Lady Justice

“Nubia is moving back -- home.” Kareena slathered a thick helping of garlic butter on her wheat toast, the compliment to her plate of spaghetti. As usual he was having breakfast, while his roommate ate dinner.
“You’re joking, right?” Quentin stared at Kareena with his Frosted Flakes filled spoon halfway to his mouth. The last thing he needed in his life right now was Nubia Swanson back in the same state. Even worse, the same city.
“Nope.” She sank her teeth into the bread. “She called me last night and said she lost her job.”
“Oh, man. I know how much she loved that job. Hell, she loves Seattle and the West coast. She barely has come back in almost two years, except for a few days.” Quentin kept his tone neutral, it was an art form he’d mastered years ago dealing with Nubia. “So, she going to your parent’s house to lick her wounds then heading back home to look for a job?” He continued to eat. He hated soggy cereal and if he wanted to get breakfast in, with Nubia being the main discussion, he needed to move quickly and remain focused.
Kareena placed a hand on his arm resting on the table. “She asked to stay with me. She couldn’t bear moving back home, she’d feel like a complete failure.”
“Stay with you?” He stopped eating. Kareena was currently living with him, where she’d been for almost two months, while her house was being renovated, which gave him a couple weeks before Nubia sailed back into his world. Then something Kareena said hit him. “Moving?” Apprehensive, he asked, “She’s planning to return here, permanently?”
“Yea.” Kareena said dejected, as if feeling her sister’s sadness. “Nubia said she couldn’t bear the thought of not having her job anymore and since that was the only reason she had moved to Washington, she was coming home to North Carolina for good.”
“She could job hunt there. Where she lives and all her stuff is, instead of paying the cost to ship it all here. The job market in Seattle has to be rising faster than in Carolina.” Pushing his now soggy cereal away and hating his loss of appetite, because he knew he’d be hungry again soon. By then he’d be deep in the middle of a case. Being a cop didn’t always leave time for regularly scheduled meals. Food was the least of his problems.
“You know Nubia, Quen, once she gets an idea stuck in her head, my baby sister is relentless.” Kareena finished her last bite of toast then rose, taking her plate and his bowl to the sink.
Shaking his head, he said, “So, she’ll be here in two weeks or more. Has she told your parents yet?”
“No, she was going to wait until she got here to tell them. But.” Kareena was leaning with her back against the sink and looking down at the floor.
The hair on the back of his neck stood up and Quentin had an eerie feeling he wasn’t about to like the next words that came out of her mouth. “But, what?”
Glancing up at him, she fingered her short dyed jet black curls around one ear. “She’s coming in tomorrow.”