Kara's sitting at a window seat in a coffee shop on the second page of a brand new book she's started to read. A light tap on the window from outside startles her from her reading as she sees Cat Grant waving at her with a bright smile. Kara looks shocked but giddy at the same time and closes her book as Cat mimes she'll come in.
Cat orders herself a latte too and joins Kara at the window and Kara tells her about her most recent email response from her online friend.
"Some tweaking?" A project that needed," Cat puts up air quotes, "tweaking."
Kara giggles and takes a sip of her coffee, "That's what she said."
"Well, it sounds to me like she's married with three kids."
"That's a terrible thing to say, she can't be married. How do you know?"
"Have you asked if she's married?"
"No, I'm not going to- No."
And Cat just looks at her with a sparkle in her eye as she changes the subject and they continue the afternoon in a relaxed banter. Nothing like their angry banter they've had in the past.
Later that night Kara will write:
I know this is a little late to be asking but...are you married?
-Shopgirl
Am I married? What kind of question is that? How can you ask me that? Don't you know me at all? Wait, I get it, your friends are saying that the reason we haven't met is I'm married. Am I right?
-NY152
A few days later Cat and Kara meet up for lunch and Kara doesn't pay it any attention really that they've started to spend so much time together. They're just getting to know each other and becoming friends and the bitterness and sadness Kara felt for losing her shop has ebbed away. She's really enjoying these meetups she has with Cat Grant. And although they may be turning into friends she's starting to feel something a bit more towards the older woman.
"So she didn't answer the question."
"Yes, she did."
"She did not."
"She did. She did, she nailed me. She knew exactly what I was after which is, by the way, exactly like her."
Cat laughs, "She did not answer your question did she?"
Kara rolls her eyes as she thinks about it, "No."
Cat takes a bite of the pie in front of her and ponders it, "Maybe she's fat. She's fat."
"I don't care about that."
"You don't care that she's so fat she has to be removed from her house by a crane. You don't care."
Kara sighs, "That is very unlikely and completely ridiculous."
"Okay, what's her handle?"
"Uh…."
"I'm not going to write to her if that's what you're thinking."
"Alright, it's N-Y-1-5-2."
"N-Y-1-5-2. 152. She's 152 years old. She had 152 moles removed."
Kara joins in, "The number of people who think she looks like Grace Kelly."
"152 people who thinks she looks like a Helen Grace chocolate bar."
That causes Kara to laugh and in return make Cat smile at the reaction she's received.
"Why'd I even tell you?"
"152 stitches from her nose job. 152 pairs of shoes that she owns."
Kara stops for a minute and thinks of something genuine, "It's her address…..no, she wouldn't do anything that prosaic."
Cat coughs a bit on the water she's just taken a sip of because yes, yes it is her address and she's not about to ever ever say that.
"The only thing I really care about is that aside from the married thing and the jail thing is the boat thing."
"What boat thing?"
"I could never be with someone who had a boat."
Cat laughs and gestures to herself, "I have a boat."
"Oh."
"Which clinches it. We'll never be together. I could never be with someone who likes Joni Mitchell. It's clouds illusions I recall I really don't know clouds at all. What does that mean? Is she a pilot? Is she taking flying lessons? It must be a metaphor, but I don't know what it is."
But Kara acts like she has no idea what she's talking about, like Joni Mitchell isn't one of her favorite singers after all.
"So how's your book coming?"
"Well, there's this children's book editor I know from the store. She's excited to read it when I'm finished. Who would ever have thought that I could write? If I hadn't all this time…. The truth is she was the one who started me thinking about writing."
"Uh huh, Ms. 152 Felony Indictments."
"Ms. 152 Insights Into My Soul."
Cat smirks and takes another bite of her pie, "Oh, well, there's no competing with that."
As they finish their lunch Kara smiles, "I keep on bumping into you."
"Would you like to bump into me on Saturday around lunchtime?"
Kara smiles and nods, "Uh-huh."
"Good."
Cat pays for lunch and they part ways for the day.
How about meeting Saturday? Four o'clock? There's a place in Riverside Park at 91st Street where the path curves and there's a garden. Alice and I will be waiting."
-NY152
On Saturday Cat and Kara meet up for some of the best hot dogs in the city, eating and talking along the street.
"Today?"
"Yeah, later today. In Riverside Park."
"That would mean she's a Westsider."
"Maybe I've seen her and I don't even know it."
Cat smirks, "You could have seen her everyday and not know it. She could be anyone, she could be that woman," Cat points at a random woman walking past them.
"Oh, cut it out."
"The timing here is everything. She's waited until you're primed. Until you are absolutely convinced that there's no other woman that you could possibly love."
"Yes."
"You know sometimes, I wonder."
"What?"
"If I hadn't been Grant Books...and you hadn't been The Shop Around the Corner...and you and I had just met."
"I know."
"Yeah. I'd have asked for your number. I wouldn't have been able to wait 24 hours before calling you and saying: How about some coffee or dinner or a movie?"
Kara looks at her surprised and her heart skips a beat and she shakes her head, "Cat…"
"You and I would never have been at war. The only thing we'd fight about would be which video to rent on a Saturday night."
"Who fights about that?"
"Some people. Not us."
Kara nods and looks away, "We would never."
"If only."
Kara crosses her arms over her chest and swallows, "I gotta go."
Cat rests a hand on Kara's shoulder stopping her, "Let me ask you something. How can you forgive this woman for standing you up...and not forgive me for this tiny little thing...of putting you out of business? How I wish you would."
Kara wants to cry and takes a shaky breath, "I really have to go."
"You don't want to be late."
Kara nods and walks away from Cat, pausing only once to look back at her to see her watching her walk away. Kara runs home and changes into a white dress with a cardigan thrown over. As she's walking up to the meeting place she sees the sign that reads "The 91st Street Garden" and marvels at all the different flowers and the many shades of colors that they are. She's nervous and excited as she stands there looking around for whoever her NY152 could possibly be.
She sighs and waits as she watches each person come around the corner and then she hears a dog bark and a familiar voice yelling after the dog.
"Alice!"
Kara sees Cat come around the corner and at first Kara thinks she's just followed her there to make sure that who she's meeting isn't a creep and Kara smiles at that. But then it dawns on her, that Cat's really NY152, she has been this whole time. And she wants to cry out joy as she watches Cat come closer. They meet in front of the garden sign and Kara finally cries letting out of a huff of air, shaking her head in disbelief.
Cat reaches into her pocket and pulls out a handkerchief and lightly dabs at Kara's tears, "Don't cry, Shopgirl. Don't cry."
Kara smiles and sniffles searching Cat's face, "I wanted it to be you. I wanted it to be you so badly."
Cat steps closer and they meet for a kiss that they've both been wanting and Kara wraps her arms around Cat's neck and pulls her in deeper. Alice barking and jumping on them both, Cat trying to calm her with a wave of her hand as she continues to kiss Kara.
And she knows that NY152 is never going to get tired of kissing Shopgirl...ever.
The End
