CH13

Rick didn't see either Kate or Johanna again for days. It was Saturday and Alexis was out of school and as much as he would have liked to have done something with her, gone somewhere perhaps, he had a delivery and a contractor to wait for. The first one showed up about 11:00 am and dumped several yards of crushed rock in his driveway near the giant pile of boxes. Next came a contractor in a dump truck towing a bobcat behind him. He met them as they pulled up and met each other. "So you just need a large hole to be prepared for something?" the lead contractor asked, dumbing it down a little. "That's about the size of it. The manufacturer of the playset, which is in these boxes, suggested a space of 58' 7" long by 35' 11" wide with a sub-base of crushed rock that's been compacted, followed by several inches of playground material. In this case a variation of wood chips," Rick explained.

"Well, we can make the hole easy enough and haul away the dirt. I need to make a call so I can compact the crushed stone that you already have. What about these wood chips?" He knew his contract called for installing that material also. "That should be here just a little after lunch. What I don't know is how it will arrive." Rick wasn't privy to that information. "Not a problem. If it's in a dump truck like the gravel we'll just use the bobcat to pick it up and haul it to the site. If it's in bags we'll do the same. How about you show me where you want this playset and we'll get started," the contractor offered as he took one man with him while the other started unloading the bobcat.

It was half an hour later and Rick and Alexis were out back watching the contactor dig a hole while the other two men used shovels to provide a vertical surface to install the border next to. The bobcat went back and forth digging a hole and then down to the dump truck to dump the dirt, til all three of them had shovels to form the perimeter. Next came the border that they staked into place, followed by the bobcat picking up loads of crushed gravel while two men raked it level. While they took a break, a flatbed truck showed up with pallet after pallet of bags filled with the Fibar material that went in next. The truck came with its own fork lift on the back. It only took the driver minutes to unload the pallets that Rick counted and signed for. He and Alexis watched the truck drive away.

Fibar Systems consist of engineered wood fibers that knit together to form a surface soft enough to cushion falls, yet firm enough for wheelchairs. A patented drainage system protects your investment from bad weather damage and avoids mud and puddles after a rain. Easy to install and maintain.

It consists of Fibar Engineered wood fiber panels (EWF) that come in 24"x24" panels. FibarFelt geotextile fabric prevents stone and dirt from contaminating the EWF. BibarDrain strips collect and carry rain water away from the playground surface. Fibarmat protects heavy wear areas to minimize maintenance. FibarGuard playground borders keep safety surfacing right where it belongs.

The border was installed on three sides first. The fabric was laid down next with overlapping seams. This was followed by the drain strips. Next came the 24"x24" mats that had saw tooth sides and fitted together locking them into place. Finally the EWF was laid down much like an engineered wood floor. One side had a groove while the other side would snap into the groove. The ends were cut straight and the border installed then the contractor was done.

With his money in hand he drove off leaving Rick standing in the middle of the space where his daughter's playset was to be built. He had no illusions - it was going to take them two or three weekends to construct this monstrosity. It had 5 slides, one of which was a curved tube, while the other 4 varied in lengths. It had two towers, the tallest was 13 feet in height up to the peak of its pitched roof. That one had an internal staircase and had a second floor walkway with walls to the other tower that had two slides and stairs out the back. Next to is where 4 swings hanging from a beam with a support in the middle and one on the end to hold the beam.

"I'm in big trouble! Yup. I'm going to owe Paige and Jenny's parent's big time for this," Rick moaned. However his mood instantly lightened as he watched a dark green Jeep come up his driveway. It was almost time to start cooking dinner. Maybe he could convince her to stay or go get Johanna and they could both stay for dinner. Kate watched Rick jog down the little hill from what was his backyard to the driveway where she parked right behind his truck blocking him in again. She was just getting out when she found herself being hugged again. 'Oh, I so could get used to this!' she thought. Kate simply let herself get sucked against his chest and did her best to wrap her arms around him.

All too soon Rick let go of her and it was all she could do not to moan from the loss. "I haven't seen you in days." He pulled her back in for yet another hug. 'KISS HIM, kiss him now!' the voice in her head all but screamed at her. He gently pushed her away even though she was wearing boots with heels that made it so much easier to kiss him now that she had some height to her.

"What have you been up to?" he asked her. "Well…" Kate was loath to admit he was right, but she did feel good about it. "You're looking at the new Deputy for Weston County, Wyoming, based in Newcastle, starting next weekend." She had planned on telling her mother first, but for some reason she turned right instead of left and well, here she was. "SERIOUSLY!?" Rick was ecstatic for her and tried to give her the best bear hug he had ever given anyone. For her part Kate simply felt like she had died and gone to heaven. 'Please let me stay right here forever.' ran through her mind. However he let go of her. "We need to celebrate! If we were in New York I'd say let's get dressed up and go out to dinner. Around here I've only been to the Pizza Barn," he said, shoulders sagging. It was one of the few things he missed about New York. "Alexis is in love with pizza," he explained when he saw the questioning look on Kate's face.

"You can come to our house and eat. Mom's been cooking non-stop ever since you left. She's been looking up some of her old recipes that I think she got from her mother and has been trying them out on us. I've been eating dinner for lunch and dinner for dinner for days now. I think she's trying to make me fat." Kate was worried it was going to work too, since she didn't have access to any exercise equipment anymore like she had at the 12th. "We can fix that, I have an exercise room in the basement you can use," Rick offered. "Does it have a bag?" She wanted a complete workout. "DUH!?" was his only answer. "It sits on the floor instead of hanging from the ceiling." She didn't think she had ever seen one of those. Nonetheless it was a punching bag and she still had her gloves.

"Oh, one more thing," Kate mentioned and listened to the voice in her head that had been screaming at her to kiss him. She took Rick's face in her hands and lifted up to kiss him soundly followed by wrapping her arms around his neck. She could feel his arms around her as he kissed her back. She played with the tiny hairs on the back of his neck while her tongue searched his mouth and felt every ounce of her blood head south. She finally broke from the kiss to get some air. "Not that I'm complaining, but what was that for?" he questioned after his heart had calmed down enough to form words.

"Mom has been cooking since you left and making notes for a dinner menu. I haven't seen her this alive since before Dad died and I have you to thank for it," she explained and kissed him for all she was worth yet again. Only this time she kept her hands on his broad chest and ran her hands across it feeling his nipples under her fingers.

"I'm happy to help. Why don't you come inside," he suggested which had her thinking he was asking her inside and into his bed which she wasn't ready for. And for once her voice seemed to be sated at the moment. "You can look at the exercise equipment while I collect Alexis if we're coming over for dinner again," he explained. Part of Kate was happy that it wasn't an invitation to his bed and part was sad that it wasn't. If he could hug and kiss like this, what else could he do? "Sure." She followed him inside and went downstairs while Rick went in search of Alexis. She had never been downstairs so she was a bit surprised when she saw all the windows that were directly under all of the windows upstairs. It almost looked like the entire wall could be opened up and let the outside in. There was a pool table that had a light brown cloth and an air hockey table. In addition there was a poker table that could seat five that even had chips waiting for everyone with a deck of cards sitting in the middle.

'Who needs chips when you can use clothes?' her stupid voice offered. "WILL YOU SHUT THE HELL UP!" she literally yelled at the voice which thankfully remained silent. Off to one side she saw a sauna and an unusual shower. Next to it was a bathroom with a shower. "Strange. There are 2 showers." Beside it was the exercise room. There was a mat near one corner with mats lining two of the walls. A stationary bike, treadmill, and a stair master. There was a work-out bench that had funky long slats hanging out the sides. "I think I saw this on TV one time, can't remember its name," Kate muttered to herself. There were actually some free weights and then there was a stand that had weights sitting on them. There was a dial on each of them. "I think I've seen these on TV too." She still couldn't remember what they were called. Last, but not least, was the punching bag Rick was talking about. It was really wide at the base and tapered up towards what amounted to a person's head. Kate gave it a tentative punch with her hand and it rocked the tiniest bit. "This should do nicely," she remarked to herself.

Next she found the laundry room and saw clothes piled up in an open hamper and didn't understand until she looked up and saw the hole in the ceiling. "He has a dirty clothes chute." Kate loved the idea of it. "No lugging dirty clothes down to the basement." She was now determined to look for a tiny door in the kitchen too, since it was on this side of the house. Next came the garage that was mostly empty and longer on one side than the other. The travel trailer was blocking the short side if she was right. "There you are!" Rick and Alexis showed up. "Ready to go? We can go out through the garage," he offered and pressed the button on the wall that opened one of the doors.

"Hi Kate!" Alexis was happy to see her. "Hello Alexis, how's school?" Kate tried a neutral topic. "It's nice. Dad says we can go camping soon with my friends," she mentioned. "I heard about that. Is your trailer big enough to sleep all of you?" Kate asked her as they walked outside with Midas and Maggie right behind Alexis. "We can show you before we go if you'd like to see it," Rick said and pulled out his keys. He opened door and allowed Kate to go first. She immediately noticed it was larger than theirs. "My space is there." He pointed to the opening where there was actually no door, just an opening. The bed was big, though given Rick's size, he probably took up most of the space.

'You're just going to sleep on him anyway.' The voice suddenly returned causing her to growl softly. "The sofa can be converted to a bed as can the dinette," he pointed out. She saw the bathroom, kitchen and finally the two bunk beds in the back. "You have enough space for four of the 5 little girls I heard about. Where's the 5th one sleeping?" she questioned. "Well the sofa is the bigger of the three and hopefully large enough for 2 little girls. They get any bigger and we could be in trouble." Rick offered.

"I hear you are coming with us," Rick mentioned. That got Kate to turn on him. "Where did you hear that idea?" Her mother had only ever teased her about it. "A certain little birdie may have overheard it from someone's mother," he said. "I'm so going to kill my mother," she whispered though it was loud enough for him to hear her. "Oh come on, it'll be fun. Why did you buy a motorhome if you're not going to use it?" he challenged. "My mother again." She wasn't going to kill her but she definitely was going to give her a piece of her mind.

'Sex out in the wide open spaces. What could be better?' Her stupid voice was talking again. Instead of cursing or railing against it, Kate started pushing him out the door. "Let's go Rick." Maybe if they got home her stupid voice would SHUT THE HELL UP!

Rick was the last one through the door. Sure enough Johanna was obviously cooking and it smelled great. He was going to come over here more often if Johanna was this good of a cook. With difficulty he forced his bear to be silent. "ALEXIS!?" Johanna hadn't been paying attention. "Please tell me your..." Johanna shut-up when she saw Rick. She had been all set to give Alexis a piece of her mind if Alexis had come over here on her own. "Hi!" Alexis hugged Johanna's legs which got Johanna to kneel down to her level and envelope her in a motherly hug. To Alexis it felt nice but she liked her dad's hugs better. Even Kate holding her was better, still Johanna's hug was nice. "I presume you invited these two over for dinner?" Johanna looked at her daughter.

"I'm going to be fat if I didn't Mom. I've been eating your dinners for days now. I don't have room to hold another of your big meals," Kate informed her. "Oh, you are looking at the new Deputy Sheriff for Weston County, Wyoming based here in Newcastle. My first day is next weekend," she said. "That's GREAT honey! I'm so proud of you!" Johanna walked out of the kitchen to hug her daughter. "It does mean I have the entire county Mom, not just our little town," she warned her. "Which means what exactly?" Johanna didn't know that much about the job itself. "It means lots and lots of driving to places I've never even heard of," she replied. "Guess that means cup after cup of coffee for you," Johanna said.

"I can fix that. Just stop by on your way into work and I'll fill your thermos with the most exquisite coffee. It's guaranteed to keep you awake, put a smile on your face, put hair on your chest." It took Rick a moment to catch up to that last one. "Um, on second thought maybe not coffee quite that good," he said causing both Kate and Johanna to chuckle at his expense.

"How about a cookie before dinner sweetie, and if you two would set the table please?" Johanna asked and got an enthusiastic nod of Alexis's head while Kate went into the kitchen to start handing Rick what they needed for the table. "So what are we trying tonight?" she asked since she had gone through a number of them at this point. "This one is Chicken Enchilada Quinoa Bake. Sort of a variation of the traditional chicken enchilada only without the flour or corn roll. You bake it and broil it so that the cheese on top is melted and just a little brown. Sour crème, avocado, cilantro or cotija cheese is on the side that you can put on top. You can do the same with steak or pork," Johanna told them and started serving everyone's plates. "Oh, we need milk for Alexis." She hadn't gotten used to having a child around again.

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"That was delicious Johanna, you're going to have them standing around the side of the building when you open!" Rick was sure of it. "Anyone save room for dessert?" Johanna asked since Kate had been eating those lately too. "Depends," Rick answered. "It's a s'mores milkshake with a mini s'more on top," Johanna explained. "I'M IN!" he answered immediately. Soon they each had a small tumbler filled with a chocolate milkshake, with little dashes of whip cream on top, and a real mini s'more carefully placed on top. "Yum, s'mores!" he moaned after eating the cookie topping. The milkshake tasted just like it sounded. "That's going on the menu too," Rick mentioned.

"Which reminds me, the architect kitchen specialist I know will be out here near the end of next week to help you select a site, select kitchen equipment, design a décor all based off of your menu," he told her then wished he had kept his mouth shut when he saw the look on her face as well as how fast it was turning red. "YOU DID WHAT!?"Johanna yelled. "HAVE YOU LOST COMPLETE CONTROL OF YOUR SENSES? It takes months to open a restaurant, get the kitchen equipment, to hire a staff. I haven't even figured out what to put on the menu, let alone what to call the place. And just who's restaurant is this anyway? Who gave you the right to interject yourself into my life? I don't see a ring on your finger so you certainly aren't my husband!" Johanna was livid.

"Jo's Fine Food?" he meekly suggested. "WHAT!?" Johanna screeched. "The name, Jo's Fine Food? Just without the E," he remarked hesitantly. "YOU...YOU…Argh!" Johanna stabbed her fork into the table top. Since it was made of wood, the prongs of her fork actually stuck, which made Rick jump just a touch as Alexis shrank in her seat because of all the yelling. Johanna jumped up out of her chair and stalked off.

"You better go Rick. My mother knows where my personal back-up piece is located," Kate warned him, not really convinced that her mom would even go get it let alone use it. However it did reinforce her mother's point. "She wouldn't really, would she?" He looked at Kate whose face hadn't changed. "Go grab your cookies pumpkin we better go home," he said suddenly. "Dad?" Alexis didn't understand. She didn't want anyone to be angry. "Cookies, pumpkin, now." He started to get up. "I'll get them," Kate offered and had them ready at the front door.

"I didn't…I mean I wasn't trying…I just wanted to help." Rick was dejected. How had such a good thing gone straight to shit? "Mom will calm down eventually. At least maybe now I can eat lunch for lunch instead of another dinner." Kate tried to make a joke. "Well at least I accomplished something," he replied lamely as Alexis took her plate of cookies from Kate.

"You can still come over and work it all off down in the exercise room, unless you're angry with me too." He didn't want Kate upset with him. Hell, he didn't want Johanna mad at him. "No, Rick I'm not angry with you. But you should have talked to my mother before making plans for her. In a way she's right, your last name isn't Beckett," Kate pointed out. "Yeah," I get it now. He was even more disheartened if that was possible. "I'm sorry… Come on pumpkin, let's go home." He didn't even offer Kate a hug or a kiss, just walked out with Alexis, Midas, and Maggie. Even his bear was silent. It had been excited, too. Kate watched them drive away and went in search of her mother to see if she could do some damage control. Rick just took things a little too far without talking with her mother first.