Rick Castle was dozing with an advance reading copy of his newest book open on his face. Santa Monica was surely a nice place for a vacation, but he just couldn't wait to be back to New York; battling wits with criminals was a far more exciting pastime than spending his days sunbathing on a Californian beach.
He woke up abruptly when something ice-cold splashed all over his chest. Startled he sat up and looked around, catching a distinct sparkle of mischief in his wife's eyes.
She just ignored him and took another sip of her iced tea. "What?"
"Kate," he started in a warning tone, but was immediately interrupted by an enthusiastic Alexis who was coming back from her surf lesson.
"I love it here, Dad. Why didn't you take me to California before?"
"Actually, I did. You were three, that's probably why you can't remember it."
It was the last real vacation he'd had with Meredith, right before they split up; not that he was looking forward to bringing up the subject of his irresponsible ex-wife right now.
However, it seemed that Alexis had other ideas. "I think I do remember. Mom was here with us, right?"
"Yeah. Though we were in Malibu the other time round."
When his daughter didn't reply he simply let the subject drop. However, he still had some unfinished business with his wife, so he grabbed his glass of tea and poured its contents down her back.
Alexis wisely decided to leave them alone, and headed off to the ice cream kiosk.
xxx
"I tell you it's him, Dad – he's the guy who made that enormous sandcastle. I used to dream of it as a kid."
"You were just three, darling. Maybe you're confusing him with someone else."
His daughter all but rolled her eyes, and he resigned himself to follow her. Across from the kiosk there was a couple with a small child; a vague reminiscence stirred in his brain, but it took him a moment to focus on it.
Alexis had made friends with another little girl in Malibu, a girl with golden curls and chubby cheeks. She lived there with her parents, if he wasn't mistaken; and the father had once built an incredibly huge sandcastle to please his daughter and her little friend.
However, the woman that was sitting beside him wasn't the one he remembered from that previous occasion; but then, even he was married to a different woman now, so it wouldn't really matter.
"May I help you?" the man asked in a somewhat amused voice.
Rick cleared his throat to hide his embarrassment; it wasn't like he enjoyed being caught staring at some random stranger. "Well, my daughter here thinks she knows you from somewhere. I don't think you remember of either us…"
"Of course. Richard Castle, right? And this should be little Alexis, if I'm not mistaken."
He nodded, a little taken aback at the fact that this guy could actually recall their names after all those years. "I'm afraid I don't remember your name though."
"Patrick Jane. This is my wife Teresa, and my son Chris."
"Is your daughter here too?" Alexis impulsively threw in. "I'd love to say hi to her."
A shadow suddenly clouded the man's features. "I'm afraid she isn't here anymore. She would have loved to meet you again."
Alexis bit her lip and stayed silent. That was when her father finally made the connection – he'd seen this guy's face somewhere else too, and that was when the murder of his family by the hand of a serial killer had been all over the news.
"By the way, my wife's a big fan of your novels," Mr. Jane added to break the silence. "I bet she would hit it off with your lovely partner if you decided to join us for dinner."
The woman at his side furrowed her brow. "Do you mean that Nikki Heat is actually real?"
"That's a long story," Castle replied slowly. "But I'm sure that Kate would be happy to meet you."
His gaze strayed once again to the little boy with the brown curls, and an unexpected idea hit him like a thunderbolt. What if he and Kate were to have child together?
Mr. Jane had probably guessed exactly what was going on in his mind, for his lips curled in a slow knowing smile. Not that Rick really minded.
Alexis would surely be an amazing big sister anyway.