Rick broke from the kiss, and Kate still stood there with their eyes closed. Once she opened them, he moved back out into the hallway and said to her,
"Take an aspirin."
"Yeah, I will."
Her fingertips graze her lips where his lips just gave her one of the best kisses of her life. A smile forms on her face as she watches him walk down the stairway. She slowly closed the door, watching him until she couldn't see him anymore. Then, she goes through the routine of getting ready for bed only after taking her aspirin.
Sometime around 2:15 in the morning, she heard what sounded like laughing. She is drawn from her sleep when the hallway light clicks on. She props herself on her elbows just as Zoe passes her bedroom doorway. She can see her for that split second through the crack in the door and can tell she is walking towards the living room. Giving her some time to get to the living room, Kate will wait until she is there before getting out of bed. When she does, she follows the noise, which she later finds out is the television and sees Zoe watching homemade movies from a trip to what looks like Lake Michigan. For a second, Kate watches her sister and niece running up and down the shoreline, just having fun. Then she realizes that the scene she sees on the TV screen is carefree and life-affirming. It could be something that she should rethink for their relationship. She knows she will never replace her mother, but she could be a lot more for her.
Kate slowly moves into the room and stands next to her niece. Her eyes have never left the TV screen, and neither have Zoe's. Knowing this could be something beautiful, she sits beside her niece, and together, they watch the video for the next ten minutes. About a minute after Kate sits down, she sees her sister pick up Zoe and spin her around as fast as she possibly could without dropping her. The look on both of their faces in the video is nothing less than sheer joy. Zoe is laughing uncontrollably as is her mother. Kate looks down at her niece and can see her crying. It's only then that Kate brushes her finger against her own cheek and comes away with tear tracks down her cheek as well. She gently wraps her arm around her niece and pulls her tight against her side. Zoe is reluctant at first, not knowing what to expect, but in less than a heartbeat, she leans her head against her aunt and feels more at home than ever.
Morning comes, and Zoe and Kate are in Kate's bed, sleeping opposite each other. Kate is the first to wake up, and she can see that Zoe is still asleep. She watches her and wonders what she is dreaming about. Not soon after, Zoe's eyes flutter open, and Kate can see she hasn't slept well.
Once Zoe is alert enough, Kate says,
"Come on, sweetheart, you need to get up and get ready for school."
"I don't want to go to school, Aunt Kate."
Kate looks at her and can tell she is still upset from earlier this morning.
"Guess what?"
Zoe just looks at her and waits.
"I don't want to go to work either. Today, it's going to be just you and me."
Zoe smiled a little, and Kate pulled her closer to ensure she felt safe. Before either knew it, they were both fast asleep again.
"To all the gang at 22 Bleecker. Let me introduce you to my little orchid." Bernadette reads from the handwritten letter Leah sent with a picture of her daughter.
"Oh, let me see the picture," Jill asks.
Bernadette hands her the picture and continues to read.
"She is seven pounds three ounces, nineteen and a half inches long, and has a full head of hair. She can't wait to meet all of you. Love and kisses, Leah."
"She is adorable!" Jill says as she passes the picture to John for him to look at.
Rick, who had been listening to Bernadette describe her new baby, noticed that Kate wasn't here this morning. She's usually here in time for lunch, but today, something seemed off. He was sitting at the head of the table and to his left was Paula so he decided to ask.
"Paula, Kate's late today, isn't she?"
"Oh, I forgot to tell you, Rick Kate asked for some time off today and possibly tomorrow. She mentioned something about it being personal."
Rick watched as Paula raised and ate another fork full of pasta. He knew she was fine yesterday, but now he's intrigued about why she's not here now.
"One, two, three, four, five, six. YES! Park place." Kate shouts as Zoe lands on the monopoly space she owns.
"And with a hotel, you owe me $1,500 bucks."
Zoe looks at her dwindling pile of cash and knows that she doesn't have enough to pay the rent.
"I don't have enough money."
"Mortgage, baby mortgage!" Kate says as she happily claps her hands, adding,
"I love this game!"
Zoe pulls two of her properties off the board to sell back to the bank and pays Kate the money she owes her with a little left over.
Kate takes it greedily and sorts it out, putting it in her pile of bills and the two properties she just purchased because Zoe had to sell them.
She eyes the dice and knows that it's her turn. She picks them up, cupping her hands together, and asks Zoe what she needs to get the free parking spot. Zoe counts off nine spaces, and Kate, with the dice still cupped in her hand, blows on them as she shakes them, asking them to give her a nine on the next roll. She blows on them again, shakes them hard, and throws them onto the playing board. The whole time, Zoe held her breath and closed her eyes. Once she hears the dice hit the board she opens her eyes and counts. One die had a five. The other had a four, giving her aunt nine. She shook her head in defeat as Kate again greedily said "I'm rich, I'm rich!" numerous times, taking the money from the community chest.
"This isn't fair. No!"
"I'm rich. I'm rich. I'm rich!" Kate repeats.
She sat there counting her money when, all of a sudden, she was hit in the head by Zoe's pillow. Then, the war was on.
"You know what this means, don't you?"
Zoe sat there looking innocent and said,
"No, what does it mean?"
"This means WAR!"
The second she finished her sentence, Kate took her pillow and bashed her in the head with it. But Zoe, having had many pillow fights with her mother, jumped off the bed and ran down the hallway to escape any more pillow hits. But Kate wasn't letting this stop her. She was up and, after her, in less than a second, sending the Monopoly board flying off the bed and running down the hallway herself.
Kate, a veteran of many a pillow fight of her own accord, had stopped halfway down from her bedroom, doubled back, and waited by the kitchen doorway. She waited for the pitter-patter of little feet and timed her wallop perfectly. When Kate's pillow got her right in the face, Zoe never saw it coming.
"Come on and fight! You're afraid of a little pillow?"
Feathers started flying everywhere when Kate's pillow ruptured, coating the hallway floor.
Zoe had retreated to the living room, where Kate followed her, trying to smack her again with her pillow, but she proved to be very slippery. The pillow fight went on for about twenty minutes before it came to an end, with both of them calling a truce. They relaxed on the living room floor, lying on what was left of their pillows. Deciding it was time to get their day started after their pillow fight, they vacuumed up all the stray feathers and made something to eat for brunch.
The kitchen was bustling. It had been hectic, and Rick was trying to hold down the fort with just himself. Leah was caring for her new daughter, and Kate needed some personal time off, so it was just him. He had some big shoes to fill.
"How's that rib eye doing, you guys?"
Hearing no response, he called his next order out.
"I need two sea bass."
"All right, pancetta, goat cheese, oysters, steak tartare, grilled rib eye."
"How much longer on that rib eye, Mario?
"Rib eye coming up, chef," Mario replied.
"Come on, guys, let's pick it up. I needed that souffle five minutes ago. Let's go."
The night finally comes to a close, and Rick is sitting at the bar swirling some brandy in a brandy snifter. His attention is drawn to Paula when she tells him,
"We did one hundred and ten covers tonight. Everything was excellent, Rick."
Rick simply sat there. He was never one to accept compliments that easily. Cooking was something he loved to do. He didn't care if it was one hundred and ten or one thousand.
"You've really mastered the menu, Rick. You put your signature on the dishes, which all the regulars have noticed. How would you like to stay on permanently?"
"I think I'd like that."
Paula smiled, knowing she had just locked down a chef in high demand in the city. She watched him as he took the final sip of his Brandy and said,
"As long as it's all right with Kate."
Rick got off the bar stool, gathered his coat, put on his wool hat, and left the restaurant. He was done with this conversation. He also knew that Paula was trying to play him against Kate, and he had more respect for her than to do anything stupid.
Paula can't believe that Rick would be so loyal and exclusive to Kate only after knowing her for a couple of months. If she's going to keep one or the other, she needs to do something to entice one of them to either stay or leave. She would rather have Rick because he has more of a palate than Kate. But then she thinks to herself that Kate had helped her build this place from what it was to what it is today. She watches as he walks out the door and then drives away. She has some tough choices ahead of her.
She hears the buzzer in the hallway of her apartment, alerting her that someone is pushing on her entry doorbell downstairs. Zoe only went to bed about two hours ago as she opened her eyes to see the clock beside the bed. It's just after 12:30 a.m., and she drags the comforter off her body and very sleepily plants her bare feet on the cold wooden floor. She leaves her bedroom and flips the switch on for the hallway light to see the front door. She gets to the intercom, presses the call button, and says,
"Who is it?" She rested her head against the wall with her eyes closed.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?" She hears a voice that sounds a lot like Rick's, but she can't be one hundred percent sure, so she will give whoever this is a piece of her mind.
"As a matter of fact, I know what time it is." She releases the call button, and then she hears
"It's very, very late, and it's very, very cold."
Against her better judgment, she hits the button that controls the front door lock and lets him in.
Less than twenty minutes later, she finds herself blindfolded, sitting at her kitchen island in her pajamas. Sitting across from her, Rick dipped a spoon into whatever he made, and she had to guess what ingredients he used to get to this point.
"The kitchen was a very different place without you tonight," Rick said as he dipped the spoon into what he had brought and heated up.
"I'm sure you did just fine without me," Kate said as she waited with anticipation for him to do something.
"Mmm Hmmm."
Kate pulls up the blindfold and gives him one of her patented evil eye looks.
Rick then backtracked and said to her,
"It was hell!"
"That's better." Then she pulled the blindfold back down over her eyes, but not before getting a look at what was in front of her. Not that she could tell, but whatever it was, it smelled delicious.
Rick took the spoon and placed it near her lips. She carefully tasted what was on the spoon and let it wash over her taste buds. Rick knew she would give him every ingredient he used to make this sauce. And without fail, she did.
"Cognac…white wine...celery...leek, shallots...and garlic."
"Mmmm." Rick finished up what was on the spoon. Then, he put the spoon back into the pot, taking out another small sample for her to taste. He let it hover shy of touching her lips, and Kate sensed it. She almost chased the spoon as he pulled it back. Just as she started to sit back in her seat, Rick pulled the spoon out of the way and placed his lips onto hers. The kiss was addictive. She didn't want it to end. She had no doubt that he felt the same way. By the time their kiss had ended, the only thing that she could think of was getting a truffle so they could use this sauce that he had just made because he nailed it.
"I'm getting a truffle."
Before she could do anything, he leaned in once more and ravaged her lips with his own. She was left utterly unable to think. She would have issues doing just that if someone had asked her to complete a coherent sentence. By the time he broke from the kiss, she had tried to say something, and he looked at her, not knowing what she was trying to say.
"I haven't... I think I don't think…."
Before he moved in one last time, he said to her in a hushed tone that only meant one thing to her,
"Don't think."
They both slowly rose from the table, and Rick placed his hands within hers as she led him to her bedroom.