Castle had never driven thru the south before. This is a completely new experience for him. So far he is basking in the sheer beauty of South Carolina. He is following the GPS instructions for the address he was given by his hostess. When he first told her that he would like to come down there, she began to give him detailed directions to her home but he stopped her and said if he had the address that the car will make sure he arrives to the correct location
After leaving the interstate he transferred to a main artery but still a highway. Then he finds himself turning onto a lesser road, a smaller road.
Castle suddenly realizes the roads he is traveling on are taking him into open territory that he is not accustomed to seeing living in New York. He is used to seeing cramped streets lines on both side with parked cars and garbage. Here he is being treated to fresh air, shade created by the canopy of trees and the smell of pine.
Instead of paying attention to the drive itself, the views from his windows becomes his first consideration. After a few more twists and turns off the highway he is told that he has reached his destination. Looking in the direction the electronic voice gives him he is treated with a stone entry way with a marble plaque labeled "Livingston"
Turning his car thru the arch he begins a trip into the past. Passing between tall sugar pine trees and manicured shrubs adjacent to trimmed green lawns. Gardens of climbing roses were blooming along the pathway toward the main house.
The final turn of his car off the main road puts him onto an asphalt paved road approaching the main house and some main house this was. It looked like something from a civil war movie. Something he had only seen in the movies and read about in books.
The house was directly out of the Margaret Mitchell novel. White clapboard with a large open porch held up by gothic columns. Large dual entry door facing the steps inviting visitors to come in.
Castle stops his car and opens the door to step out when he sees a man exiting the front door of the house toward him. "You must be Mr. Castle. We have been expecting you."
"Yes, very glad to meet you. I'm Richard Castle"
The man presents his hand "I am James Young. I'm the house manager. Please let me take your bags and show you to the guest quarters"
Castle opens the trunk and retrieves his bags and sets them on the ground. James takes one of the bags and Castle takes the other. The two men enter the front and Castle is led toward the rear of the home. Then entry way of the house is impressive all by itself. The old south feel is in every detail of this home. They exit the rear door and immediately are on a covered patio leading directly to a large pool and veranda. They turn to the left and enter a separate building.
This guest house is almost as large as Castle's loft back in New York. Mr. Young takes the bag through another door to a large well adorned bedroom. He places the bag down at the foot of the bed
"Mr. Castle this is the master bedroom, there is another bedroom on the opposite side. The bath room is thru that door" pointing toward the tub and shower that are visible past the door
"The kitchen is well stocked if you find yourself wanting a snack later. You have a fully stocked bar" again pointing to the counter surrounded by bottles of the finest spirits available
Dinner will be served promptly at seven. If you are in need of anything, please call the staff on the house phone "pointing to a telephone instrument on the bedside table "the numbers are on the face of the phone. We also have wireless access. The password is FURNITURE. All caps"
Richard Castle feels like he just checked into a five star hotel in Manhattan and he needs to pull out a fifty to tip the bellman
"Mr. Castle my number is also on the phone, so please feel free to call me if you have any needs"
"Thank you Mr. Young. I think I am good for the moment."
James Young steps out the door after dropping a room key on the table for Castle to use. Rick looks around for a brief moment then sits down on the bed.
Initially he was not sure what to expect from the invitation from Janice, but no thought in his mind came close to what he is in the middle of at this moment. This woman is wealthy. Very wealthy. He had no idea about this when he met her up in Massachusetts. She mentioned her and her late husband owned a furniture business but she did not indicate that her life was anything like this.
He finally moves to check out the apartment. The first thing he does is to go to the kitchen. He opens the refrigerator and sees that it is in fact fully stocked with bottle water, soft drinks both diet and regular and several brands of beer. The freezer contains ice cream in several flavors
He opens the cabinet and discovers some salty snacks in the form of potato chips and corn chips and a few canned goods
He opens a door beside the counter to discover a clothes washer and dryer. He has found a place to do the laundry he has been dragging along with him for several days.
Returning to the bedroom, he decides to take a short nap before cleaning up for dinner later. He unpacks his suitcases placing the items to be cleaned in the laundry room and the rest in the closet and dresser. After finishing the unpacking, he pulls back the covers and climbs into the bed for a brief nap.
Not realizing how tired he was from the drive, he slept until almost six o'clock. When he noticed the time, he jumps up and runs into the shower. Stepping into the stream of water made him realize he would really like to just stay there since it felt so very good but he know that a guest should not be late. He quickly dried himself, shaved and got dressed.
Not being completely sure how formal or not the meal would be he chooses a pair of khaki slacks and a light button down shirt. He is looking forward to seeing his hostess once again
But he mistakenly assumed he was the only guest for the evening. When he stepped out the door of the guest suite he comes face to face with about a dozen people standing or sitting around the patio visiting with one another. Rick was not aware that this was a dinner party.
He immediately hears the voice of his hostess "There you are Rick" Janice Livingston walks out of the crowd and toward Rick. She is wearing a light cotton summer dress that is draped delicately on her every curve and showing that she is a stunning southern beauty
"Rick I want you to meet everyone" Janice turns to the group "Everyone, this is the author Richard Castle. He is the one who wrote the Derrick Storm book and most recently the Nikki Heat books. He will be staying here for a couple of days before he goes on down to Miami. Now everyone be nice to your guest"
She then takes Rick by the hand and leads him around the group where he gets to meet all of her the friends who are here tonight
After about twenty minutes of hand shaking and gracious hellos and comments about loving his books the house manager steps out to the patio "Dinner is served"
At this announcement everyone begins to walk into the dining room. Castle is directed to the end of the table where a name plate is located and he is placed across from Janice. Each guest is seated based on name tags located in front of each plate. After everyone is in place they wait until Janice indicates for them to be seated. Castle is wondering since the head chair is vacant. He thinks it might be left empty in honor of Janice's late husband. Something similar to his poker buddies leaving a chair open for Stephen Cannell after he died.
The waiters begin by delivering the appetizer starting with Rick and Janice then moving down the very large table.
Just as the servers complete their placement of the shrimp cocktails, there is a little commotion and laughing coming from the entrance to the dining room.
Castle looks up and sees a tall ruggedly handsome man entering the room. He is greeting everyone as he walk down the table toward Castle. When he comes to the end of the table he reaches out his hand toward Rick.
"Hello, you must be Richard Castle. I am so sorry I am late, but we had a little problem at the mill. Janice has told me all about you. I'm Hank. I'm Janice's husband"
Think about what is the importance of these two people in my story?
