A/N: As always thank you for your reviews and of course reading my story. It is now 11 Days and counting for when Kate returns home.
Chapter 4- The Dating Game
"And Walter? You still will be seeing him on Saturday? Making sure everything's okay with him?"
"Of course I will. Who else would I be seeing?" There was unchecked sarcasm in Caroline's reply that Kate picked up on, immediately.
What's up? You sound… distant. This isn't about me having lunch with Richard is it?"
"You know… I didn't really want you to go to New York. At least not yet." Caroline's blunt words uncorked just exactly what had been bubbling in her thoughts. "There was so much more I wanted to say to you before you left. You umm…left before…I …before we could…you know…talk more about…"
"Caroline, it's not like. I'm not running away." Was Kate being as guilty as Caroline in stating "half truths" to her Caroline? Had she taken her mother's accident as an opportunity to run away?
"Aren't you?" It was apparent Caroline thought she was being fed "half truths" by her Kate.
"My mother needs me…Aunt Auggie needs help. My being here has nothing to do with…I think you know that Caroline."
"It was so soon after …it happened. I didn't have a chance to….The point is I want to be sure that you're…. we're okay? That you understand how I may have felt in the beginning about us having another child is not how I feel now. I want you to… "
"Caroline. This is about Richard isn't it? You've nothing to be jealous about."
"I had a dream last night. You left me. Because of…what happened. You took Flora. And just like that you were gone." Caroline snapped her fingers to emphasize her point. Those expressive blue eyes of hers took on the look of both pain and anger.
"It was just a dream, Caroline. I'm right here. For the rest of my life. I could never… You know I could never stop loving you. Not in this lifetime… nor in the next."
"Your date with Richard. You haven't said yet how it went." Caroline rushed out the words that had played foremost on her mind since being told of the rendezvous.
"Well he's not you if that's what you want to hear." Kate stated lovingly; attempting to smooth Caroline's ruffled feathers.
"That's encouraging…You didn't let him kiss you or anything like that. Did you?" The green-eyed monster reared its ugly head.
"Yeah, I did Caroline and I also asked him to go to bed with me. Never mind I had our child there." Kate's stating of the ridiculousness was to rouse Caroline's common sense. How in the hell could Caroline think Kate had eyes for anyone but her was beyond Kate's understanding.
"Why are you getting so snippy? There's no need."
"Caroline I hope you know…well I hope you trust me enough that you would never think that I'd…He's my ex, Caroline."
"I'm sorry sweetheart…it's just…I really miss you and…"
"It's okay Caroline. Maybe seeing Richard wasn't such a good idea."
"No. No of course not. It's just me…and that stupid dream." Caroline neglected to mention that jealous was also was front and centre in the mix.
"Richard assumed you and I were going through a bit of a…a sticky patch… because I was here without you and so he…implied…"
"Did he come on to you? That bloody…."
"No Caroline. Nothing like that. He was a perfect gentleman. He just was worried about me…being overprotective of me. Is all- like he always was. Nothing more."
Kate decided that this was not the best time to tell Caroline how well Richard and Flora took to each other. Nor would she tell Caroline that she and Richard had made plans to see each other again. Caroline had already shown obvious signs of jealousy; best if she chose a more suitable time to tell Caroline these things. Perhaps, after Caroline had a chance to process everything through and come to the realization she had nothing to be jealous about. Our Kate; our wonderful beautiful Kate. How in the world could she ever believe after Caroline processed things through everything would be peachy keen? Good luck with that!
There was silence on the other end of the phone so Kate repeated what she had said. "Did you hear what I said? Richard. He was the perfect gentleman with me."
"Oh, I see. But I still don't like him."
"Caroline, you don't even know him."
"Doesn't matter. He has blue eyes. You love blue eyes."
"No Caroline…the only blue eyes I love are your blue eyes." Clever comeback but unfortunately, little green-eyed monsters just don't disappear that easily.
Part Two- Pub Planning
"We've got to re-work our plan for Saturday, pops- cooking is out. Mum's not going to be home until sometime late in the evening." Lawrence plunged a rather large forkful of food into his mouth. He chomped on the food as though he hadn't eaten in months.
"Right…so?" John settled in to listen closely to what Lawrence had to say.
"Something else. We need something else, pops. Got it! We go with breaking one of your arms or one of your legs. Mum would really feel sorry for you then." Lawrence reassured John.
"Break my leg?! That's…well… that's absolutely… rather insane, Lawrence?" John may have been drinking all day; even may have been a bit tipsy but he was hardly drunk enough to submit to that kind of pain- neither for love nor money.
"Well you want her back don't you?"
"Not by loss of limb!" John took another mighty gulp of his wine. He wanted to please his son and of course win back Caroline but not by way of injury. "Right. Maybe this isn't such a good idea, Lawrence. We don't know for sure Caroline and Kate are breaking up. Now do we? And besides… Kate… well Kate's kind of… alright…in a way, you know…."
"Pops relax. I was just having you on. I was joking." Lawrence laughed; amused to have taken his dad to the edge. The look on his dad's face was priceless. That was the best thing about hanging out with his dad. He was always totally cool with stuff; fun to be with - never boring. Why was it he could see what a fun guy his dad was and his mother couldn't?
"I've talked to mum told her I wanted to have you over on Saturday- just the two of us. Father son kind of thing. She's perfectly fine with it. I only had to promise we'd not leave a mess in her precious kitchen. Clean up afterwards. That's all. When she gets home I'll make nice- soften her up and then you can work your magic on her. Just like old times, eh pops? You and mum back together again." The very thought of his mum and dad being back together again made Lawrence happy…happier than he'd been since…well since before the night he found out about his mum and Kate. He smiled. Our Lawrence. As if he had scored a try.
"Terrific I'd say." John creased his face into a devious smile. Took another gulp of his wine. He liked what he heard. So much so, he once again fell victim to thoughts of delusion of grandeur. God, he could taste Caroline's lips. Smell her fragrance intermingled with his. His very thoughts made his whole body quiver. Saturday couldn't come soon enough.
To be continued