Return To Maine Chapter 3
It was 11:30 when she exited the subway at the Canal Street Station and she realized that she was hungry since she had eaten little more than a bagel Ryan had brought into the precinct day before yesterday. That was the last solid food she'd had all week. The rest of her meals had been in liquid form, coffee and bottled water.
Tribeca is well known for it's shopping and dining with boutiques and restaurants, and art galleries on practically every corner, but right now all she wanted to do is grab a deli sandwich from the bodega a block from her apartment and take a nice, relaxing soak in the tub before meeting Rick at JFK. Hopefully, she could squeeze in an hour nap before getting up to pack.
Speaking of packing, she still had no idea what to take.
She still had clothes up there from September when they had been stranded by an early, freak snowstorm and that stuff was all winter wear and would be too warm for the late May weather.
As she crossed West Broadway, she noticed a new boutique that had recently opened that carried everything from intimate apparel to after 5 cocktail dresses.
She stood in the store front gazing through the windows and noticed a sleek, black sheath dress that the bodice was cut in a vee shape that allowed a modest amount of cleavage to show without being too slutty and was slit up the side to mid thigh. It was chic and elegant.
Checking her watch and seeing that it was just after 11:00 am, she decided to go in and check it out. She pushed the door open and entered the shop.
By 12:30, the boutique had began filling with customers, but Kate had already tried on the dress which had been a perfect fit and now stood at the checkout counter with the dress, a see through pale pink baby doll pajama outfit, complete with a matching thong, and an arsenal of scented massage oils.
On a whim, while the clerk was checking out the one customer in front of her, she snatched up another baby doll pajama set.
This one was also sheer, black but had a little satin tie that was the only thing that held the bodice together and an edible panty. Not that she'd have the opportunity to wear either one of them long, but still...
This was the first opportunity she'd had to wear something really sexy for Rick and she planned to make the most of it.
In just a few hours she'd be back in his arms again, she'd feel their bodies pressed together, his tongue in her mouth as he kissed her passionately, his hands warm and soft as he stroked every square inch of her body and she could not wait. God, she had missed him.
Her body gave an involuntary shudder at the thought.
She startled at the feel of a warm hand on her arm.
"Miss, are you alright?"
"I'm sorry. What did you say?" she asked the kindly middle aged woman behind the counter, realizing that the customer in front of her had left and the clerk had been addressing her.
"I asked if you were okay?"
She took a few steps forward, placed her purchases on the counter and smiled at the woman. "Oh. Yes, I am fine. Just lost in thought You have a lovely shop here."
"Why thank you, dear. I trust you found everything okay. Did everything fit okay?"
"Yes, I did and everything fits perfectly, thank you."
The woman continued ringing Kate's purchases and Kate slid her Mastercard across the counter and when handed the receipt, signed her name to the charges.
She gathered her purchases and started for the door.
"Come again." the clerk called after her.
"Oh, I will and next time, I'll bring a friend."
Out on the street again, she once again became so lost in her thoughts that she walked right past the bodega and instead of doubling back, she crossed the street and bought a hot dog from the vendor on the corner before crossing back across the street and continued her journey home.
Once she was safely ensconced in her apartment with the door securely locked and bolted, she dropped her purchases on the couch and carefully draped the dress over the back of her couch and went to the fridge to grab a bottle of water and sat at the table to eat her lunch.
God, she hadn't realized just how hungry and tired she was until now. The last two months had definitely taken it's toll on her. She hadn't had much of an appetite and had had very little sleep and add the last two days of worry and stress she had with no communication with him had left her feeling completely drained. She only hoped that she had the stamina to stay with him tonight without going to sleep on him. Yeah, a nap was definitely in order before she met him tonight.
She felt somewhat refreshed after eating lunch, so after disposing her hot dog wrapper in the trash, she went to the closet and pulled out her small American Tourister expandable pull behind suitcase and took it to the bedroom to pack.
While she was pulling the suitcase from the closet, she noticed her black shawl that would go perfectly with the dress in case she needed a wrap, so she grabbed it, a garment bag, and a pair of black, 4 inch heeled, pumps that would go well with the dress.
She had a distant memory of Lanie calling her the queen of all shoe queens and giggled. Mock me all you want, Lanie, but this i s all so worth it! If you only had a clue, you'd agree with me.
Gathering the remaining items and new purchases, she headed back to the bedroom to pack.
This was so different than the last time they were there. And not only that, but it had been so long since they had had an actual date night. Slipping in and out of each other's apartments did not make a date night.
Since they had returned in late September, they had had one casual movie date night and that had ended with him kissing her goodnight at her door as he had felt compelled to spend that night at home. He hadn't even come inside that night because the temptation to stay was too great a risk.
Most nights he would come over after dinner with Martha and Alexis and spend the remaining night with her where they would try to watch a movie, but would always end up having a hot and heavy make out session instead of watching any movies and then shortly thereafter end up in her bed for the rest of the night only to leave before the crack of dawn in order to be home when Alexis woke and return to the precinct later in the mornings.
It was less than idyllic, but nothing had ever been easy for them. Dating Richard Castle was about as frustrating as dating Josh had been in the fact that there never seemed to be much down time together time, but as men, they were on a completely different level. For one, she loved Rick, Josh she had not. And why was she even comparing the two? These days, Josh never entered her mind. She shrugged that thought away and blamed it on being so tired.
Shortly after they returned from Maine, he had given her a key to the loft and the code for the alarm in which she had a narrow window of time to enter the code before the alarm would go off. She had only used it twice though as the first time she used it, she nearly missed that small window of time and barely got the code entered before it went off.
The second time she had gone to the loft was when Martha had gone to one of her spa retreats up north and Alexis had been away at Paige's house for the weekend. Only Alexis had come home to get an extra set of clothing and had heard her dad moaning in ecstasy and thought he was sick or hurt and had come to his door and knocked on it to see if he was okay. It was a miracle that she hadn't heard more than that. Kate's voice as well. He had given her the excuse that he had gone out with Ryan and Espo the night before and had too much to drink. After inquiring if he needed anything she went to her room, got the extra clothing and left again.
That had been a very close call and the end of her coming to the loft and they had both agreed that her place afforded them the most privacy. Maybe they should come clean to their friends and family only about their dating status.
Shaking herself out of her reverie, Kate removed the price tag from the new dress and zipped it up in the garment bag and after packing her suitcase took both bags to the door so they'd be ready to grab quickly on her way out.
She didn't know exactly what plans he had made other than dinner at one of the area's finer restaurants, but she was excited and she could not wait to see him.