Hey guys, I'm back. Been so busy with my sister, my band, and I was hired (because about five years ago I got my pro handler certificate) by several breeders to show their dogs. So it has been hectic. I just got back from a week long show up in Grass Valley last week, and am resting as much as I can before my next show up in Pleasanton... So here is the next chapter of Help Me.
Disclaimer: I wouldn't be booked solid for the next three months with dog shows if I owned Castle. In fact, I bet that I would be feasting on caviar and some fancy French wine right about now.
The next time Rick woke up was at 9:00 a.m. He made his way down the stairs after sitting on the bed for a while. He was met with the sight of Kate and Lanie sitting on the couch with their feet tucked beneath them, feasting on a huge box of chocolates. Both women had light makeup streaks running down their cheeks, as if they had been crying.
His thought was confirmed when he reached the couch, and he heard a sniffle from Kate. It stopped him in his tracks. "What's wrong?" he asked. Lanie and Kate shared a look, but it was Lanie who spoke, "We just got a call around 8 o'clock, saying that a woman who got her wedding dress from David's Bridal, which is where Kate got her's from, who's wedding got called off, set the place on fire. And Kate's dress was in a box in the back. The whole building went down in flames, and the most that remains of our dresses is ash."
Rick looked at his girlfriend and her best friend and made a sympathetic face at them, because he knew better than to try and comfort Kate when she had Lanie. Besides, this was a girl thing. Lanie could understand way better than he could. So instead of hugging her, holding her, and letting her cry on his shoulder, he made her coffee instead. For Kate, it was just as good, if not better, than anything he could say or do for her.
After he handed Kate her coffee, Lanie gave him a look, and he retreated back to the kitchen. A moment later he reappeared at the back of the couch with another cup of coffee, and handed it to Lanie. She smiled at him, and then made a gesture that Rick took as a silent way of her saying "get lost Writer-Boy", and so he did, taking refuge in his office.
After fifteen minutes of walking around his office, he unplugged his laptop and took it to the girls, suggesting to Lanie and Kate that they start looking for new dresses. He bowed to the women, walking backwards to his office, but hit the wall instead of going through the door, and that caused Kate and Lanie to snicker at him. He made a face and slowly stepped to the right, actually making it through the doorway this time.
Kate looked at Lanie, and Lanie looked at Kate, and they both tried so hard to not laugh. Kate shook her head and opened the laptop, and typed in Rick's password. Kate didn't know the password, as Rick had never told her, but years of being a detective meant that she got good at cracking codes. She thought for a second, then typed in "apples" and voila! Rick's wallpaper popped up.
When Kate and Lanie got done silently celebrating because they got in, they made the mistake of looking at the background. It was a picture of Kate and her best friend Madison, when they were seventeen, from when they were modeling that summer. It showed Kate and Madison in skimpy tennis outfits, with bright hot pink tennis rackets swinging to hit a ball.
Kate was furious, and Lanie was offended that Rick would have something like that on there. Kate passed it off as a boy thing, and pulled up Google. She typed in wedding dresses and a whole page full of wedding stores came up. There was one name that caught Kate's eye. It was the name of the store where her mother bought her dress. She clicked on it, and since she didn't really want to wear white anymore, she chose "color dresses". She and Lanie browsed until they both gasped It was a red satin, A-line dress. It was strapless, and it had a sewn-in wrap that was held together by a silver broach that would rest under her breasts. It was perfect for Kate. It had small silver lines that ran across the bust of the dress.
"I love it." Kate said. "I do too, but now, it's time to find a bridesmaids dress." Lanie stated.