Guys,

I'm so sorry it's taken so long, kinda lost my writing mojo. I even had a few days off and couldn't get in the groove. I'm not completely happy with this and it's short, so apologies in advance!

Live and Learn.

Chapter 23

That afternoon, Mike sat in his office staring at his phone. He was sure he would receive a call from Kate, she would have to have heard by now. He knew he was being a coward by not confronting her, but he wanted her to question why he did what he did so she would have to confess about the kiss, which would then relieve him of his guilt for doing what he did. He didn't know how it got to this, he knew it was petty, but he was hurting, and she knew what she was doing.

Kate stood outside his office pacing, trying to figure out how she was going to approach this, but she knew there was no simple way. Slowly, she opened the door and poked her head in. Mike looked up to see who it was, his face dropped seeing it was her, he was not prepared to do this face to face. Taking a deep breath in, she stepped inside his office and brought her eyes up to meet his.

"Why? I just don't understand, Mike."

Her mind raced as she waited for an answer, what reasoning would she accept? But she knew, deep down, no reason was really good enough. It was the most hurtful thing he'd ever done and how could they recover from it? Mike rose from his desk, trying to think of a response that wasn't aggressive, he took a few steps forward, wary of her calm demeanour.

"I..."

He stopped in front of her realising he didn't have an excuse, not a good enough reason to crush her dream of being a CO, it had just been pure spite. His anger soon returned, remembering what led him to it.

"I saw you kiss him..."

Kate fury disappeared and her heart sank, it now made sense.

"You did this to get back at me?"

They stood there locked in each other's gazes, realising together, this was all a fantasy, this was always going to end. There was too much in their past, and as it seemed, too much in their present for them to work this out. There was no name calling, no yelling, they were simply done.

They didn't have to say anything, Mike exhaled sharply as she turned and walked out of his office.

Maddie fidgeted at her desk trying to figure out Mike's bad mood, chucking her pen on the desk she let out a frustrated groan, Liv laughed as she looked over and saw her agitated expression.

"Hey! What's the face for?"

"Ah, your Uncle, I just tried to talk to him about Mum and her totally fobbed me off."

"Yeah, I'm sure you would have noticed by now he's not great with talking about feelings stuff.."

Maddie swivelled around on her chair, still going over it in her mind.

"And it seemed like he was packing his stuff?"

Liv tapped her pen on the desk, trying to think of a reason for his mood.

"That's weird… I mean, I know he's always wanted to go back out, maybe there's been an opening?"

"Yeah, but why would he be mad about it?"

"Oh, maybe they're posted on the same ship? Then they couldn't date?"

"Yeah, sure, can you imagine? Do you think Nate would know?"

Maddie and Liv raced to Nate's room, they knocked continuously until he answered. He opened the door looking annoyed, the girls barged their way in, Maddie stood close.

"Why's your dad packing?"

Nate's face wrinkled at her tone.

"Huh?"

"I was just talking to him and he had boxes everywhere."

"Oh, he got a CO posting on Brisbane…"

Maddie and Liv looked at each other stunned, Liv gave him a slight shove.

"And you just forgot to tell us?"

Nate was confused by their annoyed reaction.

"Ah, he only told me today."

The girls crossed their arms over their chest glaring at him, their unimpressed faces prompted Nate to remember Kate had originally applied for the Brisbane posting.

"Oh, that's not good, is it? Do you think your mum knows?"

Maddie exhaled sharply as she flopped on to his bed.

"I've got no idea. I don't know if I should call her, I mean, what if she doesn't know?"

Liv glanced out the window, seeing a shadow of someone running across the quad.

"Oh, I think she knows…"

Maddie rushed to the window to see her mum running to her car, she bolted out of the room to follow her.

Kate sat in her car, her emotions overtook her, slamming her fist into the steering wheel she broke down. Maddie hesitated as she arrived at the car, she had never seen her mum cry like that. She hopped into the car and wrapped her arms around her, Kate was startled, but hugged her back.

"Mum, are you okay? I just heard."

Kate wiped the tears from her cheeks, mortified that Maddie was there to witness to her breakdown.

"Shouldn't you be in class?"

"Mum!"

"Maddie, I promise I will tell you everything, just it's too long of a story right now, please, go to class."

Maddie refused to budge, folding her arms over her chest. Kate raised an eyebrow and mimicked her famous glared.

"Madison McGregor, I will be so mad if you fail a class because of my drama!"

"Okay, okay, I just don't want you driving home like this, can you stay the night? We can get some dinner, I'm sure I can get few hours leave for a family emergency."

"Fine, only if you go back to class now."

She gave her slight shove out of the car, Maddie giggled and shook her head.

"I'll call you when my day is over, love you…"

Maddie headed back into the grounds, Kate flipped down the visor and sighed at the state of her face.

That night Kate picked Maddie up from Creswell, they arrived at the hotel and Maddie plonked herself on the bed as Kate made herself comfortable on the couch.

"Okay, mum, just rip the band aid."

"Maddie, we've already been through this, Mike being your teacher, it..."

Maddie shook her head as she interrupted.

"Well, you don't need to worry about that cos we're basically done, sea training starts next week so he won't be my teacher."

Kate didn't need a reminder that her baby was about to leave her.

"This time has gone way too fast!"

She pulled Maddie in for a hug, Maddie rolled her eyes as she picked up a pillow and hit her with it.

"Mum, quit stalling."

Kate got up and poured herself a glass of wine, taking a big sip she sat back down next to Maddie, unable to make eye contact.

"Okay, on the night of your birthday, I may have kissed Charlie."

Maddie couldn't help but gasp, she placed her hands over her mouth.

"Ah, what?"

Kate couldn't tell if she was pleased or annoyed for her, head dropped knowing she had to tell her the rest.

"And Mike saw..."

There was silence, Kate took the opportunity to check her reaction, her face was blank.

"Mads?"

Maddie's brow wrinkled and her eyes narrowed as it sunk in.

"So what? He took your job as revenge?"

Kate was taken aback by her reaction, she expected her to be disappointed in her, she had technically cheated on Mike. She hunched forward, placing her head in her hands.

"Honestly, I don't know, I don't actually want to know. I know it doesn't seem like it, but he's not a bad person, but his jealousy is just..."

Maddie knew they had a history, but she couldn't believe she was defending him.

"Mum, seriously, it was revenge, black and white!"

Kate sat but up raking her hand though her hair trying to figure out how to explain.

"I know, but I didn't have to kiss Charlie, I'm not exactly innocent."

"Mum, I know, but I'm not gonna lie, I like Charlie, like, part of me wants to say go for it, you obviously feel something for him, otherwise you wouldn't have kissed him. But then, I mean, I feel a little bad for Mike, well actually, no, what am I saying? Not now, not after what he's done."

"It's complicated, but, it's done now and, well, we're done. There's just too much bad history there, and I'm too old for all of this."

"Mum, you are not too old, did you see yourself in that costume?"

Maddie raised a suggestive eyebrow while she nudged her with her elbow.

"I know Charlie thought it suited you!"

"Hang on, I thought you were team Mike?"

"Mum, I am team, whoever makes you happy, and I know you said he's not a bad person, but what he did, it was a total dick move!"

"And how do you know Charlie wouldn't do the same?"

"I dunno, but he's new, you don't have history. Maybe it's just the way he smiles when you're around."

"Well, we're friends, and we have stuff in common."

Maddie rolled her eyes, she was proving her own point but not seeing it.

"Exactly! I mean, you guys have the Navy and..."

"Yeah, but so did Mike and I... Look, we share some personal things but you can't form a relationship out of shared grief."

Maddie titled her head as she poured herself a glass.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, I guess we've become close because we've both lost our partners. His wife died 8 years ago in Iraq, he has two daughters he's had to raise..."

"Wow, doesn't seem like a widower or a dad to me..."

Kate scoffed as she took another mouthful.

"Right, and I seem like a widower?"

Maddie chuckled as she moved closer, wrapping her arm around Kate.

"No, I mean, just, you know, successful, independent woman in the navy, harsh but fair, overachiever, you know more of a stereotype."

"Right, I'll take that as a compliment then?"

"So, do you like him?"

"Maddie, after all of this I'm quite happy to be a single spinster…"

"Muuuum! You're not answering the question."

The next morning Kate frowned as she pulled in to her driveway, there was a car already parked in it. She got out the car trying to peer into the window, she was shocked to see it was Charlie.

She tapped on the window and laughed as jolted awake, forgetting where he was for a moment. He got out the car, brushing himself off.

"Hey! I'm not stalking you or anything…"

"Ah, sure, cos nothing says I'm not a stalker like camping out in my driveway."

"I tried to call you yesterday, I was worried after all the, well, I was worried."

"Oh, that's sweet, but I'm fine."

He scoffed at her attempted to deceive him.

"No one is ever fine when they use the word fine…"

Kate didn't want to discuss it, she walked to the door trying to avoid his inquisitive stare. He followed her and stood close as she unlocked her front door, she exhaled sharply knowing he wasn't going to leave it alone. She turned to face him, her head lowered.

"If you must know, it's over..."

He scrunched his face at her dejected expression, he expected her to be mad. Someone she loved had betrayed her and taken an opportunity away from her, and she was just going to let him? He didn't want to be frustrated at her, he was frustrated for her and he couldn't stand her defeated state.

"And you're sad about it? Look what he did! Instead of talking to you about the issues, like most people in a relationship would, he went behind your back and took something from you, out of pure spite, I might add."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

Charlie winced, he knew he was about to be in trouble.

"I saw him leave the house the night we kissed."

Kate's jaw dropped, she couldn't believe he lied to her too.

"Seriously, you're judging me? And now who's being dishonest?"

Charlie folded his arms over his chest, resisting the urge to grab her shoulders and shake some sense into her.

"You're seriously putting that in the same category as what he did?"

Kate threw her arms in the air, she didn't know why she was having to defend herself.

"Why am I the one getting yelled at?"

"Because, I'm annoyed at you! How come you're this strong, amazing person without him, and with him your this, I dunno, teenage girl wanting his approval?"

His words stung, only because she knew they were partly true, she clenched her jaw as she let out an aggravated growl.

"Well, I'm sorry I don't meet your high expectations!"

"Yeah well, you live and learn, although, I'm not sure you've grasped the learn part."

Kate's nostrils flared, she couldn't take any more, shaking her head she shoved him out the door and slammed it in his face.

"Oh, I have!"

End Chapter 23.