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Caroline

Caroline looked up and shifted her head a little to the right. From her office she had a diagonal view of the person who had consumed her thoughts for the last 5 months. She know just the sight of Kate was enough to keep her going for the rest of the day and night. Only to do it all over again tomorrow.

Caroline thought back to her life so far , she was a senior partner in a rather prestigious law firm in Harrogate. Having joined, after the firm recruited her from Oxford University not so long ago. She was the youngest partner the firm had ever had, she was proud of that, proud that even though her personal life had taken a tumble in the recent months, her work was always up to standard . She smiled at how her professional life had been to orderly and well planned yet her disastrous personal life was still spiralling out of control .

She sighed, she had never felt such a strong attraction to anyone before, not even Jenna who for all intents and purposes had been married to for 7 years. She couldn't understand what was drawing her to Kate.

Her thoughts interrupted by Josh, her PA. Rather frowned upon at first by the misogynist old boys' network that was the legal fraternity but Caroline was never really one to go with the ideals of antiquated system.

" Caroline , your lunch has arrived. I left it in the kitchen "

"Ah, thank you Josh"

Caroline strolled towards the kitchen, she had to pass the desk of a certain Ms McKenzie. Normally she would just smile and be on her way.

Over the months she had been trying to getting to know Kate a little better, never really trying the straight forward approach , she chose to just pick up little bits and pieces as she went along. Kate was not her direct subordinate, so it made coming up with excuses to talk to her rather difficult.

" Hi Caroline"

" oh hello Kate, how are you"

" very well "

" oh good"

Caroline busied herself with plating up her lunch, but still keeping her ear on the conversation between Josh and Kate. It wasn't like she was eves dropping or anything, she had noticed that the two of them had spent quite a lot of time together. Most times the conversations between the two had been non PC for the office environment. But Caroline didn't mind. It hadn't gotten out of control yet.

Caroline walked out of the kitchen feeling rather happy, she had now learnt some very valuable information about a certain Kate McKenzie

4 o' clock , time to face the traffic "Bye Josh . Have a good evening " "bye Caroline , don't forget you have to be in court at 8 tomorrow"

She walked into the lounge looking for signs of life . Nobody around.

" Hi mum , where are you"

" oh William wanted to play on the swings so I'm just at the park" Celia replied " are you home yet"

" I just walked in "

" no worry love we will be home soon"

She clicked the end button on her phone and poured herself a glass of wine. She had valued her mother's help when it came to William. Celia had been more than happy to take on the responsibility of being a full time grandmother to William.

Caroline thought back to the conversation earlier on in the kitchen. She had discovered that Kate did want kids and the comment she had made about needing a man to make it happen had intrigued Caroline even more. She had spend hours trying to figure out exactly which side of the fence Kate sat. But she couldn't quite , not just yet.

Her thoughts interrupted by William shouting "Mama" and running full speed towards her. She picked him up, gave him hug and kiss. " hello my darling" she said lovingly " did you have a good day "

" He did " answered Celia

" Hi Mum " Caroline kissed her mother hello

" Hello love "

At the supper table Celia filled her daughter in with updates of old school friend she had been communicating with . " He wants to meet me " she said shyly

" That's nice" Caroline decided on a general answer as she couldn't quite gauge her mother's feelings on the matter " are you going to meet him ?"

" oh I don't know, I am not sure yet "

"ok " Caroline decided to play it safe and leave it up to her mother to talk about when she is ready

"I'm going to run a bath for William "

William was happily splashing around in the bath, Caroline called from the bedroom " 5 more minutes " as she set out his pyjamas for the evening.

William was certainly her pride and joy, he was supposed to be their pride and joy. But ever since Jenna walked out on them almost a year ago, she hadn't seen William. She would ring on his birthday but that was as far as communication between them had went.

"ok love, time to come out"

William raised up his arms, ready to be plucked from the bath tub. Once he was snug and warm, she handed him his bottle and made him comfortable in her bed.

Caroline chastised her myself for getting him used to sleeping in her bed. But he was only 2 , and since Jenna left, she felt like she needed him more than he did her.