Love on Ice

Chapter 27

It was the end of March and Rick was in Phoenix playing the Coyotes.

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All of them had learned that getting furniture and having other things accomplished had taken longer than they had expected. It had only taken the contractor just a couple of hours to get rid of the tub in the bedroom. However, removing it showed another problem. WOOD ROT!

Since the bedroom was carpeted and matching the carpet was impossible, a decision had to be made. So new hardwood floors were put down to replace the carpet. Followed by a rug so that when they got out of bed they didn't land on cold hard wood floors.

The cabinet next to the kitchen was removed easily since it was a piece of junk. It looked nice but it wasn't even wood. In its place the contractor had built a new pantry just like Maria had wanted. Then it was painted to match the kitchen.

Next came wine refrigerators to store all of the wine. Two 177 bottle wine storage refrigerators were installed. There was only room for two thanks to light switches being on that wall near the kitchen. Rick had hoped they would be enough but Kate had seen his wine room. Since it had turned out to be not enough the excess went into the existing below counter wine refrigerator. That was after Kate had removed a few and taken them back to the hotel room with her so she could drink them there.

Today was the day and Rick wasn't here to see it. He would be home tomorrow and then their final game of the regular season was against the Los Angeles Kings. The Canucks were 45-22-13-1 and still in first place. Very safely in first place that they could rest most of their starters for their last game. Losing that game wasn't going to change anything.

"What do you think?" Their interior decorator had done her best. They now had furniture everywhere and could actually sleep in their home for their first night tonight.

"I like it, all of it. Rick has seen most of it and what he hasn't he has pictures of. I can't thank you enough for this, Anita." Kate loved everything. Unlike the previous house, this one had wood all over. The wood just didn't dominate the house.

"It's has been my pleasure, Kate. I really like this house and wish I had found it before you did. If you encounter a problem please let me know and I'll have the contractor back out here to fix it. I heard ideas about a boat." She was curious about that.

"Rick's thinking about it. But I'm not really sure we need a boat. What we do need, though, is someone to remove all that driftwood so we can actually use the beach. When the water gets warmer, of course." It was April and the water was still really cold.

"I'll email you a contact name and number for that when I find someone. Enjoy your new home. I'll let myself out." Anita retreated through the front door and went out to her car. She had been paid well for her services.

"Do we have enough food for when Rick gets home tomorrow?" Kate questioned Maria who was giving Alexis cheese sticks for a snack while sitting at a new barstool at the breakfast bar.

"We have everything we need. It will be good to have Mr. Rick home again." Maria liked it best when hockey season was over. "Miss Kate, do you have the books that you wanted?"

"I have enough books to learn everything about Canadian law, more than I ever thought I would need. And I have an entire year to learn everything so I can pass that exam." Kate was going to be an inspector for the city of Vancouver if it killed her.

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Rick and Kate got to break in their new bed once he was home. "What are these?" Rick had found black straps attached to the bed.

"I replaced the handcuffs with Velcro straps." Kate smiled wide at him. "Now get in bed, babe, we're going to try them out. Right after I turn on the video camera." Kate walked over to the tripod, made sure the camera could see everything, then turned it on. Followed by strapping a naked Rick to their new bed.

"Comfy?" Kate asked him since soon she was going to have him begging her to let him climax. She was also looking forward to being taken and fucked immediately after releasing him.

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"When's your next game?" She had been so focused on the house that she hadn't kept up with his schedule.

"April 10th here in Vancouver against the St. Louis Blues. They're a good team so this might be a challenge." All the games in playoffs were going to be tough. Those teams had made it this far for a reason.

"So I've got you at home for three nights." An entirely naked Kate smiled as she lounged next to him in the morning and reached down to see if he was ready for morning sex.

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Rick beat Kate down to the kitchen and found Alexis up and sitting at the breakfast bar on her booster seat, eating her breakfast. "How are you, pumpkin." Rick stroked her hair and kissed her head.

"Daddy!" Alexis abandoned her breakfast and reached out to wrap her arms around him. Then she got picked up. "Where's Mommy?" She didn't see Kate.

"Mommy will be down in a minute. Do you like your new room? It's bigger." It was actually twice the size of her old one and she now had a queen-size bed in place of her old twin bed. Alexis smiled and nodded. It was big, she had a ladder, and it was in her favorite colors.

"Hi, sweetie. How's my big girl?" Kate gave her a quick kiss. "So what have you made this morning, Maria?" All of last night's and this morning's sex had left her starving. "Ooo, waffles and sausage!"

Just looking around the kitchen showed that they'd made changes. The new table was different; then there was the stainless steel of the wine coolers and that large cabinet pantry. However, this kitchen alone was different from the old house.

"Is the kitchen working out for you, Maria?" Kate asked before stuffing her mouth with a bite of waffle.

"I love the range and its two ovens but the microwave is way over there." Maria pointed off to one side. "I just can't see anywhere else to put it." The kitchen was now as big as it was ever going to get. Their interior decorator hadn't come up with an alternative. Not without removing the entire kitchen and surrounding area and building a new one. That would have cost thousands and either delayed them moving in or doing without a kitchen for something like six months or longer.

"So what do we do today?" Kate inquired as she ate the last of her breakfast.

"Go looking at boats." Rick was still interested in getting a boat.

"Don't you need a dock first and do we really need a boat? The water's freezing." Kate wasn't onboard with the idea.

Rick looked at his fiancée. "Have you been boating before? Suffer from sea sickness?"

Kate shook her head. "No and no. I would just prefer to boat on a cruise ship."

"Okay then, what about camping?"

"You mean in an RV?" If he meant tent camping and relieving herself in the woods, she wasn't interested.

"I don't think the inlet is big enough or deep enough for a really big boat and our driveway isn't big enough for an RV. Though we could rent a space at a local marina and rent a space to store the RV. Park it out front to load and take off for a week."

"Have you gone boating?" Kate questioned him. But he didn't answer that quickly. "Just clean up the beach and skip the boat. We can go camping so long as there's a toilet." Kate poked a finger at Alexis.

Rick sighed and considered it. "Camping it is. We can go RV shopping when the season's over. You don't have a job yet so we'll have time. Maybe a sightseeing tour of Canada since we're here now. You can bring your books and read while I drive."

"We can do that. I've never been in an RV before. I don't really know much about them." So long as it had a bathroom she was willing.

Rick rubbed his hands together. "Research." He was smiling wide. Kate grinned and shook her head at her silly man.

"Maybe your Derek Storm character can get an RV that's part tank."

"Ooo, I knew there was a reason why I loved you." He wasn't sure he was going to use her idea but it gave him something to think about.

"Back to what do we do today? It's cold outside." It might limit what they could do.

"It's off season, Kate, a great time to go RV shopping. With a little luck we'll get a really good deal!" Since she was willing Rick was ready to push her.

"Fine, but it's going to be boring," Kate warned him since Alexis got bored easily.

Rick nodded at the older woman. "Maria can watch her."

"I would be happy to spend my day with Miss Alexis," Maria offered. Yes, it was her job but she adored the little redhead.

"Great, let me find a couple of local places and we can go check a few out. Plus find a space to store it." He couldn't drive off immediately since they didn't have anywhere to put it.

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Kate wasn't going to admit it but this shopping trip was one she was suddenly looking forward to. She had never done any camping and camping in an RV sounded like fun.

A salesman approached them just seconds after they exited Rick's car. "So what are you folks looking for?"

"We don't actually know." Kate instantly realized she'd just given him free rein on what to offer.

"I've done a little research so A class with a diesel pusher large enough to tow a car behind. Alexis is four so we need space for her. And a dishwasher since I don't do dishes."

"Maybe the less golden brown the better." Kate knew it was going to come with what she really wanted most.

"And what's your budget?" He was hoping for a really big sale.

"Seven hundred thousand would be the absolute max. Less would be better. It's the price of insurance, you know."

"Okay, we have lots to look at then. Hop in and let's see if we can't find something." He got in his golf cart and waited for them.

"Let's start with this one. This is the Newmar Dutch Star. Forty-one feet long and has a sale price of $469,900." He showed them the lower storage, opened the awnings, then inside they went. "It has a 450HP Cummins Diesel and is based on a Freightliner chassis."

"WOW!" Kate saw dark wood cabinets, beige seats, and really light brown countertops.

"You asked for a dishwasher." He pulled one out for them to see. "Here's your pantry." It was narrow but it had drawers inside the slide out. Residential refrigerator which meant they would be to connected to make it work since it didn't work on propane.

"Convection microwave, sofa sleeper with a televator behind it." He made it come up then go back down. "Recliners that are heated and vibrate." Kate began dreaming up all kinds of sexy things they could do on them.

"The table pulls out to seat four. Half bath for kids or guests. King-size bed, TV, and this is the bathroom." It had a corner shower, one vanity, more clothing storage, and a stacked, almost full-size washer and dryer.

"Test drive?" He didn't need to ask twice and Rick was soon driving and learning that he had a built-in GPS, back-up camera, a large TV overhead between his seat and Kate's seat. And quickly found that he was sitting in front of a huge windshield.

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"This one is the Newmar Mountain Aire. It is basically the same as the Dutch Star save for the interior decor. The floors are heated throughout. This one has a 500HP Cummins diesel so it can pull anything you want it to. Listed at $749 thousand." He tells them and shows them the lower storage.

"OH, MY!" Kate walked in first and saw beige tile floors, white furniture, and dark wood cabinets. Everything else looked just like the first one. Now she didn't know which she liked better.

"Since I've shown you two slightly different Newmars, this one is an Entegra Anthem. It has a Cummins L9 Turbo Diesel engine. This one is based off a Spartan K2 Chassis. The same four slide outs at basically the same length. It's listed at $649 thousand." He showed them the lower storage then Kate went inside.

Kate hated it the second she walked in. It was different shades of beige everywhere. It wasn't that golden brown that she hated but it was close enough. "NO! No, no, no." Hearing that forced Rick to stop and walk backwards. "That was ugly."

It had their salesman thinking. He wanted to give them three to choose from.

"This one is a slightly used Newmar Ventana. It has a 340 Cummins Diesel, the same length. It doesn't have a dishwasher, however, it does have a washer/dryer and it comes with something you might like since you said you had a little girl. It's listed at $164 thousand."

He showed them the lower storage that was smaller than the other two. The awning and then Kate went inside.

"Different." It was golden cherry wood. Beige seating. "Seat belts?" She hadn't seen them on the other two. The refrigerator was a double door, propane-electric combination. The kitchen was tiny but it did have an actually oven. The small pantry was under the TV.

It had GPS but no backup camera. The TV was in a bad spot. You sat down and looked sideways to see it.

"What's this?" Kate opened the large bifold doors. "BUNK BEDS!" She immediately thought of Alexis who she was sure would love this area. The only bathroom was small and unfortunately Rick barely fit.

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The salesman left them alone to talk. "I don't know, Rick."

"But, Kate, it has bunk beds."

"Alexis would love that, I know, but the rest of it? The price was the lowest. Except that it was used. So what's wrong with it that we don't know about?" She wondered if it was going to break down on them before they even got home with it.

"So we rule that one out. That leaves the two Newmars. One was white and one was more beige and one had that 500HP engine." He could change from his car to a huge SUV with that horsepower.

"That's where I don't know. I like both of them. …It's your money." She'd never made and was never going to make the kind of money Rick made or ever would make.

That had Rick sighing. She was leaving it to him. He liked that idea since it was his money but she wasn't saying much to make her happy. Or maybe she didn't really care which.

The salesman was back. "Have you made a decision?"

"We are going to take…the Newmar Mountain Aire, if we can get it closer to $700 thousand." It was winter. It should be on sale.

"Excellent! Let's see what we can do about that price." They had, after all, selected the most expensive of the three.

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It took them over two hours but Rick was driving home in the Newmar Mountain Aire for $649 thousand right behind Kate who was driving his BMW.

Kate drove into the garage while Rick parked on the one way street that was Piccadilly South right in front of his drive, effectively blocking his own driveway for now. Now they needed to find a place to park it.

First, however, they needed to show it off to Maria and Alexis.

"You get to sleep here, sweetie." Kate folded out the sofa to show her where she was going to be sleeping. "All this is yours." She watched as Alexis hopped up and lay down to see if she liked it.

"Does this not slide out?" Maria saw that only two and on the same side were extended out.

"There are two on that side, but if I slide these two out some truck may come along and hit them. However, this one does slide out. Oh, and we found out that these two chairs can fold all the way down so it sleeps six people in total. Which means you can come, too." Rick hadn't wanted to have Maria left out.

"Not that we know where we're going yet." Then Kate pointed out a problem they still had to solve. "We still have to figure out where we're going to store it when we're not using it."

"Computer!" That had Rick leaving the three of them to look it over and even go outside to show them both the storage below.

Maria came down the steps to look at the exterior. "It's black, gold, and gray in color. Is that a lightning bolt?"

Kate shrugged. "I didn't actually pay much attention to that. I was more interested in the interior. At least it isn't red." In her mind only Ferraris should be red.

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They were all back inside when Rick showed up. "Here's the address. I need you to hop in a car and meet me there. We can get what we need in stages to prepare for our first trip."

Maria took Alexis back into the house while Rick moved the sliders back in, started up the RV, and used his new GPS to figure out how to get to the storage complex.

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Kate was beginning to wonder just where in the world they were going. They'd already driven past Rogers Arena where Rick played his games and were still going.

It wasn't until they had secured a space and paid for it that Rick then parked their new RV diagonally in their assigned space. Kate saw boats, cargo containers, 5th wheels, and even large vans along with 18 wheeler trucks without their trailers parked there. So suddenly she didn't feel so bad about it. Save for how far away from home it was.

"You couldn't find somewhere closer?" Kate questioned him as she drove home using her GPS since they both had a lot to learn about this city.

"Nope. There was one just across the bridge but we were too big. We're 40 feet and 9 inches long. Did you know that there are ones that are 45 feet long? Those, though, are all special order and start at $1.5 million. Didn't think we needed one of those."

"Definitely not." Rick had spent enough money already and they hadn't lived here all that long yet. "And I don't want to hear a thing about a boat." Kate wagged her finger at him.

"I'm happy…for now." Rick looked out the window and grinned wide since he hadn't forgotten about his boat just yet.