... bed for the first time in a very, very long time. And it seemed long overdue.

I had gotten in the habit of laying my phone face-down in 'do not disturb' mode and when I picked it up to check the time, it started yammering away with notifications of voicemails, texts and missed calls.

There were six from Dennis, but I already guessed what they would be about, so the first one I opened was from Dr Dale: 'Just got a frantic call from your man Dennis. We need to talk.' Then a few more, ending with: 'Dennis won't stop calling me.I don't think he believes how little I know. Shutting off my phone now. Still need to talk – more than ever.'

I scrolled through more texts and missed calls and voicemails from Dennis. Looking at the timestamps, he seemed almost stalker-ish, but I knew he was just being protective.

One email did take me by surprise. It was from Matt Cutler.

'Friend who knew about my 'Katherine connection” sent mt this link. WTF???''

I gasped as I opened the link, 'Beauty & the Geek' – complete with pictures of me - in full pirate drag -shoving him offstage at the 'reinvisioning intellectual property' conference, to shots of him standing next to Paddle 23 at the celebrity auction and images of us ducking into his Tesla outside the conference center. I couldn't tell if they were from a security camera or a cellphone, but it didn't matter, suddenly the tabloid press had linked one of their favorite subjects – Katherine Keller, with a multi-billion dollar Internet Golden Boy and were running with what little they had.

"I'm SO sorry" was the subject line of the email I sent Jared.

“I truly DID have a wonderful time last night. You're charming company and scary smart. I refuse to be intimidated by that. You tore open my mind to the ...possibilities. Now that the dust is finally settling, thanks. I look forward to working with you. It's going to be ….memorable. ;-)

I then immediately texted Matt. 'I hope you of all people know not to take at face value what you read in the press ;-). The auction was a favor to Katherine. I owe her. What happened from there, I never saw coming. And the TRUTH is pretty boring. I look forward to telling you. Face to face. :-) XXOX me.'

I hit send before my brain had a chance to scream “XXOX??? Where did THAT come from? WTF???!!!???” Then I shrugged dismissively and convinced myself he wouldn't even notice.

As if.

Dennis' string of emails – with their escalating panic – were equally annoying and endearing. He felt as protective of Katherine as a big brother. And I knew glancing through his texts, that that protectiveness extended to me as her ….surrogate.

“Sorry for any misunderstanding and anxiety” (Not really) I thought.. “Totally innocent.. He just wanted to show off. And I saw some new opportunities that I really want to run by K1” - as we'd begun referencing her in emails. “She may seriously want to pursue this. Could be the next new thing. Could be huge. And she would be at the head of the line... I'm OK. Sorry for any misinterpretation of my last txt” I snorted to myself “he took me home to Monterey. Can't tell you how GOOD it felt to sleep in my own bed. OK, Katherine's... but you know what I mean. He was a perfect gentleman. ...or maybe just a nerdy virgin. Same diff. CU & Mikey wn U get home. <3. Me'

Next was Jared, who sent a 'Thanks for last night' email. Attentive, but nor stalker-y. Perfect balance. Then I caught a niggling voice asking 'how would LC know? And I crushed it like a bug.

Finally was Dr Dale. 'Sorry I ditched you. Quite a night. Need to talk. ...ASAP.”

I let out a sigh that surprised even me. And pulled the covers up over my head to collect my thoughts before padding downstairs and beginning ….Katherine's day.