Chapter Seven

Rick arrived at the loft and expected to find a surly Alexis waiting for him. Instead he found his mother sitting at the breakfast bar, looking very tired. "Mother, what are you doing here? Don't tell me you've already been banned from all the bars in the Hamptons." At her sour expression, he came closer. "Are you all right?"

"A little tired, that's all Richard, dear. I got a call about a minor emergency at the school. Had to catch the early train this morning to deal with it…who knew roofers were so expensive?"

"Do you need another short term loan?"

"No, it turns out the flood turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The damage to the dance studio next door was much worse. Since there are no classes at my school for the summer, I made a deal with the other director to lease the workshop space to him. That will cover most if not all of the cost of the repairs. As I always say, things work out as they should."

"I think that was Buddha, Mother but I'm glad your little tragedy turned into a triumph. Have you seen Alexis?"

"Still sleeping as far as I know. This is her summer vacation, sweetheart."

"We were supposed to have a pre-drive pancake breakfast. Let me go up and check on her."

Rick walked up the stairs and gently opened his daughter's bedroom door. Alexis was sound asleep. Smiling at her, Rick pulled the covers back up and over her. She had always been a restless sleeper, even as a child. She looked so much younger in her pajamas, much too young to be off to college so soon. Bending down he kissed her cheek and quietly slipped back out of the room.

"She is still asleep. I guess the excitement of her graduation and the all-night party afterward did in my little energizer bunny."

"Well then, if she was at an all-night party, why are there breakfast dishes for two in the dishwasher?"

Rick knew that telling his mother about Kate was inevitable but right now he just wanted to hoard the joy of the last two nights with her. "Kate stopped by and I made her breakfast."

"A farewell breakfast for your last case with the NYPD?"

"Not exactly, Mother."

"I feel a long story coming on. Make me some coffee, please."

Over the next hour, Rick told her about Maddox, Smith, nearly loosing Kate again and the subsequent suspensions for both Kate and Esposito. He left out all the personal details of his nights with Kate but being his mother, Martha didn't need chapter and verse to fill in the blanks.

"How did Alexis react when you told her about all this?"

"She was worried about Kate, called Dr. Parish to have her check out all the bruises. I asked Alexis if she would be OK with me seeing Kate. She said what made me happy, made her happy."

Martha resisted, but only just, giving her son a dope slap. Men truly were clueless when it came to women. "So we are all going to drive up to the Hamptons like one big happy family?"

"That was the plan. Why, what's the problem?"

"You want to spend your summer with Alexis; your last time with her before college and you want to spend time with Kate…and you don't think that might cause a little friction between them. Oh Richard, Richard! How can you have lived with women most of your life and not understand anything about them."

"Last summer I spent about an hour each day with Alexis. She was always on the phone or with her beach friends."

"Darling, she had Ashley last summer. She spent most of her summer talking to him by phone or that computer Skip thing."

"It's Skype, Mother."

"Whatever, this summer Alexis is going to want to be with you all the time? I know your heart, darling, it's big enough to love them both completely but Alexis has never really had to share you or your love before. As for Kate, everything about her old life is suddenly gone, including her job and solving her mother's case. She is hurt, lost and needs you to love her, help her figure who she is now and what's next."

"I can do it! I want to it…..I have to do it. I'm just not sure how to do it, any suggestions?"

"Take it one day at a time and hope there are a lot of cute boys at the beach this summer."

"What cute boys?" Alexis walked slowly down the stairs rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

"Hey, Kiddo!"

"Grams!" Alexis ran forward into her grandmother's open arms. "What are you doing here?"

"Forgot a few things I need for the beach. Since you Father got that big, ugly SUV, you can help me pack some more of what I need. Now that you have your driver's license, maybe you can get in some practice by driving part of the way up there with me and we'll have a chance to get caught up. Your Father can start the drive up with Kate in that tomato soup colored monstrosity of his."

Ignoring the insult to his Ferrari, Rick looked at his watch. "Mother, how long will it take you to pack, we need to get going pretty soon."

"Then we don't go until tomorrow, darling it's summer, no plans, no deadlines. You look tired, Alexis is still half asleep and I certainly am not up for another long trip today."

Rick wanted to kiss his mother for solving one big problem but he turned nonchalantly to his daughter. "What do you think, Alexis? You can drive for a while in the SUV, then when we pull in for a rest stop, you and Kate can switch places. "

"I get to drive the Ferrari?"

"Uhhh, yeah sure, for a while." Hugging her father, Alexis hugged Martha and then ran to the stairs.

"Cool, thanks Dad, Gram, this is going to be so much fun. Help me decide what to pack and then we can order in a late lunch, early dinner. I want to get to bed early tonight. We can save the pancakes for breakfast tomorrow."

"One day at a time. I can do this...she wants to drive my Ferrari!" Martha just shook her head at her son's pained expression and followed Alexis up the stairs.

Rick poured himself a glass of wine and pulled out his phone to let Kate know about the change in plans. He was surprised when the call went to voice mail. "Kate, I just wanted to let you know the trip to the beach is going to be delayed just a little. My mother had to come back into the city for the day, so we will probably leaving tomorrow around ten. You and I will be in the Ferrari, Alexis and my mother will be in the SUV, so don't worry about packing light. I'll be by around nine to get you and your luggage, then drive you to the loft for pancakes. Call me when you get this message, please. I just need to know that you're OK?"