2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Finally!" Gina greeted him impatiently. "I was about to come in to look for you."

"Sorry."

Well, that took care of his first problem. The thought of Gina overhearing any part of his recent conversation with Beckett was enough to wipe out even a hint of the smile that had threatened to escape again just seconds earlier.

"Richard?" She paused and looked at him questioningly. "You look so serious. Is something wrong?"

"I think maybe there is."

"What is it? Did something happen in there?"

"No, no. Nothing like that."

"Then what?"

"Us. This summer trip. I don't think it was a good decision."

"And why not?"

"You know we wouldn't have made this choice if we had other readily available options. Neither of us is seeing anyone else right now, and we had a conversation last night where we talked the way we used to when our marriage was new and full of hope. I think we lost ourselves in the moment and…"

"But, it could be good between us again. Who knows? Maybe we've learned from our mistakes. Even if it gets rocky now and then, the make-up sex was always great, remember? And we're two consenting adults." She gave him her best seductive smile and placed her hand suggestively on his upper thigh.

Taking her hand gently in his as if he were sorry he didn't think the summer would work, he re-situated their joined hands closer to his knee. He truly did feel sorry about disappointing her, so it was easy to keep up the pretense.

"That part of our marriage was always good…the consenting," he answered with a little squeeze of her hand and what he hoped would be an assuring smile.

"Then where is this coming from?"

"I just don't think the fact that we're both at loose ends right now warrants trying to relive a past that we know didn't work. We divorced for good reasons that we both agreed were valid. We both need to find partners who accept us as we are…because we spent most of our marriage arguing about things we wanted to change in each other. You know neither of us is likely to change. We tried mixing marriage and business, and it didn't work out."

"We're not talking about another marriage, just a summer trip, for god's sake."

"But we're mixing it with the business of writing. We might make it through the summer amicably, but think about it, Gina. What caused the vast majority of our arguments…still does for that matter?"

"The books," she admitted.

"And isn't that what caused this summer plan of ours to happen? Your being there to see that the writing is up to date?"

He could tell that Gina could see his point. He could also tell that she didn't like it one little bit. Although certain that this could all be going to hell in a handbasket sooner rather than later, he continued his argument.

"I planned this trip to the Hamptons to give myself some quiet, uninterrupted time for writing...no family in town, no murders calling me to the precinct, no distractions. Just a quiet house, sunshine, a nice breeze off the water, and time to stir up creativity my own way. You hate the way I go about writing, and you complain about it. I hate the complaining and get angry and obstinate, and then I can't think. My mind doesn't work the way yours does. That's why I'm the creative half of the deal and you handle the mechanics of editing. When it comes down to it, we both do our jobs really well, but we do them differently…and drive each other crazy. I know how soon the first deadline is, and I know how much you expect of me by the end of the summer. He took a deep breath and concluded his case. "And I honestly think you're more likely to get it if I'm alone."

He was rather impressed with himself. And, in reality, all of it was true…and even made sense. Winging it seemed to be working pretty well so far.

"So you're telling me you're rescinding your invitation now that I've packed and taken time off from work?"

"I really think I should take you back home before I leave. I'm so sorry to disappoint you, but…"

"But you're going to anyway." When she glared, he didn't back down, making it obvious that he wasn't going to change his mind.

"Fine! Take me home. The sooner the better."

He let her vent at him all the way back to her building. And he accepted it all without returning fire, only agreeing now and then or making random non-committal sounds because he knew he deserved it. And he listened to her talk about how she was looking forward to the beach and the Hamptons social life and how unreasonable he was being.

Intending to take her luggage to her apartment for her, he got out of the car at the curb to get the suitcases; but as he was about to get them out of the trunk, she called to the doorman.

"Keith, come and get my bags for me. He'd probably ruin them on the way up. With that, she stormed toward the building, muttering about never having met such an insensitive man.

Keith, unenviably caught in the middle, went to get the luggage from the trunk.

"Sorry about that," Castle told him. "Ex-wife."

"I've seen worse," he answered, returning Castle's sympathetic look with one of his own. "Don't worry, Sir. I'll take care of these."

Castle gave him a generous tip, shook his hand and thanked him, then he got back into the car and allowed the smile to take over again as he drove to meet Beckett.

xxxxx

In the conference room after Castle left, Kate voiced her displeasure as soon as Lanie entered the room. "Don't ever set me up like that again," Beckett ordered.

"Girlfriend, judging from the smile on that man's face when he left here, I think you should be thanking me. I don't feel the least bit guilty. Now, tell me what happened."

Beckett gave her a quick account of the conversation, and Lanie's triumphant squeal might have been audible all the way down in the first floor lobby.

"He's picking you up in an hour?! Well, come on. Get your skinny little butt moving. You gotta pack. I hope you have wine at home, 'cause there's no time to stop anywhere." Shoving Kate's bag at her, Lanie grabbed her arm and hauled her out of the conference room.

With Beckett chuckling at her friend's enthusiasm for her love life, they took the elevator to the lobby and quickly slipped out of the precinct. Then, consciously moving in the opposite direction from where Castle was in his car talking to Gina, they walked to the corner to hail a taxi.

When they entered Kate's apartment, Lanie ordered, "Get out your bags and I'll get the wine. You have half an hour, so throw everything you want to take on the bed and I'll pack it while you shower."

"I don't even know what to take."

"Wasn't that trip with Demming supposed to be a B&B near a beach?"

"I wish I hadn't started anything with him. It was wrong of me. I hurt both of them."

"Too late to worry about what was wrong; you can apologize to Demming next week. Right now, think about saving what's right. Just get out whatever you planned to take to that beach and take it to this one."

"No. That sounds wrong, too," Kate answered, making a face and shaking her head.

Lanie huffed in impatient understanding. "Then what else do you have? Bathing suit? Do you have a decent one?"

"Bottom left drawer in the back. Black one-piece."

"One-piece? Really? No bikini for Writer-Boy?"

"But I've never thought about that one-piece with another man in mind. Castle said that, after the divorce from Gina, he had the whole beach house redecorated to get rid of all the ex-wife vibes. I can't take clothes that have an I-meant-to-wear-these-for-another-man vibe."

"And yet he was about to re-introduce ex-wife vibes to his new decorating when he thought he couldn't have you. You're both pathetic."

"You don't have to rub my face in it, Lanie. I know what a mess I've made."

"Then try to fix it this weekend, okay? Shorts?"

"Bottom drawer on the right. The denim ones and the white ones. And these tops and these white slacks," she answered, taking those things from her closet and putting them on the bed. "As soon as I find a couple of dresses, I'll get underwear and shoes," she added as she rummaged through her closet for non-Demming vibe sundresses. "Then I'll take a shower."

"Found 'em," Lanie reported, "And I'm picking out the underwear, Miss One-piece."

"I'll have you know that suit looks really good on. He'll like it. I bought it for that trip you and I were going to take and then had to cancel because of the serial murders last summer. And it's brand new…meets all the standards. What do you think of these dresses?"

"Like the yellow, put the print back. Don't you have a green one?"

Kate took out a green, summery print dress, and Lanie passed approval; then she grabbed sandals and a pair of sneakers from the closet, threw them on the bed, took the clothes she intended to wear, and rushed into the shower.

Lanie folded and packed what was there and then took stock of the underwear and sleep wear, choosing enough for any possibility. Lingerie not taking up much room, she tucked it into the small spaces.

When Kate came back quickly and looking well put together, the ME grumbled from her perch on the bed, "I still don't know how you do that,"

"Murderers aren't too considerate about schedules. You have to do it, too."

"But you make it look so much easier. It takes me a whole lot of griping and throwing things around."

After lining up toiletries on her dresser, Kate tucked them into a small bag that she placed in the outer pocket of the suitcase and asked Lanie, "Can you think of anything I've forgotten?"

"Everything you need is in there. You should be covered for anything short of cocktail dress territory." Standing and smoothing her dress, she said, "I should get going now so you can have the place to yourself when Castle gets here."

"Thank you, Lanie…for saving me from myself…and for all this help."

"And for setting you up so you can have this weekend?"

"Yeah. That, too. And while I'm at it, I should probably include putting up with me. Sorry I jumped on you about it."

Accepting a big hug from her friend, Lanie answered gently, "Let yourself relax and enjoy the weekend away, Honey. I guarantee it's going to be good…for both of you. It's high time the two of you face what's obvious to everybody else."

The ME stood and headed to the door, picking up her purse on the way out, and just as she reached for the doorknob, Castle knocked.

Opening the door, she greeted him with, "Well, obviously I'm not the one you're looking for."

"Thank you for all this, Lanie. We will talk rewards next week," he answered with a smile. "I don't know how to thank you enough."

"Just get over yourselves and work this out. That's enough for me. Too much angst."

He bowed gallantly and kissed the back of her hand. "I'll do my best," he promised.

"See that you do," she answered flirtatiously, and then called out loud enough Kate would hear her as she moved past Castle, "Have fun, you two. And, Kate Beckett, if you don't grab this man while you can, I'm going after him myself."

Castle closed the door behind Lanie and walked farther into the living room. "Do you need more time?" he asked, not seeing Beckett yet.

"No. I'm ready," she answered, pulling her suitcase from the bedroom. "Lanie helped...picked out some things for me while I took a shower. I love her, but I don't always entirely trust her with my clothing choices when I have no input. Sometimes she works at her own purposes. Had to check behind her."

Castle grinned. "Any problems in there?" he asked nodding toward the suitcase.

"I made a couple of minor adjustments…nothing big."

"Anything you want to talk about before we leave? I told you this weekend will be on your terms. Do you want to set them before we go?"

"Can we keep it low-key? Keep mostly to ourselves? I don't want some random picture out there on page six to hurt either Tom or Gina…or to have some opportunistic reporter dredging up the mess that's us while we're still trying to figure it out."

"Me, either. My family knows I'll be at the beach house. I guess your dad knows you were planning to be out of town."

"Yeah, no details, just out of town."

"So nobody but Lanie knows we'll be together. I know a couple of mom and pop, off-the-beaten-path sort of places if we want to go out for dinner one night, but I'm happy with a quiet, relaxing weekend at the house. No pressure, Kate. You have enough of that in the city. Anything else?"

"Are you expecting…"

"No expectations except to enjoy your company…and hope you enjoy mine. You know you can trust me, don't you?"

She nodded.

He put his arms around her gently and pulled her close. "That's what I want most from this weekend…for you to come back believing you can trust me with anything. I know I don't look like long-term relationship material, but it's what I want to be. It's what I've always wanted."

She leaned into his embrace and sighed softly, her head on his shoulder and her hands on his chest between them. "I think I might believe you, but it's hard for me…to believe anybody."

"I know. So, we'll work on that?"

"Yeah, we will."

He couldn't resist planting a little kiss on the top of her head.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"Traffic is going to be terrible, and we have all weekend to talk out anything else. Why don't we start by getting on the road?"

He released her from his arms, from which he realized she had made no effort to escape. And after the resulting enthusiastic, mental happy dance, during which his big smile returned, he took charge of her suitcase and said, "Come on. We can start arguing about radio stations."

She smiled at his familiar, playful tone, followed him out, and locked up.