A/N: I just wanted to thank you all for your kind words and reviews. You've blown me away, seriously. I was terrified of posting, but you guys made me feel amazing about writing again and I will never be able to thank you enough. You rock!
Now I leave you with the second chapter. I hope it's up to your expectations. Enjoy!
Chapter 2
It's been a couple of hours since Richard Castle left her store and she still can't believe what happened. Making sure Lanie is not looking at her, she checks out the picture of him captured on the back cover of 'Flowers For Your Grave' for the thousandth time. He's wearing a blue dress shirt that brings out the dark hue of his eyes and there's stubble in his jaw, giving him that ragged look that she's always secretly found so attractive. The guy in the picture is smirking, something between mischievous and… adorable, yes, that's the word; like a little boy with a secret.
There was nothing adorable about the man she met today. The new version of Richard Castle is fuller, possibly about 20 pounds heavier. He wears glasses and the stubble has now grown into a full on beard. Still attractive, she thinks. Just… different. Very different.
Kate raises her eyes from the picture and huffs when she catches Lanie smirking at her from behind a shelf. "You really sure it was him?"
Her friend nods as she goes back to dusting the unending rows of books. "Positive." She affirms, picking up a couple of copies of 'Harry Potter And The Order Of The Fenix' only to put them down a second later. "I saw an article about him on the Ledger a few weeks ago. There was a picture. Totally him."
"Oh."
"What?" Lanie asks amused, abandoning the cleaning process and coming closer to lean over the counter. "Are you bummed 'cause your celebrity crush turned out to be an asshole?"
"He's not my crush!" Kate groans, slamming the book on the counter, Castle's face down. "And he came to apologize, so he's not that big of an asshole."
Lanie snorts and picks up the dust cloth again. "He was only trying to save his ass. That article I told you about was not exactly nice, you know." She says looking pointedly at Kate. "He said it himself, hun, he has enough bad press to last him a lifetime."
Rick is over twenty minutes late by the time he arrives at Black Pawn, and the worst part is that he didn't even get his coffee after his little quarrel with the bookstore lady.
He still can't believe that he ran after her instead of in the opposite direction. That is his M.O., or at least, that's what he normally did after the other 'incidents'.
He takes his phone out of his pocket and checks the twitter app, expecting a flood of mentions and private messages talking about what a huge dickhead he is, but there is nothing. Zero. Not a word.
It hasn't been even an hour, he thinks. Give her time. Everybody love their fifteen minutes in the spotlight.
"Well, look who finally decided to show up!" Arthur Henderson, Black Pawn's sales director, sing songs as he walks out of his office. "We've been waiting for you, Rick."
"Well, you know me," he chuckles nervously. "I like the suspense."
Henderson nods unimpressed, shakes his hand and practically pushes him inside the office where two more men and a woman are waiting for them; Ben Miller, his agent, Brian Keller, Black Pawn's advertising manager and Patrice Berkowitz, the CEO.
Fantastic! He thinks, giving everyone in the room a forced smile as he takes his seat and tries to avoid the woman's glare.
Note to self: not a good idea to reject the person who signs your paychecks.
"Good morning, Patrice." He mumbles with his charming smile on. "I didn't expect to find you here today. You look gorgeous."
The woman rolls her eyes. "Save it, Richard. This is a business meeting not an episode of 'The Bachelor'."
"Of course." He mutters, sitting down and preparing himself for yet another encore of the same meeting of the last four months.
He is tired of this fight. They have had the same conversation a million times since he turned over the 'Storm Falls' manuscript. When do you want to celebrate the launch party? Where should we do it? Who do you want to invite? It should be something big, Rick, it's the end of your series. Come on! You're closing a chapter, man, not the book… and so on. Every. Single. Week.
He doesn't want a party. He doesn't want recognition. He doesn't want glam or lights or hordes of women launching at him. He just doesn't. And it doesn't mean that he doesn't understand their confusion about his negative, he does, it's them who don't understand his motives not to do it, and he's just too tired to explain it again.
"Rick, we've talked about this untiringly for months now. There has to be a party!" Brian starts, looking pointedly at him while he plays with his pen. "You are our star writer. We can't just publish your last novel and not give it any kind of publicity. That's not how this works. You've been in the business for a long time, written over two dozen best sellers, this can't be new to you."
"It's not, Brian. And I never said no to the publicity, just the party."
"The party is part of the publicity, Richard." Patrice adds irritated.
"What about a small gathering?" Arthur offers. "Just a couple of friends, the mayor, a few top writers you know and that's it."
Rick raises an eyebrow and snorts. "And the press."
"Well, of course!" Brian rushes to say, almost bouncing out of his chair.
"No."
"Rick." Ben tries to bargain. "Come on."
"I said no."
"Look, Rick, we all know that your relationship with the media hasn't been the best in the last few months, but they adore you! You know that."
"They adore the sales, Ben. And that's not the point, anyway."
"Then what is it? What is the point, Rick?" Patrice inquires, the vein in her forehead growing dangerously.
"The point is that I have nothing to celebrate, ok? You might think it has to be with Storm and the series ending and yes, I admit it does bother me a little bit, it's been a big part of my life, but it needed to end, I was done with it. But what neither of you realizes is that to me this is not the end of a book series. It is the end of my career and I will not celebrate that. I can't."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who said this is the end of your career?" Arthur asks getting up from his big chair and walking towards Rick, hands in the air.
"Are you crazy?" Ben adds, reassuringly. "You have a lot to give, man. Lots of best sellers to write."
"That's the problem, Ben. I don't."
The agent's face contorts into a deep frown. "What are you talking about?"
"I haven't written a single word in four months. Even finishing 'Storm Falls' was a huge effort. I'm done." There it is. Finally. He dropped the bomb.
All four faces in front of him go blank, including the CEO's.
"That's… not good," Arthur mumbles through clenched teeth. "but it's ok, Rick. Every writer has gone through writer's block once in a while. No big deal. You can break it."
"No, I can't. This is no writer's block. There is nothing in there." He says pointing at his head. "It's empty. Everything is gone. The curiosity, the need to write… I don't feel it anymore."
There is a long silence accompanied by tense looks and then Patrice gets up, picks up her stack of manila folders and her bag from the floor and heads to the door, stopping to talk before she steps out.
"Look, Richard, I know this is not a good time for you." She says firmly. "We all understand that, but you are going to have to get your shit together, because in a matter of weeks your book is going to come out, and whether you like it or not, there is going to be a party."
Kate checks her watch for the millionth time this morning. Just two more hours until they can take their lunch break. She doesn't even know why she keeps sticking up to a schedule when they have practically zero work to do.
She's about to unlock the screen of her iphone when it starts ringing loudly, startling her and Lanie, who is sitting beside her, browsing through a fashion magazine.
"Jesus! That almost gave me a heart attack!" her friend exclaims, pressing a hand to her chest and laughing nervously.
Kate chuckles and nods looking at the screen as she heads for the back of the store. "It's my dad. I'll take it in the office."
She closes the door once she gets inside of the tiny room that holds only a small desk and a couple of shelves in the back. Sits down on the broken chair she's been meaning to repair for the last two months and accepts the call.
"Hey, dad! How's country life treating you?"
She hears a chuckle and the rustling of fabric before her father replies. "Not bad, honey. How are you?"
"I'm good. Actually glad you called. I was starting to grow roots sitting on that chair…" She huffs, running a hand through her hair.
"Still slow, huh?" Her dad asks, his voice sounding preoccupied.
Kate sighs. "Slow is an understatement. This is dead, dad. I don't think I'll be able to go on like this for much longer."
"Still set on closing by the end of the month?"
She takes a minute to contemplate her options and nods, even though her father can't see her. "Yeah…"
There is a pause and she listens to her dad's breathing through the speaker, waiting for her to go on. "You think... I... Do you think she'd be disappointed, dad?" She asks, two traitorous tears gathering in her eyes.
It's been driving her crazy, thinking that she's taken her mother's dream to bankruptcy, after all the effort and dedication she put into it.
"Of course not, sweetheart!" Her father reassures her. "She'd be so proud of you, Katie. You've done everything you can to keep the business afloat. Things happen. It's not your fault."
"I promised her, dad." She sobs. "I told her that I would keep the store open, that I'd make it the best place in the city and I failed." A rebel tear rolls down her cheek and she wipes it off with the sleeve of her shirt. "I let her down."
Her father sighs loudly and clears his throat. "You took your mom's dream and made it your own, Katie. Wherever she is, she's absolutely proud of what you've accomplished. If you have to close the store, you have to close it. Maybe it's time for you to follow your own dreams."
Kate smiles at that. "This place is my whole life, dad. It might have been mom's dream first, but it became mine too…" She mumbles, reclining on the chair carefully. "I just don't know what else to do."
"Have you told Lanie?" Her father asks carefully, his tone low and caring.
"She knows it's coming, but no, not yet. I'll have to talk to her soon, though."
They fall silent again, both lost in their thoughts.
"Oh!" Kate cries out after a few seconds, when she catches a glimpse of one of Castle's books on her desk. "You won't believe who was here today!"
"Someone famous?" He dad inquires curiously.
"Maybe." She concedes. "Is Richard Castle considered famous?"
"Richard Castle, the author?" Her dad asks incredulous. "He was there? Wow!"
Kate laughs softly. "Yeah, well, not exactly as a customer… He was a bit rude to me at the coffee place and he came to apologize."
"The coffee place?"
"The one across the street, yeah. I skipped the line and he went ballistic. Seriously, I would have never expected him to be such a jerk." She comments, biting her lip. "He seemed nice to me a couple of years ago, when I went to that book signing."
"Well, he was working then. Although, from what I've heard, he has been going through quite a rough patch. A friend of mine worked on his divorce. I'd be mad too if I were him."
"That bad, huh?" She mutters, feeling sorry for the writer. "Anyway, I don't think I'll see him again, so, no big deal. Are you having a good time up there?"
"Oh yes. You know how much I love the cabin. A few days away always do me good. I've been working on the dock. It's almost ready for the summer. You have to come up here when you're free." Her dad insists. "It will clear your mind."
"I might take you up on that sooner than you think." She whines. "Unless some miracle happens."
"Never say never, honey. I'll let you go now. Peter is coming over to help me paint the windows. Talk to you soon, sweetheart. Love you."
"Yeah. Love you too, dad."
She puts the phone down and stares at the book she spotted a minute ago, laying on top of a pile of bills. Why can't she get him out of her head?
TBC
Always want to hear your thoughts. Thanks for reading!