The next morning she has her personal routine almost finished and knows that she will need to face her partners after yesterday's quote intervention unquote. She was a little upset that they could assume that she would simply agree to their suggestions last night. As she was standing in her kitchen last night, and after she finished her chicken, she removed all the pictures that they had put up on her refrigerator door with magnets and tossed them into the garbage pail. She didn't want to meet anybody like that.
Xx
As she climbs the stairs for the 12th precinct she looks to her right and sees Tori coming alongside her and they both say hello at the same time and continue up the stairs. Once they reach the top of the stairs they stopped to talk.
"Good morning Kate."
"Good morning Tori, how are you?"
"I'm doing good but it's only the beginning of the work week and that will probably change very quickly."
"I tried calling you last night see if you wanted to get together to see a movie or maybe have a bitch session."
"I'm sorry Kate, Erin's parents are in town and I'm totally pissed. I'm under house arrest.
"Tori weren't they just here last…"
"Yes they were thank you very much and I don't know why they just can't stay at a hotel. They make her such nervous wreck and that in turn does the same to me."
"Tori you're my last hope at what it is to be in a loving and caring relationship. If you two fall apart I don't know what will happen then."
"Come on Kate you don't believe that what we have is an ideal situation do you? You know how long it's taken me to be accepted into Erin's parent's lives?"
"I don't know how long?"
"I still think I'm trying to gain their respect and trust. I just can't seem to tell her how much it hurts me to not be accepted by them."
Kate had known Tori since she was hired by the NYPD eight years ago. Since then she had attained the rank of Sergeant. She was one of the best computer techs the department had, and she was a lesbian. Kate never thought that her sexual orientation would stop her from advancing but it did. The good old boys club within the NYPD made sure that she had a tough time gaining any ground when it came to advancement only because she loved a woman. Erin had been in Tori's heart even before she was hired by the department. This is what Kate has fought against ever since she came to her asking for her help. They formed a lasting friendship from that point forward.
"Tori they'll come around. Just give them time."
"I do and that's what hurts the most. I love Erin, Kate I shouldn't have to sneak around behind closed doors to prove it."
"I know how you feel. But talk it over with her. Let her know how you are feeling."
"I will. So how was your weekend?"
"It was bearable. The "family" was over yesterday."
"Yeah, I'm not touching that one with a ten-foot pole."
"Tori they're not that bad and they mean well."
"Kate your friends are meddlers. I bet that they tried to set you up on a date am I right?"
Kate could only nod her head in acknowledgment.
"That just proves my point. Come on let's get inside before we're late."
They both walked into the twelfth looking forward to what the day gave them.
Xx
He had no effort to put forth. He just wanted to stay here and watch old movies on TCM. Movies were simple then. The bad guy always got what was coming to them and the good guy almost always got the girl. Chuck had been over earlier and was trying to lift his spirits. All he did was try to get him to go out to a strip club. He knew that doing anything other than sitting here in the loft was about all he wanted to do which is why he is now alone watching The Way We Were. He watches it two more times thinking about when times were good with Gina. He really needs to stop this.
Xx
He is roused from sleep the next morning way too early to the sound of someone annoyingly pounding on the front door to the loft.
"Come on Rick open up! We need to have a serious conversation about your dating life, or the lack thereof might be a better descriptor.
Pulling on his robe over his boxers he reluctantly let in Chuck.
"What could possibly bring you here at…" Rick looks at the clock on the kitchen wall. "At 7:23 in the morning?"
"Rick there is a great thing out there. It's something that you need desperately."
"There is? What pray tell could be this great thing that I'm in such a need for?"
"Internet dating! I've previewed some sites for you to look at."
"Oh no you don't. This will only end in disaster. I have a bad feeling about this."
"Come on don't be a doubting Thomas! You haven't even had a chance to look yet."
"I can see it now. A tragic, bestselling author with a broken heart seeking like-minded playmate who feels the same. That might get me one or two responses."
"While that might be your idea of a comparable mate, it's not exactly who I was going to look for. I was thinking about an Asian figure skater who just wants someone to snuggle up with on cold nights."
Rick just gave him a look that said as if.
"Listen, Rick, the right woman is out there. You just need to invest a little time and faith on this site and wa la you will be back."
"No Internet dating Chuck."
"Wait, what about Emily? I gave you her number she said you never gave her a call."
"Emily? She is twenty-four! She cares more about her body than she cares about seeing someone like me."
"She's gorgeous and she slept with half the guys in my office."
"Well, then why would you want to set me up with her?"
Chuck looked up from the laptop he was navigating with a look on his face and carefully spelled it out for his friend.
"She. Slept. With. Half of the guys In. My. Office!"
"Chuck, I'm looking for something more than Emily. Someone who understands me."
"Rick, that's a tall order. You do know that you are chasing a pipe dream, right?"
"I'll find her somehow."
Xx
The next morning Kate is in her bedroom surrounded by her friends. Intrusive friends, but friends none the less.
"Hopeless romantic young 50's widower seeks lady friend who enjoys the slow bloom of passion. Loves dogs, children, and long bike rides going nowhere. I will be wearing a yellow rose."
Kate just sat there listening to the response from her friend Lanie's ad that somehow she got suckered into going on in her place. Maddie who had been going through Kate's closet kept getting more frustrated the more she looked.
"Wow, I want to meet this guy," Lanie said as she placed the response on the table.
"Kate where are your boob shirts?" Maddie asked frustratedly.
"Boob shirts?" Kate replied with a confused look on her face.
"Yes, Kate. Boob shirts. They make your boobs the envy of every man. If you can get him to look at them then half the battle is won."
"Maddie not to worry I bought some of mine," Lanie said as she showed her friend the assortment of tops hanging from hangers.
"Oooh boob shirts. I don't have any of those and even if I did, I don't think I can wear them out in public."
"Listen, Kate, I have some dating tips here I tore out of Maxim," Lanie said.
"I'm not listening to anything a men's magazine has to tell me on dating the opposite sex."
"Kate at least listen to your friend she went to a lot of trouble finding this stuff," Maddie says with a smirk.
"Okay!"
"Number one: maintain eye contact. But don't stare at him that long because it will freak him out."
"Ahh, thanks for the warning or I might have freaked him out on the first date by doing my staring thing that I do."
Lanie just made a face and continued.
"Two, men respond sexually when they think women are excited by them. The more you like what you see your eyes will go wider."
"Oh my god, I'm dating again! I can't be doing this." Kate said.
"Kate, it's normal to feel this way. Just go with it." Lanie says.
"No! This is not me. Maddie, what if he wants to have sex? What if I want to? What if I can't control myself, what if I freak out?"
"Kate you are meeting him in a public place for coffee. I don't think that he or you will want to jump each other's bones on the first meeting."
"Yeah but…."
"Kate just get dressed in what I put on your bed…NOW!"
Xx
Forty minutes later Kate has doubts about this date when she gives her car keys to the valet to park her car. She really wants to go to a bar and have two or three drinks and tell her friends that she struck out on the date.
She walks into the café and searches for a man with a yellow rose. Finding no one she steps down onto the dining floor and sees a familiar face. As she starts to walk towards him, he sees her and gets up from his seat at the table he was sitting at.
"Dad?"
"Katie my lovely daughter!"
"Dad, what are you doing here?"
"Well, that's a fine way to greet your father."
"Dad I'm sorry. It's just that I'm meeting a… is that a yellow rose?"
"Sharp eye Katie, I never could get anything past you. Even when you were little."
"Let me guess it's for a lady friend right?"
Kate vaguely remembers the ad that Lanie had read to her earlier.
Kate drops her head in frustration and lets out a low growling Noooooo.
"Katie, come on. It's a natural progression of life. A man my age should be out there looking for a lady friend god bless your mother's soul."
"And would this lady friend enjoy the slow bloom of passion perhaps?"
"Yes, I'm hoping that she would. Why?"
"Dad, I'm your date!"
He could only look at her in shock.
"I am. I answered my own father's personal ad."
Jim just sat there laughing at the turn of events. He was getting a kick out of this.
"Stop laughing dad this is not funny!"
"Well, at least you know what you're getting by being on this site."
"Really dad? A young 50's widower? Dad, you're 68 as of last month. And when have you ever rode a bike anywhere?"
Jim looked up at her with a small smirk on his face.
"Katie I'm glad that you are out dating again."
"Dad please this is so disturbing." Kate gets up from the table and eyes the yellow rose.
"At least let me have the rose."
"I can't Katie."
"Why not?"
"I'm meeting another woman at four o'clock."