Before the Morning Sun,
When Life was Lonely.
Kate struggles to gather all her stuff out of the cab, before sliding across the seats so she is nearest to the sidewalk. It would have been nice if the cab driver would have at least pulled up to the right side of the street, but she doesn't have the patience to argue about it. She quickly shoulders the strap to her leather briefcase and shuffles her small stack of papers into her grasp. She is doing this all one handed, because her other hand is pressing her phone to her ear. She shuffles the papers into the folder they spilled out of, shoulders her phone, and pops open the door. "Yes, Detective Raglan, I know that, but I was just thinking-" She tries to defend, as she opens the door wider, when she does this, the driver 'ahems' her. "Oh shoot, I forgot," she says, pulling some cash out of her front pocket and handing it to the cab driver.
"Are you listening to me, Kate?" Raglan scolds over the phone.
"Yeah, I'm listening," she almost growls, trying to keep her rolled eyes out of her tone.
"Good because you've got to drop this, kid." As soon as her shoes hit the pavement and the cab drives away, she gets this uneasy feeling that she had missed something. She fumbles to try to shove her folder into her bag. She hasn't stepped up on to the curb, when she turns around to look at the post office building across the street. She squints against the sun, all while Raglan continues on his lecture, "I know that's hard but it's what you have to do to live your life." The folder finally starts steadily sliding into the briefcase, so she relieves her shoulder from the burden of holding her phone to her ear and grabs it in her hand. "You're young and smart, okay, so go live your life." She lowers her head letting her disappointment in him show to everyone, but him. Somehow it seems like he can hear the disappointment over the phone because he roughly adds, "You should do as you're told, Kate."
She turns back around and steps up to the sidewalk. "I can't just-" She is cut off when she suddenly slams into someone. Her folder apparently wasn't fully in her bag, because the contents of it scatter across the pavement. And the other person's stuff, which appears to be books and not just books but the same book over and over, is also partially all over the sidewalk. In an awestruck tone she says, "Um… Sir, I've gotta go." She drops the phone into her bag as they both just stare at the mess for a moment. After a moment they both crouch down to pick up their belongings.
She looks up at the young man she ran into. He has dark curly hair and when he looks back at her, she can see he also has dark eyes that are muted by thinly framed glasses. He unnecessarily apologizes, "Sorry about that."
She combs her hair back so she can see him. She keeps forgetting how short it is now, making the gesture damn near useless. She shakes her head, "No, it was my fault."
"James," he fills in, placing the few books that fell out of his box back in. She silently nods, because she didn't really ask. He nervously continues, "In that case, as long as the books are fine so am I." Once he finishes carefully gathering up the last of the books. He starts helping her with her part of the mess.
"They must be important books."
"Not to me really, but to my boss they are." More anxiety seems to bleed into his voice as he softly says, "In fact, if she knew I dropped them I would probably be fired."
She looks up at him again with an unpleasant look on her face, "I like books, but- seriously?"
He nods, "Yes-" He stops and reads her name on one of the papers, "Katherine, seriously." His eyebrows suddenly scrunch, "Wait a second you go to Stanford? What are you some sort of genius law student?"
She snatches the paper from him and shoves it into her bag. Then with a cunning smile, she retorts, "No…" She squints finding skepticism in her own answer, "Not really."
He seems to take this as a yes, so he asks, "So why are you on the other side of the country."
"Long story," she says, souring at the thought of that particular story. "Short version, I'm looking into a new career path. So I'm finishing my year out, flying back and forth, keeping up as much as possible."
He must hear some bitterness in her softened tone, because he seems to put on more confidence for her benefit. He shrugs with a pitiful smile, "Whatever makes you happy. Do you know what you're gonna do?"
She nods, smiling a somewhat smaller smile than before, "I have an idea."
He nods with a grin spreading across his face, loving the game she is playing. His grin falters for a second, when he looks at his watch. "I should be going," he says, as he stands up, bringing the box up with him.
"You don't want your boss to think that you're late," she agrees. She straightens the remaining papers on the ground, shuffling them into the pile, and then tucking them into her folder.
He points behind her, "You missed two."
She turns on her toes and sees not only the last two papers from one of her final essays, but also one of the books. "You missed one," she mocks back at him. She picks up both the pages and the book and stands up.
He smiles, "Keep it."
She quickly shoves her papers into her bag, not worrying too much about organization. She holds the book out to him, "What about your boss?"
"Gina already told me I could have one." He shrugs, "You can just have mine."
She huffs, stifling a laugh, "But I ran into you."
He walks past her, so she turns around. "It seems like you need a distraction," he says over his shoulder.
She brings the book into both hands, finally accepting the gift. She reads the title quietly to herself, "One Bullet, One Heart… by Richard Castle." She bites her lip in uncertainty and flips the book over. She only looks at the back for a second, before she yells back to him, "What's it about?"
"You'll just have to read it, Katie," he yells back, putting on a charming smile.
Her smile grows, genuinely, at the mystery of it. She turns around one last time to walk away from the direction James just went. She hugs the book to her chest, before putting it into her bag and crossing the street to the post office.