First Class Justice (First Class Novels) (3 page)

"Sorry," he grimaced. "I tried the doorbell
but you didn't answer."

Katy crossed her legs and remained seated on the deck.

"I was in Portland so I thought I would stop in
and...and say hi."

"That's nice of you. But I'm fine Mark. You don't have
to worry about me." Katy sort of smiled.

"Well you didn't return any of my calls."

"Mark, I'm gonna let you off the hook, okay?"

"I'm not on any hook," he said.

"I'm sure Janie begged you to keep an eye on me, but
I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself."

Mark didn't know what to say. She
was
a grown
woman…that was true. But every time he thought of her he saw her tied to a bed,
needing to be rescued, and grateful they had found her in time.

"Actually, nobody
begged
me to keep an eye on
you. But I figured if I was in Portland anyway, I could at least take you to
dinner or something." Mark tried to lighten the mood.

"Dinner, huh?" Katy was suspicious.

"Just dinner," Mark smiled.

"Okay, I could eat. Let me get changed." Katy
jumped up and opened the sliding glass door into the dining room. Mark followed
her into the house and immediately noticed the changes.

"You've been painting!"

"Yep, getting rid of the old color." Katy headed
down the hall to her bedroom and Mark heard the door shut behind her.

He stepped through to the living room and liked the new pale
blue on the walls. It had been yellow and made the room very light and bright.
But the blue was good too. He sat on the couch and looked around.
She's been
busy,
he thought.
Very busy
.

In just a few minutes, Katy emerged ready for dinner. She
was a beautiful woman; long blonde hair, big brown eyes, and a body men would
love to have underneath them. That thought unnerved him. Danny had wanted her
and look what he’d done to get her. Mark looked at the floor and blinked, trying
to get rid of the vision of Katy all tied up and totally helpless.

"Ah," he said.

"What?" Katy asked.

"You painted," Mark said, a heaviness in his
voice.

"Yeah, I did." Katy tried to hide the pain but
Mark could see it.

"His bedroom was yellow," Mark whispered.

"Yeah, it was." Katy's chin quivered and Mark
could see her eyes glistening but in that very same instant she squared her
shoulders and took a deep breath. "So, where are you taking me? Somewhere
expensive I hope."

Mark smiled and told her they could go anywhere she wanted.

*****

Mark returned to his hotel room after dropping off Katy at
her house. Dinner had been interesting. Katy had talked about her son, Derek.
She was obviously very proud of him. Mark had told her about his recent
adventure in Arizona. He had gone there on business and an associate had told
him about this great bungee jumping place, so he had gone and jumped off a
bridge over a massive gorge and enjoyed the thrill of a lifetime.

Katy had told him he was nuts. Working in the ER, she had
seen her fair share of preventable injuries and fatalities due to idiot
decisions like his. Mark had laughed and kept his other idiotic exploits to
himself.

They had enjoyed a nice dinner together and then Mark had
driven her home. As he drove back to the hotel he thought about how he would
feel about her had they met under different circumstances, had they met when
she’d arrived in New York with Janie for the wedding. She was a gorgeous woman
and had a great sense of humor. He wished he could see more of it. She was
intelligent and opinionated and that made for great conversation in Mark's
book. Yes, under different circumstances he may very well have considered
dating her. But now it was just too uncomfortable, too much baggage to get
through.

Shame,
he thought.
She might have been the one.

*****

Katy stood in her bathroom getting ready for bed. Only one
glass of wine at dinner was a risk. She didn't think it was enough to hold off
the visions of Danny from invading her dreams. But she needed to try.

Her dinner with Mark had her thinking about what Dr.
LaVaughn had said about dealing with her emotions
now
so that she could
move forward. Mark was a great guy. In fact he was a dream guy; tall, good
looking, sexy, smart, articulate, funny, rich, and a gentlemen. Yes, he would
be considered her dream guy. She hadn't dated many of those in the seventeen
years since her divorce. And here was one right under her nose and it would
never ever work.

Just as well I'm not interested
, she thought
. It
will be a long, long time before I even consider thinking about dating again. Men
certainly aren’t on my priority list right now.

Katy brushed her teeth and flicked off the bathroom light.
She made sure all the windows and doors were locked and the curtains were
closed. Climbing into bed she said a little prayer to keep the dreams at bay.

Janie insisted on changing their flight home from their
honeymoon in Hawaii to make a stop in Portland. She wanted to see her sons,
Adam and Tyler who were back at school and to see her mom, but most of all, she
needed to see Katy.

While Matt was at the rental car counter, Janie called Katy
to let her know they had arrived safely and they could meet for dinner. Katy
said she could meet them at their hotel downtown in a couple of hours.

Mark had phoned Janie after he had seen Katy just a couple
of days before. He had told her Katy was doing okay but he was still worried.

“I think she should come back to New York with us,” Janie
told Matt on the ride to the hotel.

Matt sighed and shook his head. “I know that I don’t know
Katy like you do, but I can assure you that she isn’t going to come back with
us. No matter how hard you insist, Katy is
not
going to agree to that.”

“Well I’m going to ask her. Do you mind?”

Matt took his wife’s hand and kissed her palm. “Of course I
don’t mind. But you need to be prepared for her to say no.”

After what was supposed to be a quick shower to freshen up,
but turned into something quite the opposite when Matt snuck in behind her,
Janie paced the floor of the hotel room waiting to meet Katy.

Finally the clock struck six o’clock and Matt took Janie by
the hand and they headed down to the lobby. By 6:15pm, Janie was getting
worried and sent a text to Katy, only to have her walk in five minutes later.

Janie ran to her friend and threw her arms around her neck
and they hugged each other tightly.

“It’s
so
good to see you,” Janie smiled.

Katy was equally happy to see her friend.

“You’re late,” Janie said. “I was worried.”

“I’m fine,” Katy said. “Stop worrying about me!”

“I can’t just stop,” Janie replied. “You’re my family. I
love you. I worry about you.”

”I’m a big girl, Janie.”

 Matt escorted the two women to the restaurant, The Red Star
Tavern, located in the hotel.

Katy changed the subject and begged to hear about the
three-week honeymoon and Janie offered all the details for her friend. They
laughed and looked at pictures on Janie’s phone. By the time the entrée plates
were cleared, Matt had said about four words the entire evening. He smiled and
drank his glass of wine, totally amused by the two of them.

Finally, as they were eating dessert, Janie broached the
subject again and asked Katy how she was
really
doing. Katy bristled a
little, questioning why everyone kept asking how she was doing. Matt told her
it was because they all cared about her. Katy apologized.

“I feel like if everyone would stop talking about it, I
could move on,” she explained.

“Well maybe you need a change of scenery,” Janie suggested.
“I know! Why don’t you come to New York for a little while, with me, with us?”

“Hell, no!” she scoffed. “You two can’t keep your hands off
each other here in the restaurant! I do NOT want to be in your apartment where
you feel free to grope each other openly!” she laughed.

Janie was shocked until she realized Matt’s arm was around
her and his fingers were caressing her arm and her hand was planted firmly on
his thigh.

Matt chuckled and Janie smiled.

“I know you’re looking out for me,” Katy said. “I know you
want to help and I appreciate that. I really do. But I need to be here and I
need to keep seeing my therapist, even though I don’t know if it’s really going
to help. But I should at least try. And at some point I want to go back to
work. But thank you.”

Katy hugged Janie and hopefully put the idea to rest. Matt
paid the bill and Katy said goodbye and left the two newlyweds to go back to
their room and do what newlyweds do best.

*****

With Janie satisfied that Katy was doing as well as could be
expected under the circumstances, she and Matt flew home two days later after a
whirlwind trip to see both her sons and her mother. Once back in New York, she
called her new brother-in-law to ask a favor.

“I know you were just there, but isn’t there a reason you
need to be back on the west coast again?”

Mark sighed and said he would try to come up with something.
He hung up with Janie and then sent a quick text to Katy. ‘Back in Portland
next week. Let’s do dinner again.’

“And now we wait,” he frowned.

*****

Katy had finally returned to work! She was thrilled to get
back into a daily routine; one that filled most of her day with non-stop
activity. After the initial sad glances and pained expressions from her
co-workers, everything seemed to just go back to the way it had been
before
. 
Katy was still in Same Day Surgery and was thrilled to be doing what she did
best.

Her mother had been a nurse. After her dad had walked out on
them, Katy’s mom had worked two jobs and went to nursing school. When Katy
started high school her mom finally graduated and became a nurse and worked the
rest of her life doing what she loved. A car accident had cut her life short
but Katy knew that she had really found her calling in the medical profession.
So when Katy found herself as a newly divorced single mom, she followed in her
mother’s footsteps. She worked two jobs and went back to school with the help
of student loans and Janie watching Derek after school. Now, fifteen years
later, Katy could say she loved her job and really mean it. It not only paid
the bills, but also fulfilled her. She was glad she was one of the few people
she knew that actually
enjoyed
getting up and going to work each day.
And when Katy had asked her supervisor for extra shifts to help out with
Derek’s tuition at college, she was only too happy to give her what she needed.

As Katy checked on her patients and completed her charts,
she felt very lucky to be back. And apparently her joy was obvious.

“What are you grinning at?” Ted asked her as he was grabbing
a new saline bag.

“Am I grinning?” asked Katy.

“Yeah, you are.”

“I’m just glad to finally be working again. I didn’t think
they were ever going to let me come back.”

Ted tilted his head and looked at his friend. He had known
Katy ever since he started working as a nurse a couple of years ago. He had
bought Janie’s truck when she had decided to sell it, and he’d had a crush on
Katy since the day he met her.

“Oh shucks,” he smiled. “I was hoping you were thinking
about me!”

Katy laughed and patted him on the shoulder. “If only you
were ten years older.”

“I don’t mind older women,” he grinned. “I’m sure there are
a few things you could teach me.”

Katy laughed and headed back to check on her patients.
Yes,
it’s good to be back at work.

*****

Dr. LaVaughn looked over the file in her hand. Katy was
talking about her son and it was obvious that he was her pride and joy.

“I may not have done many things in my life right, but Derek
I can be proud of.”

“What do you think you haven’t done right?”

“Well my marriage for one!” Katy sneered. “That was a HUGE
mistake. But, I got Derek out of it so I guess it was all worth it.”

“Why was it a mistake?”

“Where do I start?” Katy laughed. “Everything was wrong from
day one. And my mom tried to tell me but I wouldn’t listen to her. I thought I knew
better.”

She walked to the window and looked out over the river.
“Brett was a nice enough guy to start with, I guess. I wasn’t in love with him
or anything, but I wanted to get married. Actually, I wanted the wedding, not
the marriage and I just wanted someone to take care of me. But I didn’t figure
that out ‘til later. And he didn’t love me either, but he knew I wouldn’t keep
sleeping with him if he didn’t propose. So we got married. We were way too
young and we were just stupid. And it wasn’t too bad at first. We did our own
thing most of the time and just kind of hooked up at night. It wasn’t until
after we were divorced that I realized it was doomed from the beginning. He
didn’t want to get an education. He thought working in the produce department
of the grocery store was fine. And the thought of having a baby terrified him
and when I got pregnant he blamed me for being ‘careless’. Derek wasn’t a year
old before Brett starting having affairs and so I threw him out and it’s been just
me and Derek ever since.”

“Why did you want to get married?”

Katy thought about the question before she answered, but
deep down she already knew why.

“Because I saw how happy Janie was and I wanted to be happy.
She was married so I figured if I got married I’d be happy too.” Katy shrugged.

“But it didn’t make you happy.”

“No,” Katy said as she turned back to Dr. LaVaughn. “I
wasn’t happy. I married someone who didn’t love me, only wanted to fuck me. And
then after a couple of years, he didn’t want that either so he got it from
someone else.”