Drowning Chapter Thirty-Six
Just a little bit of organization and moving!
Kara slowly pushed the waiting room door open and stepped inside, taking a breath to center herself. She hitched her messenger bag higher on her shoulder and moved across the comfortable room to take a chair. There were other people waiting and, as usual, she exchanged brief smiles with those who looked up at her.
Most people were reading on their phones or checking Facebook but Kara never really did that while she was waiting. She simply closed her eyes and allowed herself some time to think before being called in. The walls were decorated in a calming grey and the chairs, which lined three of those walls, were wooden with burgundy upholstery. A child's table and chair set sat in one corner, surrounded by stuffed animals and books and across from her, there was a small windowed hatch into the office for making payments. Nothing had changed since her last visit to this practice.
Then a door to her left opened and a smiling face she immediately recognized appeared. "Hey." Doctor Maggie Sawyer lifted a hand to invite Kara to come with her. The therapist was a petite woman with long, dark hair, brown eyes and a beautiful smile that showed off a pair of adorable dimples. Kara felt herself smiling back, glad to see the woman with whom she'd shared a large part of her recent history.
"Hey," the blonde replied, getting up to follow Maggie down a hallway to her office. She settled into her normal chair. It fit like a worn-in, leather glove and she grinned as the therapist took a seat in her comfortable desk chair. "Feels like it's been years since I saw you last."
Maggie propped her feet up on a small stool and balanced a writing pad on her jeans-clad thighs. "It does, doesn't it?" she chuckled. "So, how are you doing?"
Kara sighed. "I have so much to tell you," she said. "So much has happened in the past few weeks."
"Really?" Maggie replied. "Well, I guess you should start at the beginning then."
The blonde nodded and began her story, starting with the day she met Cat at Breathe. She talked solidly for almost an hour as Maggie took notes and asked a small number of questions along the way and, when the session was almost over, the therapist nodded. "Wow, things really have moved along for you, Kara."
"It's amazing but sometimes overwhelming." Kara paused then. "Falling in love with Cat, the case against my rapists, what happened with Andrea. It's a lot."
Maggie nodded. "It really is but, you know, I'd like to start with Cat in your next session, if that's ok?"
"Start with Cat? Why?"
"Because YOU started with her," Maggie replied with a chuckle. "She's obviously very important to you. I'd like to talk about her."
"Ok, sure," the blonde nodded. "Thanks, Maggie. I appreciate your seeing me at such short notice."
"No problem," the therapist replied. "I just have one more question for you before you go, Kara."
"Sure."
"Have you had any suicidal thoughts recently?"
Kara met and held the therapist's eyes solidly. "I can honestly say that I haven't had a single moment where I've truly wanted to die since the last time I saw you."
"It's good to hear that. See you this time next week?" The dimples came out in full force and Kara smiled in return.
"Great. See you this time next week."
Xx
Cat leaned back in her chair and twirled her pen in her fingers, her phone pressed against her ear. "Well, I want something to buy rather than rent. If the foundation is going to pump money into a building, we're going to want to own it... I know, it's a pretty specific set of requirements but I've said it before; if we have to strip down the interior and rebuild, we will." She listened for a moment. "Really? I'd definitely be interesting in seeing that. Can you set up a viewing please?" Cat smiled widely. "Sounds good. Let me know when you can get us in and I'll try to get Kara to come with me." She chuckled softly. "I know, she's great at this stuff. Talk later. Bye."
The CEO looked down at her phone. She knew that Kara had gone to therapy and she didn't want to bother her, but she sent a quick text asking her girlfriend to call her when she had some time. To her surprised, Kara called immediately.
Hi Honey. You need me?
Cat grinned widely. "Constantly," she purred. She cleared her throat and sobered then. "How was therapy?"
It was great. I didn't realize how much I miss talking to Maggie.
Cat heard a beeping noise in the background and realized that Kara was getting into her car. "That's good. Seeing her next week?"
Yeah. She has some questions and then we can ease into the bigger stuff.
"Excellent. So yeah, speaking of bigger stuff, the realtor called. She said she has a building she wants us to take a look at. It's downtown, red bricked and the owner wants a quick sale since he's working on buying somewhere else himself."
Cool. Does she need us today?
"I'm waiting for her to call me back with a time. If you can't make it, I'll take pictures while I'm there."
Okey dokey. I've gotta run, Honey. I have a client in twenty. Text me the time if you get one and I'll let you know if I can make it.
"Ok, Darling. Talk later. Love you."
Love you too. Bye.
Xx
Alex was bored. She'd watched TV, she'd read a couple of chapters of her book and she'd even taken a walk but nothing had really held her interest. Briana was at work and Alex missed her. The nurse had been spending nights with Alex for the past week and now that she was back working nights again, Alex realized how much Briana had filled a gap in her life that had been vacant a long time.
The doctor got up and pulled her jacket on, gingerly sliding her injured arm into her sleeve. Alex had stopped wearing her sling the day before and had been trying to use her arm a little to start the process of rebuilding range of motion. So far it was going ok. The wound was healing well and the ache was tolerable without meds. She was ready to go home.
Alex dropped a quick text to Kara and then packed up the few things she had there before calling an Uber and heading back to her own apartment. As much as she liked being around Kara and appreciated all she'd done, Alex needed her own space. She'd always been like that... strong, independent and fearless. Kara had asked her once why she hadn't gone into law enforcement. Alex had laughed and told her sister that she wasn't good at following orders. Kara had agreed with a big smile.
The doctor unpacked her bag and then ordered some groceries to be delivered before taking a nap. She was glad to be home.
Xx
Carter wandered into Cat's home office, a chocolate bar gripped between his teeth, his hands occupied with a game on his iPhone. His Mom looked up from her laptop and smiled. "Hi Sweetheart. Your timing is perfect. I wanted to talk to you about something."
The young man paused his game and moved to take a seat at the small worktable across from her desk, chewing on his candy. "What is it, Mom?"
Cat joined him there, and she leaned on the table on her forearms, her fingers laced together. "Well, I asked Kara to move in with us and she was concerned that you might not want that, so she asked me to ask you before she says yes for sure."
Carter blinked. "You're asking me if it's ok for Kara to move in here?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm asking," Cat nodded.
The young man grinned and got up to hug his Mom. "Of course it's ok! Can she move in tomorrow?"
Cat laughed. "Well, maybe not tomorrow but very soon." She picked up her phone and called Kara. "Carter wants to know if you can move in tomorrow," she said when her girlfriend answered. Then she laughed. "Kara is thrilled and said that she'll start moving her stuff here asap." She smiled widely. "And she says she loves you."
"Tell her I love her too," Carter replied and Cat relayed the message, her eyes filling with tears of joy. Soon she'd have her family under one roof.
Xx
"Conor," Kara sighed as she took a step back from her client. "Keep your hands to yourself please. Otherwise, I'll have to pass you off to one of the male instructors. Please don't make me have to do that."
"Come on, Baby," Conor replied with a leering smile. "What do you expect, comin' up in here in that bathing suit with that gorgeous body?"
The instructor shook her head. "Seriously? This is my job. I can't teach in jeans and a sweater."
The man's face hardened. "How would you like to lose that job?" he replied, reaching for her again. But Kara side stepped, her temper snapping.
"You know what? I'm not even going to pass you off to another instructor. I DO NOT tolerate that behavior at my business. Get out before I call security."
Conor's face changed into a look of surprise. "Your business?"
"Correct. Now, I'm two seconds away from having your ass thrown out of here. Leave now. I'll have your membership cancelled and your remaining balance refunded. Kara's hands were on her hips and her blue eyes were flashing.
The man held up his hands and shrugged. "Whatever." He got out of the pool and sauntered toward the locker room, leaving Kara seething, waist deep in water.
"Asshole," she muttered but then she looked at the clock. If she hurried, she'd have just enough time to catch Cat at the building walk-through after all. She headed back to her office to her private changing room, texting Cat as she went, and changed into jeans and a light green, V-necked shirt. On the way out, she told the account manager to revoke and refund Conor's account and once Kara had squared that away and knew he'd never be back, she felt calmer. She was going building shopping with Cat and then later on that evening, she was going to pack a suitcase and bring her first lot of stuff over to her girlfriend's house.
Carter wanted asap? That's what he would get!
Xx
"Wow," Kara breathed softly as she stepped into the four-story, red-bricked building, hand in hand with her lover. The bottom floor was a large, mostly open-plan space with a small area of offices off to one side. The floors and walls were in good repair and Cat looked around, a smile on her face.
"Wow, indeed." She glanced over at the realtor. "Karen, is there anything we need to know about building restrictions?"
"No, Miss Grant. There's carte blanche on this property," the woman replied, looking at the folder of information she'd printed and brought with her. "Each upper level floor is divided into six rooms and there are also three full bathrooms on each of them. It used to be a hostel at one point."
"That would allow us to take in eighteen folks at a time," Kara said. "Or maybe depending on the size of the rooms, we could divide them down further and take twice as many people."
"Right," Cat agreed. "We could also have a bunk area for people just looking for somewhere for a night or two."
After touring the whole property, Cat and Kara asked for the information to be emailed to them so that everyone on the board could take a look. It was pretty perfect for what they needed and the price was even in the range Cat had figured, albeit the higher end. Karen led them out, feeling optimistic that she'd be making a sale.
"I really like this building," Kara said, once she and Cat were alone. "It's like it was almost tailored to what we need."
"Still needs a lot of work," Cat replied. "But less that I figured we'd have to do. The rooms upstairs are plenty big to divide into two and putting up framing and dry walling won't take long. We'd have a shorter list than we originally did."
"Right." Kara smiled and wrapped her arms around Cat's waist, tugging her close and kissing her. "This is going to be great." She paused then and tilted her head. "We should have LGBTQ+ counselling sessions. I want this facility to be completely inclusive."
"We need a mission statement," Cat replied with a nod. "Let me think about that."
"Ok," Kara replied happily. She released Cat and took out her phone to use her Maps app. "Hmmm... there's a swimming club nearby. I've had another idea. Why don't I do five hour-long swimming classes per week, a different time each day, but open it up to the public too. We could charge a small fee that will help toward the cost of hiring out the pool from the club. Actually, no, hold on... let me call Winn really quick."
She dialed Winn's contact and stepped away to talk to him. Cat waited until she came back and chuckled as Kara grinned widely. "You look like the Cheshire Cat," the CEO laughed.
"Well, Winn and I just agreed on something. The classes I teach at the swimming club will be part of the Breathe schedule, which means that we'll cover the cost of the pool. It'll also give our members another place to come if they happen to be out this way, but I anticipate that it'll be mostly folks from New Beginnings. I'll need to see the size of the pool but I could probably take about 20 per class."
"Fantastic, Kara," Cat praised. "And thank you."
"More than welcome. It's a way to offset some of the costs," the younger blonde replied. "Ok, time to get the ball rolling. I have to pack some stuff back at my place and bring it to yours. Alex texted me earlier. She's moved back to her place. I think she's ready to be back in her own bed."
"With Briana," Cat chuckled.
"Right," Kara laughed.
"Good. I'll make sure the building information gets disseminated to the board but I think they'll agree that this is the right property for us after the others we've looked at," the CEO added. "I'll also get in touch with the building contractor company I normally use at CatCo. I trust them and they'll be able to work through the permits we'll need for construction."
"Sounds like a plan," Kara nodded. "I'll see you at the house later on, Honey."
"Later, Darling."