Hey guys,
Hope everyone is well during this strange time! Work is crazy, I am exhausted, just putting it out there, no, you do not NEED a pallet of cat litter, the world is not ending! Okay, if you have 40 cats, cool, but not for 2 cats lol.
For those of you that don't know I manage a pet shop, otherwise that would have sounded totally weird. Anyway, now I sound like someone who's hording all the toilet paper! Rant over… I'm all better now lol!
Anyway, I'm not sure abut this chapter, I'm tired and grumpy lol, but felt like in need to get one out!
xx
Live and Learn.
Chapter 14
As Kate pulled into the cemetery car park she felt her heart beat faster, she turned off the ignition and hesitated as Charlie exited the car, he poked his head back in.
"Are you coming?"
"Oh, I didn't know if you wanted some time…"
"No, c'mon, I'll introduce you…"
She got out the car and felt her phone vibrate in her pocked, pulling it out, she looked down at the caller ID and hesitated, it was Mike. Charlie was already inside the grounds, he looked back, she was hovering around the gate. He walked back and held out his hand in front of her.
"I thought I was the one who needed my hand held."
She declined Mike's called and shoved her phone into her pocket.
"Sorry… it, just, it brings back memories…"
Charlie held his hand to his forehead feeling selfish.
"Oh, Kate, I'm sorry, I didn't even think…"
She pulled his hand away from his face and squeezed, she pulled on it as she entered the cemetery.
"It's okay, lets do this together…"
Charlie nodded and led her to the grave site, she realised they were still holding hands as they stood in front of April's headstone. She quickly pulled her hand away, Charlie pretended not to notice and knelt down, placing the flowers on the base of the head stone.
"Hey, monkey…"
Kate couldn't hep her chuckle, Charlie looked back over his shoulder at her.
"Yeah, they called her Apes, like April was too long of a name that she needed a nickname? But somehow it got turned into Monkey…"
He turned back to her grave, Kate took a few steps backing giving them their privacy, Charlie rose from his knees and grabbed her hand, pulling her closer.
"So this is Kate, she gets me. She insists we're only friends, but, I guess that's okay…"
Kate couldn't help but roll her eyes, her body stiffened remembering she was in a cemetery. Charlie squeezed her hand drawing her attention to his eyes.
"It's okay, she rolled her eyes a lot too…"
"I bet…"
She scanned her headstone and read it aloud.
"Live without fear, Love without limits. That's good advice…"
Charlie ran his hand over the lettering on the headstone, Kate's heart sank seeing the tears fall from his eyes. She knelt next to him, placing her hand on his back, letting him know she was there. He sighed and re-positioned the flowers, avoiding her gaze.
"They were her last words to me, we both knew I wouldn't get there in time, so we said our goodbyes over sat phone. She said if she didn't make it, I needed to live without fear and love without limits…"
Kate felt a lump form in her throat, she closed her eyes, trying to compose herself, turning into a blubbering mess was not going to help Charlie feel at ease. She took a deep breath in and held it, but it didn't work, she was about to lose it. She rose to her feet and quickly walked away, Charlie wasn't sure what was going on and he chased after her.
"Kate, are you okay?"
She refused to look at him and kept walking as tears poured down her face.
"Don't worry about me, go and have your time, please…"
"Are you okay?"
"No, but, I'll feel worse if you don't go back there and have your time… I'll just be in the car."
She ran to the car, Charlie was torn, he sighed and returned to April's grave.
Kate sat in the car trying to calm her breathing, she didn't think it would be this hard, it wasn't even Jim's grave. She didn't expect to feel this way, she buried her face in her hands and sobbed.
A short time later Charlie returned to the car, Kate had managed to stem the flow of tears in to a trickle. He hopped into the car and was immediately concerned seeing her tear stained face.
"I shouldn't have asked you to come, I'm sorry."
"Charlie, you don't need to be sorry, I should be, I was supposed to be supporting you!"
"Seriously, though, are you okay?"
"Please, don't worry about me…"
She wiped the tears away and put on a smile.
"Okay, what's next?"
Charlie paused, he waited to see if she would cave and explain herself, but his phone rang, interrupting them.
"Hey sweetie, yes, I'm okay… no, I'm at home, well, actually, I've just visited mum. No, not alone, ah, just a friend, a work friend, she's in the Navy too. Yes, a woman, no, I'm not hiding a girlfriend from you, we just have a lot in common. Anyway, how are you? Good, yeah, come up when ever you can. Great, I'll see you next month, I love you."
He hung up the phone, Kate couldn't help but giggle at the pink hue that covered his cheeks.
"That was Molly, she worries…"
"Hey, I get it… it's nice they worry, but that should be our job?"
His phone rang again, he looked at the caller ID.
"Oh, it's Grace, of course… Hey sweetheart, oh, did she? Yes, her name is Kate, she is a friend from work. No, I'm not lying. How are you? No, I'm not trying to change the subject. I'm glad you're good, yes, she coming down next month, that would be great. I'll talk to you later, love you too."
He hung up the phone, his cheeks now a bright shade of red.
"Sorry, I guess they don't hear of me leaving the house with a female."
"It's fine, Maddie was the same when Dutchy came back into my life, it was all about me finding happiness and hassling me why we weren't together. But anyway, this day is about you… what's next?"
Kate and Charlie sat on the sand dunes, Charlie chucked the lone, one legged seagull a chip.
"Poor bugger…"
It squawked lowered it's other leg, and flock of seagulls appeared from no where, they sorounded the their beady eyes focused on the pile of left over chips. Kate tried to swat them away as they closed in.
"Don't you know that's a trick! They suck you in, making your feel sorry for them! Now look what you've done!"
He laughed as he flung the rest of the chips as far away as possible.
"Run!"
They laughed a they strolled down the beach, Kate picked up a shell and skimmed it across the water's surface.
"So, how's Brisbane? Your crew good?"
Charlie's face lit up, Kate wrinkled her face, confused about his reaction to her question.
"What?"
"So, you gonna apply?"
"Huh?"
"You've heard about our CO retiring?"
"No! I was just making conversation…"
He looked disappointed.
"Oh, well, why not consider it, and yeah, the crew is pretty good. I've been on a few ships, and this one is probably the best. But I could never top Dutchy's stories about the Hammersley, that's what I'm really looking for, maybe you could help with that?"
Kate shook her head and she scuffed her feet along the sand.
"Yeah right, it's been 18 years, I don't know if I'd even pass the fitness test."
"Dutchy would give you some free PT sessions! And I'm sure fleet command would love you back out there!"
"Don't tempt me!
Her phone rang, it was a Creswell number.
"Duty calls… Hello, Kate McGregor."
"Kate, it's Mike."
"Oh, Mike, hi, sorry I couldn't take your call before…"
"All, good, but umm, I do need to talk to you, it's about Maddie."
"Is she okay?"
"Ah, yes, technically, but she's claiming she sick she hasn't been to class in a few days. I went to speak to her and she seemed pretty upset, and the way she spoke to me, ah, look, I feel for her, and I know you guys are umm, having a bit of a hard time, but it was pretty disrespectful."
"Mike, I'm sorry…"
"Yeah, look, I'd just hate her to get behind, and if she spoke to anyone else like that…"
"Mike, you can't give her special treatment, that's not fair on anyone, especially her."
"So what, you want me to punish her?"
"Of course not, but she can't disrespect you."
"I'm confused, do you want me to punish her or not?"
"Mike, it's not up to me, you shouldn't even be calling me, you should be dealing with it as her superior."
Mike was unsure why she was getting annoyed at him.
"I just thought it'll make things difficult when we let her know about us…"
"I know, but I need you to be thinking like her mentor and not…"
Mike heard seagulls in the back ground and interrupted.
"Where are you?"
"Oh, just down at the beach."
"Not at work?"
"No, I needed a personal day…"
"Oh, has that got anything to do with Maddie's attitude."
"Look, can we talk about this later? I'm being rude right now."
"Oh, sorry, didn't realise you had company."
"I'll talk to you later, Mike."
Charlie glanced over to her sensing her frustration.
"Everything okay?"
She let out a grunt shoving her phone back into her pocket.
"It's all too hard, maybe I should come back out…"
He nudged her with his elbow flashing her a cheeky smile.
"Hey, it was a serious offer, well, I don't make the decisions, but I bet it would be a yes!"
Kate kicked a pebble along the sand wondering if she should involve Charlie in her drama.
"So, could I ask you for a favour?"
Charlie raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, Captain Kate McGregor asking little ol Charlie for a favour?"
Her eyes darted over to him, Charlie could see it was something serious and dropped his comedy act.
"Sorry, what is it?"
"Is there any chance you can talk to Dutchy for me? He hasn't replied to any of my messages or calls and…"
Charlie winced and stopped walking.
"Kate, I'd do a lot for you after today but, I dunno, do you really want me involved?"
"I know, I normally wouldn't ask but, I don't know what to do."
He tried to avoid looking at her, he knew as soon as he saw her desperate expression he would cave.
"Please, I'll beg…"
He glanced up to her, and shook his head.
"Sure, but if this goes to shit, it's on you."
"Yes, totally…"
Kate waited nervously in her lounge room as Charlie knocked on Dutchy's door, he saw Dutchy peek out the curtain and waved.
"Dutchy, mate!"
Dutchy opened the door relieved to see a friend.
"Charlie, hey, come in…"
Charlie walked into the house trying to figure out a way to bring up Kate without being too obvious.
"How are ya?"
"Yeah, good… you want a beer?"
"Love one…"
Dutchy chucked him a cold one and they sat out on the deck.
"So, you on a few days R and R?"
He nodded taking a sip of his beer.
"Yeah, got back this morning…"
There was a pause in the conversation, Dutchy swiveled his chair around to face Charlie.
"Ah, so, you okay?"
Charlie tilted his head not, not understanding his tone.
"What do you mean?"
Dutchy cleared his throat placing his beer on the table.
"Ah, I know what today is, you don't have to pretend around me."
Charlie realised he was talking about the anniversary of April's death.
"Oh, yeah, actually, Kate came with me to the cemetery."
Dutchy hesitated, wondering if he heard right.
"Kate?"
"Yeah, I thought she'd kinda understand, you know?"
Dutchy stayed silent, Kate was the last person he wanted to talk about. Charlie glanced over to him trying to gauge his mood mentioning her name.
"She's pretty great, I see why you'd always talk about her and the Hammersley crew…"
Dutchy groaned, rolling his eyes, he could tell what he was doing.
"She told you we had a fight, didn't she?"
Charlie took a sip of his beer, trying to hide his guilty face. Dutchy shook his head and kicked his chair.
"Charlie, c'mon, mate, you're supposed to be my friend…"
"I am, Dutchy, but I don't understand why your not being hers."
Dutchy folded his arms defensibly over his chest, he didn't think Charlie had a right to comment about the situation, he wasn't there.
"Oh, c'mon, I am am being her friend! You didn't see how he treated her, I'm not supporting that again. I'm telling her the truth, that's how I'm being a friend."
Charlie couldn't look him in the eye saying what he was about to say.
"Oh, I thought you might have been angry at her cos you were actually in love with her?"
Dutchy sighed and dropped his arms picking up his beer.
"I love her, but I'm not in love with her, but that's why I can't support it."
"So you're seriously just going to, what? Act like a teenager and ignore her?"
"Is that why you're here? To lecture me about Kate and Mike?"
Charlie felt bad not being on his side but he wasn't sure why Dutchy was being so stubborn.
"No, I wanted to see my mate, but I'm not sure that he's here right now. Dutchy, she's one of, I not, your best friend, don't you want to see her happy? I just seems like you're jealous, and I get you're not in love with her but I can't believe that you'd just abandon her…"
He finished his beer and plonked the empty bottle on the table in front of him.
"Maddie isn't talking to her and I don't know her as well as you do, she really needs a friend right now."
Dutchy hissed and took a gulp from his beer bottle.
"Seems like she's got you to cheer her on."
He walked out of the house shaking his head, he walked into Kate's house, she lept off the couch hearing the door open.
"How'd you go?"
"I dunno, he's pretty adamant that Mike's bad for you."
She sighed and fell back on to the couch, Charlie's phone beeped.
"Well, duty calls…"
"Crash sailed?"
He nodded, she walked him to the door and leaned on the door frame.
"I'd give anything to be crash sailed right now…"
"Well, give Fleet Command a call, I'm sure they'd help you out! Anyway, thanks for today."
He gave her and hug and boop on the nose, she gave him a friendly shove.
"Yeah, even if you nearly got us eaten by seagulls!"
Later that night Kate flicked aimlessly through the TV channels, glancing at her phone every few minutes. She sighed, picking it up, and opened the messages. She had sent Dutchy five apology messaged but he hadn't replied. She tried calling Maddie for the seventh time, but it went to voicemail. She chucked the phone back on to the couch as Mike knocked on the door and entered.
"Hey."
She jumped up from the couch, relieved to see him and lept into his arms.
"Hi…"
He was concerned at her reaction, he held her by her shoulders, she dropped her head trying to hide her tears.
"Kate? What's the matter?"
"Do you love me?"
Mike couldn't help but hesitate at her question, Kate stepped back shaking her head, not believing what she'd said.
"I'm sorry, this week is just getting to me, and I feel like I have no one, well, except Charlie?"
"Charlie?"
"Yeah, he's kind of been my rock this week."
"Why didn't you call me?"
"You're dealing with enough, and with Maddie…"
She fell back on to the couch feeling emotionally drained.
"Just to let you know, I did give her a warning, it's not on her record or anything, and be fore you say it, no, I wasn't giving her special treatment. I thought, if this was a student I didn't know, what would I do? And I would go an try to talk to them, and if I found out they were having a tough time at home I'd be firm, but I wouldn't want to make the situation worse."
She looked up at him and smiled, even if he lying and gave her special treatment, she was thankful, she couldn't deal with anymore today.
"Thank you…"
"So who else is giving you a hard time?"
"Don't worry about it…"
He knew by her lack of eye contact that it was about them.
"Kate, I'm sure this will blow over, I mean, look, we have a rocky past but if we can move past it surely everyone else can, I mean, they're not the ones in this relationship, we are. So, you been seeing bit of Charlie?"
"Mike, there nothing to be jealous about."
"I'm not jealous!"
She smirked and rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, cos you're never jealous!"
Mike's jaw dropped, he grabbed her by the waist and tickled her.
Kate's phone was in the kitchen and she didn't' hear it beep, it was a message from Maddie.
"Mum, I'm on my way home, they've granted me some leave, I think we need to talk, I miss you."
Mike stopped, Kate caught her breath, he pulled her in for a hug and he kissed the top of her forehead.
"And for the record, I've always loved you…"
Her heart skipped a beat, she didn't expect him to answer.
"So, can I sleep over? Seeming it's not a school night?"
She knew he didn't mean to put pressure on her, she glanced over to the bedroom, Mike could see she was nervous.
"I can sleep in the spare room if you want."
"No, it's okay, but, slow remember?"
He got up off the couch and held out his hand.
"Snuggling, only, I promise…"
A couple of hour later, Kate lay in Mike's arms feeling less anxious, she sighed and snuggled into his embrace.
"Feels strange doesn't it? I'm expecting my phone to go off any minute, telling me we've been crash sailed."
He laughed and kissed the top of her head.
"Yeah, the navy and it's terrible sense of timing, at least we don't have to worry about that any more."
She had just closed her eyes when she heard the front door slam.
"Mum?"
Her eyes opened, full of panic, she lept out of bed, searching robe.
"Shit, it's Maddie…"
Mike grabbed his shirt from the floor and chucked it over his head.
"How is she home?"
Kate shrugged as she pulled on her robe.
"Shhh!"
She was about to open her bedroom door when Maddie beat her too it. Maddie stopped, stunned at the scene before her. Her eyes widened, full of rage, Kate looked back at Mike and winced, her panic rising. Maddie focused back on Kate, raising an eyebrow, she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Just friends, hey?"
End Chapter 14.
