[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/180414/63c45ba1e1f8bd3805f948762b67c3e8.png[/img] 
[img]https://i.imgur.com/nD66Xsg.gif[/img]
[sub]Mention of: Eva [@Altered Tundra][/sub]
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When dreading tomorrow it always seemed like the present day went faster than usual; normally Kat wouldn't have minded a short day if it meant she got her work done all the quicker, but today was a notable exception. The looming threat of an upcoming birthday hung overhead like the sword of Damocles and no amount of focusing solely on work could help Kat forget that. After about age twenty one, birthdays stopped mattering and served only to remind that another year went by and suddenly people you hadn't talked to in that entire year suddenly start caring about you for the duration of a birthday song and cake at the office. Sure, she would enjoy the get together put on by her family - no amount of her saying it was okay not to do anything could ever persuade them - but when people she worked with started wishing her a happy birthday out of the blue she never found it to be anything other than asskissing. 

Which was doubly as insulting given that she wasn't even in much of a position to give them favors in return. Yet.

After her diner breakfast the only other noteworthy occurance was when Kat checked the books for the month of June. There was a discrepancy in them that couldn't have come from within; no one was stupid enough to try and embezzle from the Zima family businesses. While Kat did have eyes on taking over and dealing more directly with the family affairs, until then she could do little other than dream and work with local government and businesses to keep the public relations strong and ongoing. Of course, this also provided her ample opportunity to make sure that the businesses that Zima supported were getting their proper benefits as well. It was an unspoken rule of business that kickbacks happened and when it came to the books it fell to Kat to make sure everything went smoothly. Nothing became quite as annoying as when an up and coming business thought it could skim a little off the top. 

Kat didn't handle the actual collection aspect, she just recorded and made sure the totals were consistent and regular. When they weren't, that was when she passed the information along to sorts that didn't have the most sterling reputation with the community. In that way, Kat could shake hands with the same small business owner who twenty four hours prior had a rather unfortunate business meeting and feel no ounce of remorse. That was how business worked. 

With all the talk of Independence Day, Kat's day at the office was a constant reminder of her birthday even if it was inadvertently so; she was glad, then, that she didn't have to spend the day on the phone making calls to town hall reps checking on rsvps like she was a mother planning a birthday for her six year old. Going over June's profit margins, both the recorded ones and the ones in a little red book, was a much needed distraction that unfortunately wasn't long enough to last the full work day. At lunch time her secretary knocked on the door after already letting herself in and extended an early birthday greeting for Kat, interrupting Kat's recording. While it certainly wasn't a fireable offense, in that moment Kat had a curious revelation that secretaries with a cute face like that couldn't be all that hard to find. 

After lunch, which was a wholly unsatisfying tuna melt, Kat bit the bullet, confirmed attendees for Fourth of July celebrations and then took the rest of the day off, making sure on the way out that she was explicit in telling her secretary to screen all calls for the rest of the day. On any other day she would have let her secretary go early too, but the early birthday comment stuck with Kat and she was not above her moments of pettiness. 

How many hours passed, Kat didn't know. After returning home and enjoying a cigarette, around the time the sun was setting she cooked herself a fillet of tilapia and a glass of wine. Two glasses. She was worth it. Time seemed to be speeding towards the Fourth in exact accordance with Kat's whole indifference to the day. How many smiles would she have to give. What were her siblings planning and why was she bracing for something other than a small get together over sushi or something. What time was it, when had she dozed off on the couch and why was her phone buzzing so late? In the brief period of uncertainty between waking and sleeping, Kat assumed it was her non-personal, non-business phone that was buzzing but that was impossible. She never booked two nights in a row. 

The text message from Eva required two reads for Kat to fully process it, and then a minute more before she was even able to thumb up a response. 

[color=00BFFF]"I'm not the night owl I used to be, Eva. But thank you for thinking of me."[/color] She wrestled with the idea of changing the send off but decided to just send it as is. Eva was family, and family was entitled to a bit of cordial response. But Eva's message did at least give Kat an idea. 

Grabbing the pack of cigarettes from the coffee table, Kat made her way to the balcony of her apartment, tossing on a nightgown, and enjoyed the evening breeze as the smoke from her cigarette wafted upwards. It was refreshing, to say the least.[/center]