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“We’ll talk to you later, Katie.” Gladys starts shooing neighbors out of the front yard. “Shoo, shoo. We interrupted their relations.”
Kate closes the door and plops on the couch. “I’m never going to leave this house again.”
“Oh, come on. It’s not that bad.” I located Kate’s computer and sit down next to her.
Kate shakes her head. “You don’t understand. Every single one of them had a hand in raising me. I cannot face them again.”
“How do you turn this thing on?” I keep searching for the power button, but Kate reaches over and puts her finger on the scanner to unlock it. “Ah, ha. Now, let’s see what our friend Gladys is talking about on the ‘internets’.” I laugh as I search social media and find that Grace has indeed been a busy beaver.
“Well, here it is. Grace set up an online fundraising account, and she’s orchestrated a fundraiser here at your neighborhood’s clubhouse for next weekend. Holy shit!”
“What?” Kate leans over my shoulder to look at the monitor.
“She’s managed to raise over ten thousand dollars already.”
“What? How?”
I shake my head. “I have no idea. I mean, the entire incident is less than twelve hours old.”
“When Grace puts her mind to something, there’s not much that can stop her. I can’t believe people have donated so much. And now I have this check.” She shakes her head. “So much of my life has changed in less than a day.”
I put the computer on the coffee table and turn towards her. “Let’s talk about earlier. Are you okay?”
Kate smiles and leans in to kiss me. “That has been the best part of the last twenty-four hours.” She kisses me.
“Mine, too.”
Kate’s stomach grumbles and we both laugh. “I guess I’m hungry. Let me see what I have in the kitchen.”
She jumps up, but I grab her hand and pull her back down into my lap. “No. I want more kisses.” I lean down and give her my softest kiss, and she groans.
Then my stomach growls. “I suppose I’m hungry, too.”
She laughs as she gets up. “I don’t usually have too much here for breakfast… you know, I owned a bagel shop.”
“Hey, you still own a bagel shop. It’s just temporarily on hiatus. This week, you’ll talk to your insurance company and meet with some contractors to get quotes to get everything fixed. This hiatus will be over before you know it.”
“Aren’t you the optimist this morning?” Kate says, with her head in the refrigerator.
“Go get dressed and we’ll go out for lunch.” I glance up at the clock on the wall in the kitchen. “Hell, it’s almost two o’clock. We’ll go get lunch and then we’ll go to my place. Pack a bag, too. I’m going to go let Pepper out.”
“Wait. What? Pack a bag? For what?” She closes the refrigerator door and the bottles inside jingle together.
I pull her into my arms, “If you think for one minute that I’m going to let you out of my sight less than a day after that guy did what he did to your shop, you’ve lost your mind, woman.”
“Hudson, I’m fine here. You don’t have to babysit me.”
I kiss her forehead, then down her cheek to her neck. She tilts her head so I have better access. "It’s not for your comfort, but for mine. Please? I need to know you’re safely in my arms. At least for tonight.”
She sighs and I smile because I know that I’ve won. “Okay, but I need to let Betty know so she can take care of Wilbur for the night. She’s my back-up plan.” She softly says in between my kisses.
“Perfect.” I pull away and grab Pepper’s leash. “You call Betty and get dressed. I’ll be right back.”
Kate smiles her beautiful smile at me as I walk out the door. Now, I just have to figure out how to get her to move in with me.
Wait. What? What the hell, Taylor? Move in? You just started officially dating yesterday.
But if I think about it, if Kate was in the shop when that fucker trashed the place, I would be beside myself right now. Do I have feelings for Kate? Of course I do, but to the extent of wanting her to live with me?
