Life at Christmas
Chapter 15
Sunday December 27
Kate opened her eyes and smiled. Right in front of her was Rick; his eyes were open and he was watching her. "Still creepy, Rick." However, instead of admonishing him further for watching her sleep all night she reached out to kiss him.
"Maybe to you, but I'm going to be right here until next December, watching," Rick promised.
Kate decided that that was sweet. As long as she didn't see him watching her she could handle that. "So how awake are you?" she grinned and reached down to take him in her hand. With just a little work he had a partial erection which was enough to keep her going.
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Kate was clean, dry, and ecstatically happy as she stood there and let Rick lace up her corset again since she was going to wear the same dress as yesterday.
"How's that?" Rick just needed to put a bow in it to hold it closed.
Kate took a deep breath to see if she could get enough air. "It'll work, thanks." If she didn't get Rick to do it she was going to have to have one of the ladies do it for her.
Once he was done Kate twisted, took his head in her hands, and kissed him. "Have fun." Wearing her tennis shoes she unlocked the door and headed out another busy day awaiting her.
The mornings, she learned, dealt mostly with guests in the inn, coming down to find out where to go and what there was to see. The ladies or the lone guy that worked the front desk were capable of answering their questions so Kate just watched.
As part of what was turning into her normal routine she walked the entire inn to check on how things were looking. She made sure everything looked clean and fresh. Any pillow that looked out of place got moved and any stray piece of trash got picked up. Since everyone, including her, had a name attached to their outfit she called each of them by name.
She was even starting to learn them. A few that she normally met and talked with were getting easier. "Bailey!" Kate smiled as she watched the young lady walk in wearing her outfit.
"Hi, Kate." However, Bailey stopped her and Kate found herself being looked at closely.
"Something wrong?" Kate had looked at herself in the mirror earlier and her makeup looked good to her.
"Something's different." Bailey couldn't quite put her finger on it. Kate was one of the most lovely women she had ever met. She was certainly one of the taller ones thanks to those legs of hers. Kate's hair looked the same and she was smiling though she had been doing that a lot lately. It was something.
Then she thought she had it. "You've finally come to the realization that you like it here."
Kate fought to keep her smile from breaking her face. Thanks to Rick she wasn't learning to like it here, she was learning to love it here. "I still have to go back and work at my other job. I have to finish something before I can stay here longer and that might not be until summer."
"Is it that important?" What could possibly be that important?
"It's very important. Life and death kind of important. Don't worry I'll solve it." Kate decided to hug her since she was learning to really like this young woman. "Have a good day, Bailey."
"You too, Kate." They both went their own ways.
Kate made it back to the front desk and was standing at the front doors looking out. "Is it my imagination or does it look colder out there today?"
"Today's high is supposed to be 41 degrees while tonight's low is going to stay in the low 20s. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, too. Then if it gets cold enough the rain will either turn into snow or sleet and cover everything with ice," Melody said.
"Brrrr," Kate shivered.
"December's just a warm up for January. You want cold wait until next month." Hearing that didn't help Kate feel any warmer.
"Great and my dad's coming out here in a few days." Being frozen in inside an inn wasn't what she had in mind when getting him to come visit.
"The trains aren't normally affected by the weather. Now the roads between here and there can sometimes be a little more tricky. It's not January yet so he should be fine. Just remind him to bring a heavy coat.
"And pray that a weather system doesn't blow in off the water. We lost electricity for a week one year thanks to all the ice," Adam said, shaking his head at the memory.
"Are we scaring you?" Melody asked. They didn't want Kate to run away.
"If I've survived Christmas so far I can handle a little weather. Which reminds me. I need to find out just how much home heating oil we have left and when the next truck is going to show up." Kate left them and went to the mechanical room. Thankfully she didn't have to go outside to reach it.
Franklin explained that that big bump in the parking lot was the partially buried oil tank and last they had checked it was about half full. The next truck to fill their tank was in less than 2 weeks.
Kate was still in the mechanical room when someone found her. "You have someone at the front desk."
"Me?" Kate didn't remember anyone coming. She didn't have anything scheduled so who could this be? Curious, she followed her back to the front desk where she saw someone standing there with a big flat case in hand.
Kate stopped in front of him. "How can I help you?"
"I'm David Murphy. David Murphy Architects. Is this a good time for you?" He knew it was Sunday and his office was technically closed today but he was willing to take a risk.
"I suppose." Kate didn't get it. She didn't need an architect. "What are you here for?"
"I was approached to come up with a couple of sketches for a possible renovation to your private quarters. Someone here, or I'm guessing a lot of someones, think your room is too small and you need more space. I was paid just enough to come up with a couple of rough sketches for you to see."
That had Kate turning her head to look at the three of her staff that were still in view and glared at them for this. All they did was smile back at her.
"Do you have a large table we can use somewhere?" David inquired politely. Depending on which plan she liked meant more money to his office.
"Conference room, I suppose." Kate lead him to the smaller of the two conference rooms. Neither of them were going to be used until later in January. Kate glared at everyone that worked here along the way. She was going to get them for this.
Kate flipped on the lights and he zipped open his large flat case, took out two large boards, and put them on the table one at a time. "These are just rough sketches. To do a true design I will need to send a team to gather measurements. All I was given was a rough sketch and a few pictures," David warned her.
"Right now your space consists of a large bedroom with a wood burning fireplace and a large bathroom with no closet. Each of these sketches means taking over an adjoining janitors closet that will need to be relocated somewhere as well as an adjoining storage room.
"Now just how the roof is structured will tell us which of these sketches will work best. That or a totally different design," David told her and Kate began looking at each of them. Both were similar though each was a little different.
"Obviously the fireplace has to stay and the bathroom needs to stay. Both to help reduce costs. The primary challenge is getting light into any of these spaces. The only outside wall you have available looks out onto the back parking lot.
"We turn your bedroom into a living room with a dining room. Modify the entrance location a little. Move your bedroom out here along with a small kitchen, almost calling it a kitchenette. It's intended to allow any children to get something to eat or drink and a husband to raid the refrigerator in the middle of the night." David saw the look she gave him for that. "Or not."
"One bedroom with two large beds or two much smaller rooms with a Jack and Jill bathroom in addition to your space. Naturally these are just sketches and actual finishes will come later. …Thoughts?" David was interested in her feedback.
"Besides me shooting my staff for this?" Kate asked him which had him looking nervous. Kate was hiding a grin. "For one I don't have money to make any changes yet. I don't even live here yet. I still have a job and an apartment in New York. So nothing's happening any time soon if at all." David's spirits for a future project just took a hit.
"How are you with boiler rooms instead of this?" Kate asked him.
"I can do that, too. You have a problem with yours?" David's interest returned suddenly.
"Follow me. We can leave this here for now." Kate made her way down the hall.
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David had seen her mechanical room and could see her problem. "My staff tells me I'm going to need a new system in a year or two. I'd just as soon get rid of this massive thing at the same time. I can't shut down because I no longer have hot water during this."
Kate didn't have a coat unlike David had and just had to put back on, yet she followed him outside. Thankfully they were back inside in a short space of time.
Then back in the conference room. "Okay, problem number one. This area doesn't have natural gas service yet, and I have no timeline for that to happen. Having said that oil heating is less environmentally friendly and more expensive. The only thing more expensive would be electric and that would never work for you.
"I'm going to suggest that you also remove the oil tank and replace it with a propane tank. It's about 30% less expensive than oil but more expensive than natural gas. The good thing about switching to propane is that when natural gas becomes available changing over to that and keeping all of your new equipment is easy and simple.
"Now for the two main problems. To do this with today's codes means I would need to remove your existing mechanical room in its entirety. Your building isn't sprinklered and your mechanical room will need to be sprinklered. If I keep the mechanical room attached to your main building you will need to have your entire inn sprinklered and that will be very expensive. If I build a separate building that's built with a four hour fire wall neither building will need to be sprinklered. I think. I will have to look into that first though."
Kate groaned. "It gets better." David wasn't done yet. "Solving your hot water problem during this construction is easy. We just put the entire system on a flat bed and make temporary connections. But what will happen is that we'll end up taking up a lot of your parking lot for this. Between the new building, temporary trailer, and a spot for the contractor to put his trailer and container for storage of supplies you're going to lose a lot of it."
Kate could only groan again. She had never thought getting a new hot water system would ever be this difficult.
"I do, however, have an idea for you to solve this problem. It looks like the lot across the street is empty. I can look into it for you. You could buy it and turn that area into your parking lot for staff and leave what's left of your parking lot for guests or a little of both," David suggested.
Kate thought about that but mostly all she saw was dollar signs. She needed a new hot water system and she didn't want to see exposed fire sprinkler piping running everywhere inside the Inn.
"I'll let you know. First I need to save up enough money for this. It comes before this new suite my staff has sprung on me," Kate said.
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David the architect was gone and Kate had a lot to think about. Rick's Confederate bills really needed to come through for her. There were presently four of her staff at the front desk that she needed to talk to as well.
"I appreciate the thought. But you four and everyone else are in big trouble." Kate glared at them.
"We were just trying to look out for you," Judith said. "What if you got married and had kids? Then what would you do? Go buy a house in town or our of town like say New London. That room might have been big enough for Abigail but it's not enough for you. The owner should live here not 30 minutes from here."
"We're just trying to help," Bailey said, looking apologetic.
Kate sighed. She wasn't used to people doing things like this for her. It felt weird. A good kind of weird, but still weird. "Well it did get me an architect for the hot water system I'm going to need first. Long before I need to worry about this suite of yours. So thanks for that. But I'm still getting you for this." Kate pointed at each of them. "And I want the cost of getting him out here so I can reimburse you and don't give me any flack." She was paying for him and not them.
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Kate was done for today and retreated to her room. To her delight Rick there waiting for her. She hadn't seen him all day and couldn't resist walking into his arms and letting him hold her. She might be tough Kate Beckett the Homicide Detective but she was also a woman and she wanted Rick to hold her.
"So they got you an architect to design you a complete suite." Rick was grinning widely.
"Saw that, did you? I don't know what possessed them to do that. I'm not married and I don't have children." She had never really thought about either all that much.
"They're a good group. It shows that they care about you and want you to stay," Rick while he played with her hair.
"Yeah." She was going to have to get used to that it looked like. "At least now I know what it's going to take to get a new hot water system. I was just thinking rip out the old and put something new in. What do I know about building codes?" Kate tried to melt into Rick and forget about her problems.
"It did sound like your architect knew what he was talking about." Rick offers.
That got Kate to lift her head to look up at him since she was basically flat footed wearing her tennis shoes still. "Spying on me, I see." Kate wasn't mad since she was smiling.
"Better get used to it. In a few days I'll be right behind you and you'll never know it," Rick said.
"Don't remind me. These next 11 months are going to be hell. So speaking of that." Kate left his arms and turned her back on him. "Undo me and start stripping. We're making love again and as often as we can until you disappear on me."
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Monday, December 28, 2011
Kate opened her eyes the next morning and as usual Rick was looking right at her. It was still a little creepy but she wasn't going to be seeing this for much longer so she kept her mouth shut and didn't complain.
Instead she reached out to kiss him and then moved in as close as she could. "How about a movie tonight? I could change out of my dress and put on blue jeans. Then we could sit in the TV room together and watch a movie. Think of it as our first date."
"I thought I was the one that was supposed to be doing the courting?" Rick said, his eyes sparkling with mirth.
"It's the 21st century. Women can do a lot of things now. So was that a yes?" Kate smiled at him.
"I'll even let you throw popcorn at me." Rick grinned. "Do we even have popcorn?"
"Buy one of those popcorn machines. Good thinking!" Kate kissed him. "I get to pick the movie though." Kate informs him.
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They were both clean after spending a long time in the shower, partly because Kate had her back shoved up against the shower wall and her legs wrapped around him as they had sex in their hot shower.
This time Kate put on her first dress she had worn here so didn't need Rick's help with the laces on the back. "Have fun, just don't scare the crap out of them." Kate gave him a quick kiss and left her room to start her day.
First thing she needed was coffee so she headed for the kitchen and had to wait a moment while one of the staff used their new, very fancy, espresso machine. She would try it but they were better at it so she waited.
"Thank you!" Kate sipped and hummed as it went down her throat and instantly went to every part of her body, or so it felt.
"Breakfast?" Curt's assistant asked.
"No thanks, I'm good. Maybe lunch." Kate made her way to housekeeping to see if they needed anything. She reminded them that there should be a delivery for them some time today.
Next came walking the inn to verify everything looked clean to her. Then she stopped at the front desk. "How's our ghost?" Kate asked them, knowing Rick had been doing something.
"All quiet so far," Melody said.
"Just remind them that we advertise that we're haunted if they say anything." Kate changed her mind. "I think I'm going to steal a piece of toast. And maybe another cup of coffee."
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Kate was mostly done with both when suddenly her cell phone started ringing. "I'm on vacation." Technically she was working but she was also on vacation. She sighed and fished it out of her dress where she'd hidden it. "Beckett."
"This is Brent Thomas of Sotheby's. I want to inform you that your items were sold on December 26, 2011 and that we will be deducting our fee and issuing a wire transfer to the account you indicate when you filled out your paperwork."
"That's great." Kate could use the money. "May I ask what was the final selling price?"
"$890,000.00 US," Kate heard and promptly dropped her cell phone on her desk.
She scrambled for her phone and picked it back up. "Say that again." She had to have heard wrong.
"Eight hundred ninety thousand United States dollars. Minus our fee. You can expect to see the money in your account within an hour. Your Confederate bills were authenticated as being genuine and our buyers clearly thought they were worth that amount.
"Congratulations, we look forward to serving you again should you ever have another item to sell at auction. Thank you for trusting Sotheby's with your items for auction. Have a pleasant day." Brent hung up abruptly and left her sitting there in stunned silence.
"Eight… Eight… Judith!" Kate yelled for her from the front desk and saw her run into her office. "I need that card that architect left behind. We're hiring him!" Kate knew she had one more auction to go. If it came anywhere near close to this amount she was going to have something like one and a half million dollars to work with.
Judith was back with his card immediately and was beaming since she thought Kate was going to do the new suite when actually she was thinking hot water system.
"Close the door, please." Her knee bouncing, Kate waited impatiently for the door to close.
"Rick, get in here." The second he showed up Kate leapt up to kiss him hard. "We're rich, babe, seriously rich." Kate knew he'd barely scratched what he had buried.
"Which reminds me. We need to dig up your bills and hide them somewhere else. Your bills just made us a lot of money and that's just four of them. I'm going to use that money to make a big change around here. I don't want the contractor stumbling upon it and taking it for himself. So we need to dig it all up and hide it somewhere else before you disappear on me. …Please?" Kate searched his eyes which had a different look to them.
"I'm not trying to steal…" Kate stopped when he said something.
"Babe?" Rick had stopped there and mostly missed everything else.
Kate smiled at him. She hadn't really even noticed until now. She had used that name because she loved him. She was actually now admitting it to herself.
She loved him.