Chapter 6

"Alexis? Mother?" Rick called out to his family the moment he let himself into his apartment, a notable spring in his step. "Where are you—oh. Hello Mother." He swooped down and kissed the red-head on the cheek when he spotted her coming out of the kitchen. "Did you and Alexis have a fun afternoon?"

Martha blinked at him. "Who are you and what have you done with my son?"

Rick laughed as he went to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. "What does that mean?"

"It means: when have you ever been full of this much spunk when you come home from a book signing that went extra-long?" Martha folded her arms over her chest and raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. Generally, when he came home from that much rapid-fire interaction, he required a shower and at least half an hour of silence before rejoining the human race. Sometimes he would read quietly with Alexis, but he had never been this jovial. Nor had he ever—was he skipping!?

"Ah, that's because I wasn't at the signing this whole time. Mother—I found her."

"You found her? To whom are you referring, darling?"

"Kate—the one that got away." Rick slid into one of the counter stools, his elbow resting casually on the countertop.

Martha approached him slowly. "The one that got away? Richard, who is this girl? I don't recall you ever mentioning a 'Kate' to me before."

"First semester, junior year. There was a party in my building and I ran into this girl on the stairwell. We…we got to talking. We talked all night, actually. I remember going to sleep wondering if I found the woman I was going to marry," he told her with a rather ironic smile.

"My god," Martha exhaled as she sat down in a stool beside him. In her son's thirty-one years of life, she had become well acquainted with his over-dramatic tendencies; the ones she had proudly passed on to him. The more he embraced being a writer, the more his flair blossomed. Yet, somehow this was different. He had a look—a look Martha had come to known well in her fifty-odd years on the planet. That look, however, was not one she saw on him too often. In fact, she'd go as far as to say she'd never seen it before, which made their conversation even more astounding. "What happened?"

He gave her a sad smile. "She left me her number, but the paper got wet—I couldn't read it. All I had was her first name and knew she was pre-law at Columbia. If it was today, I probably could have found her on the internet, but back in ninety-nine? All I could do was ask around. I looked for her for months but…" His voice drifted off with a shrug.

His mother's brow furrowed. "But…how did you find her now?"

"She found me," he said with no small amount of amazement. "Showed up at my book signing; we went for coffee after. She's a lawyer now with the DA's."

"That's incredible."

His smile grew wider—if that was even possible. "I know. We exchanged phone numbers and emails; we're going to keep in touch."

Martha nodded then slowly her expression faded into one of confusion. "But…what about Gina? I thought you two were-"

"Ah, yeah." Rick slid from his seat and walked around to the other side of the kitchen counter. "Her."

"Richard," Martha began in the same tone she'd used to scold him since he was a little boy. "I did not raise a son to string two women along at the same time."

He stopped walking and turned to her. "Wha—no. No. I was never going to do that."

"But yet you're dating Gina."

"Dating is a strong term," he explained. "We're…not dating. Possibly pre-dating, assuming I wanted to continue with that, which I don't even know if-" Rick was interrupted by the ringing of the apartment doorbell. As he went to answer it, he asked his mother, "Where's Alexis, by the way?"

"She's upstairs; she said she wanted some time for a reflective conversation with her stuffed animals." Martha explained with a casual hand wave.

Rick's brow wrinkled, then he shrugged and whipped open the door. Immediately, his expression fell. "Gina…" Distantly he heard his mother make a comment about burning ears, but he ignored it.

"Rick," she said simply, stepping into the apartment and pulling the sunglasses off her face.

He closed the door behind her. "I thought we were meeting tomorrow morning."

She stopped walking and spun around. "Yes, but I wanted to hear all about that old friend you just met for coffee."

Rick flashed her a patronizing smile. From her tone, he could tell it wasn't going to be a friendly chat, but more like a military interrogation. Clearing his throat and hoping for a civilized talk (though also realizing his chances for that were probably slim), he led the way to the office. "It was nice. We chatted for a bit—reminisced. That was all."

Gina stopped in the doorway, buying absolutely none of his vague response. "And…how long did you date her?"

"We never dated; it was just one night." The words left his lips before he realized how salacious they made his evening with Kate sound. He attempted to mitigate the damages, but it was too late. "I mean, we-"

"All this over a one night stand?" Gina rolled her eyes as she said, "Jesus, Rick, how good could the sex possibly have been?"

Perturbed, though mostly at himself for opening the can of worms, Rick said quickly, "No, we didn't have sex. We…we never even kissed," he added a bit quieter. Gina didn't need to know that detail; she didn't deserve it. No one who wasn't there could understand how special that night had been.

As predicted, Gina spoke her next sentence with a certain attitude. "Yet, you insisted on meeting her for coffee."

"There's no need for a tone, Gina," Rick said, exhausted.

"What tone?"

His eyes flicked to hers. "You know what tone. Don't get jealous on me now."

Gina snorted with laughter. "I'm not jealous, simply curious. You met a girl for one night and, what? Talked for a little bit? Thar hardly seems like much of anything, but when you saw her…" Gina's voice trailed off at the memory of her companion's spotting-the-finest-jewel-on-earth expression. "She seemed more than just an acquaintance."

"Yet," Rick said, taking a seat at his desk, "as I just explained that's all she was—a friend."

She stepped up to the edge of his desk, challenging him. "She's beautiful."

"She is." He agreed knowing denial would have him in worse trouble.

"What does she do?"

"She works for the DA."

A chortle escaped the blonde's lips. "Oh."

Rick arched an eyebrow. "What was that?"

Gina sat down and reclined into the leather guest chair. "You hate lawyers."

"I hate my lawyers; I hate the lawyers at Black Pawn, but I do not, as a general rule, hate the profession."

Gina's lips pursed. "So you like her."

Now bored of their argument, he sighed and flipped open the lid of his laptop. "I like a lot of people, Gina."

"Will you see her again?"

As the computer booted, he shifted his gaze back to her. "What does it matter? It's really none of your concern."

"It is if I'm your girlfriend."

Ah, there it was. He was waiting for her to bring it up as he certainly wasn't. If he was being honest with himself, he would admit that had he not run into Kate that day, he probably would have agreed to upgrading their status to boyfriend/girlfriend. Did that mean anything long term? He had no idea, but he would have agreed as it seemed the most natural step. However, he had seen Kate that day. Seen her, seen how beautiful she still was, seen her and felt that same fluttering in his chest every time she smiled at him. And that changed things.

"Are you? Because last time I checked, you didn't want to define any of this." Rick gestured between them with his left hand as he spoke.

Gina gave a casual shrug. "Maybe I'm changing my mind."

Of course she was—now that it was convenient for her. Or, perhaps, now that it seemed he might have other prospects. "Maybe I'm not ready."

If she hadn't had such a well-perfected poker face from years in the publishing business, Gina's jaw probably would have dropped. Instead, her upper lip twitched and her expression grew sour; as though she'd sipped on pure lemon juice before adding the sugar and making it lemonade. "Because of this… old friend?"

His response was calm. "This has nothing to do with Kate."

"Then why?"

Taking a deep breath, he looked at her. "I'm not saying no or never. I'm just saying I want to think about it. Saying it's more than just me I need to consider."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning I have a four-year-old daughter and I am her primary caregiver."

"Fine." Gina stood and smoothed her pencil skirt, flashing him an expression that clearly meant their situation was anything but. "You think, Rick. You think long and hard about your life, your family, and your career before you throw it away on someone who-"

"Daddy?"

Both adults turned towards the office entrance to see a tiny red-head dressed in a green t-shirt, jeans, and pink striped socks. "What is it Pumpkin?"

"I'm hungry."

Rick smiled at her. "Of course, sweetheart. Miss Gina was just leaving so I'll start dinner now."

Gina flashed Rick a warning look before smiling at the little girl as she walked away. "Goodbye Alexis."

"Bye Miss Gina."

Once the publisher had gone, Rick walked around the side of his desk, grinning. He scooped up the little girl under her armpits and placed a loud smacking kiss on her cheek as she giggled. "Did you have a nice day, sweetie?"

"Yeah, but now I'm hungry."

"Yes, I know. What are we thinking, hmm? Spaghetti? Mac and cheese? Or! How about we just make a whole meal out of broccoli?!"

"Ewww!" The little girl squealed.

Rick gasped dramatically. "What? But broccoli is your favorite!"

"No 'snot Daddy!"

"Hmm," he said, stroking his chin with his free hand. "No I'm pretty sure it's Alexis's favorite. Along with Brussel sprouts!"

"Daddy stop!" she giggled as he began to tickle her waist.

"Okay, okay," he agreed, letting her slide to the floor. "No broccoli or Brussel sprouts—we'll come up with something else."