Chapter 3

"You can stay in mine if you want." Kerry offered.

"Oh...I don't think that's a good idea" squirmed Kim.

"Why not?" asked Kerry, "You need a place to stay and I have a place to stay. Sounds like a perfectly good idea to me." She reasoned.

Kim looked sideways at Kerry, trying to figure out her angle. "Kerry, we haven't seen each other in almost a decade and the first thing you do is invite me into your bed?" Kerry just rolled her eyes, "Not in my bed Kim, a bed, my room has two. I only need the one."

"But why would you want that Ker, don't you think it would be a bit awkward, you know, considering..." just then the waitress arrived with Kim's drink, Kim looked up and thanked her and asked her to charge it to Mel's room.

Kerry emptied her glass and placed it back on the table "Oh for Christ sakes Kim, we are both adults, I think we can handle it, and besides. I would love catch up with you, see what you've been up to all these years. You know, catch up on the missing chapters of the Kim Legaspi story. I promise, I will be a complete gentleman"

Right then a waiter came up to clear away Kerry's empty glass, "Can I get you another?" Kerry stared at Kim, who was staring back at her. Never taking her eyes off Kim she politely declined the waiter's offer, "No thanks, I think we are going back to the room."

Kerry looked around for her discarded purse and got up to leave, hoping Kim would follow her. Kim stood up and slammed back the rest of her Martini.

"Lead the way"

The two walked to the elevator in silence, when they reached the car, Kim asked how long it had been since she got the surgery.

"Let's see, it's been about 5 years now since I became the modern version of the bionic woman" She laughed at her own joke.

"I take it was a difficult process?" Kim continued.

"More so for my surgeon than me. There was not a lot to work with there but he persisted, a brand new titanium hip, quite a few new screws and some other impressive hardware pulled it all back together." Kerry said, slapping the hip lightly.

Kim looked down to where her hand use to hold on to the grip, marveling at how it looked now, empty and just hanging at her side.

"It's weird, I didn't even notice it was missing when I saw you this morning."

Kim reached out her pinky to lightly brush Kerry's hand.

"I never minded it, you know that right Kerry? It never made a difference to how I felt about you. It was just another layer to the many you have." Kim said sincerely.

Kerry looked down to where Kim's had just gently brushed her hand, but said nothing.

The elevator stopped on the 11th floor and the doors opened to an empty hall way, "to the left" Kerry directed "1114" Kim took the lead, still wondering if this was a good idea. She stopped at the door and Kerry reach from behind her with the key card.

"Welcome to my humble abode" Kerry said as they entered the room, Kim quickly noticed 'extravagant' would have been a better descriptor.

The room was quite spacious, with two queen size beds and a step down living room with a large L shaped couch that took up a good part of the space. There also was a sitting area and desk in the corner of the room that had a large gift basket filled with snacks, fresh fruit and a bottle of wine in it.

Kim walked over to examine it closer.

Kerry noticed it as well. "Compliments of the management I suspect. A thank you for moderating one of the panels."

Kim picked up the bottle and looked back over her shoulder at Kerry,

"Not bad" Kim said examining the bottle "2004 Stags Leap from Napa" Kim raised an eyebrow silently asking if they should open it. Kerry, figuring in for a penny in for a pound, nodded yes, "Sure, open it. I'll grab some glasses from the bathroom."

Kim looked around for a bottle opener and saw that the gift basket included one and preceded to open it. Kerry returned with the glasses.

"You mind if I slip into something a bit more comfortable?" Kerry asked

Gulp. "No, go ahead, it's your room after all." Said Kim

As Kim Busied herself with the wine, Kerry went back to the dressing room and changed. She came back out wearing a pair of cropped black leggings and a rather ratty looking North Western T-shirt.

Kim didn't necessarily know what she expected, but it definitely wasn't this ensemble, she had imagined this new, exciting Miami version of Kerry would waltz back in in a floor length negligee. She was secretly delighted to see her as she often had back when they would indulge themselves with a lazy weekend holed up in one of their apartments back in Chicago.

Kim handed Kerry a glass of wine and watched Kerry move over to the couch. She sunk into the seat and pulled her legs up under her settling in. She gestured to the other side of the couch encouraging Kim to sit down as well.

"So", began Kerry, "What have you been up to Kim? Tell me everything"

Kim took a big pull from the glass and seemed to try to get her thoughts in order. "Well, I've been a Dean of phycology at Stanford for about 8 years now, most days I love it, but I won't lie, I do miss working with patients every now and then. Um, what else? I have a great little bungalow in Palo Alto, it cost me a fortune but it's adorable and I love my neighborhood." Kim took another sip, I have a dog name Smiley, on account of the fact she always looks like she's smiling."

Kim went quiet for a minute trying to figure out what else to share.

The silence prodded Kerry to get a bit more personnel, "Any girlfriend or just girlfriends?" the last part she made air quotes with her hands to emphasize the current private joke the two ladies shared.

This made Kim smile, "Nope, no one special. There was someone, but she was young and I guess we were just in different places in our lives, not on the same page more or less."

Kim watched Kerry process the information as it came in, trying to gage her level of interest.

"What about you Ker, anyone special in your life?"

This question brought a huge smile to Kerry's face. "Yes, very special. Henry. The love of my life."

The admission caught Kim by surprise, "Oh, wow. Great. So tell me about Henry then."

"He's wonderful, incredibly sensitive, funny, brave...um, he has his mother's eyes, a deep brown that sparkle when he laughs...and very, very smart for his age."

Odd. "For his age?" Kim asked.

"Yes, he's only 8 but he's an old soul, no doubt about that."

Kerry reach for her phone and scrolled for some pictures landing on one with him and Kerry at the beach, "That's him there" she handed the phone over to Kim.

Kim found herself looking at a picture of a Kerry sitting with a little boy with olive skin and dark hair, both had huge smiles, his showing two missing front teeth.

Kerry leaned in to point at the little boy, "That's Henry, he's my Son."