Kiss Me Cate Pt. 08

"Secondly?" I prompted.

"Secondly, yes that." Her mouth quirked to the side in a lop-sided grin. She didn't continue, we just walked.

"Hmm?"

"Let's skip secondly for now, shall we?" She said laughing. "Thirdly," she sighed heavily, "this is all going to be over in a few days and it's back to the daily grind. The classes, papers, research, writing," she tilted her head back and groaned, "assignments, grading, excuses, faculty politics and so on and so on."

I laughed. "You know..."

"Don't even say it." She interjected with a finger pointed sternly at me. We walked a bit further, and were almost to the hotel. "You were right though, I do miss it here," she added quickly, "but there's no way I'd come back without you. We both have too much going on, and that's back at home. Besides," she said smiling, "we can visit when we like." We continued to walk, in no great hurry. "How does that old song go? 'How you gonna keep them down on the farm, after they've seen Paris?'" She laughed.

I wasn't sure what I'd expected her to say. She was right, we'd be back often to make sure she didn't get homesick, and I wasn't opposed to coming here to live either, but my heart soared when she said, in no uncertain terms, that she was staying with me.

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder?" I said as we walked. "Do you like teaching?"

"I do, and that surprised me after a few months. I love seeing a students face light up when they suddenly understand a concept. I'm often amazed that the problems they solve in completely different ways than I might have tackled them, and I learn something from them." She shook her head. "Maybe I've a bit more of my Mum in me than I'd thought."

Cate came over and perched on my lap. "What would you like to do tomorrow?"

I shrugged. "Anything you'd like. I'm still curious about St. Patrick's Street. There's Blarney Castle." I added in my poor imitation of her, which received the reaction I was looking for as she rolled her yes and let out a sigh. I chuckled and took her in my arms. "I'm sorry, I'll stop teasing."

"Don't do that." She mumbled into my shoulder. "Then I'll think you're upset with me."

"It'll never happen." I whispered into her thick, dark hair. I could feel a bubble of laughter from her chest.

"Ye have little faith." She whispered back. "Your memory is already fading of just a few weeks ago?"

I laughed at that. "That day isn't one I'll forget."

"Good." She added with another giggle. She let out a long sigh and started making snoring noises into my shoulder.

"Okay, I get the idea."

The next morning dawned gray. It wasn't raining yet, so we decided to make our way out to Blarney Castle first where I was hoisted upside down to make my homage complete. We took a short walk through the gardens but the weather turned against us. We made our way back the city center a few hours later. We decided to start at one end of the St. Patrick's street and work our way to the other end. I jokingly stood in an electronics shop window goggling at all of the video game equipment at which point Cate tugged at my elbow several times to keep me moving. I did the same with her at a high end boutique, the only difference was I was pushing her towards the door and she was pushing back to keep out of the shop. We laughed and teased each other as we walked in the cold and damp. I noticed we both went oddly quiet as we passed a jewelry store and didn't make more than a cursory glance at the window displays.

"I stand corrected, you were right, sometimes it is just fun to window shop." I said raising my coffee in the warmth of the cafe we'd stopped in.

"The most affordable kind of shopping, but that black suit down the street though." She rolled her eyes a slight moan escaped her lips. The suit she was referring to was a stylish long black number, the coat cut very low, and the mannequin it was on showed no signs of a blouse or a bra. I could easily picture Cate wearing it.

"We can go back." I said smiling. She gave me a deadpan look.

"You've already lost the grasp of the window shopping concept haven't you?"

I laughed. "That suit with those black heels you bought a few days ago." I wiggled my eyebrows at her.

"No," she said, "you would need something brighter than that, maybe gold or red."

My eyes widened and so did my smile.

"You look positively feral."

"I wonder where the nearest shoe store is?" I turned and looked out the window hoping one would materialize instantly across the street.

"Before you go there, imagine twenty or more hormone-driven young men staring at me in that outfit for over an hour per class."

"You're right. I remember the first time you wore a short skirt in class, it was the buzz for days after." I said wiggling my eyebrows. "I wonder where we can find burlap sacks around here, long ones." I began rubbing my chin. Cate laughed, while a blush colored her cheeks.

"I thought you'd see it my way. I honestly believe that women in education dress conservatively so their male students will keep their minds on their studies."

The song Hot For Teacher came to mind and I smiled, but I didn't say another word. "Business too I imagine."

She gave me the raised eyebrow look. "I'll have you know that I always dressed appropriately for work. The incidents at my last company had nothing to do with my wardrobe."

"I wasn't even thinking that Cate." I reached across the table and took her hand.

We finished our impromptu lunch and crossed the street and began the walk back to the hotel. We passed a small travel shop with posters of the warm locales popular at this time of the year, Spain, Greece, Italy and one or two posters of skiers in the Alps. "See the world." I said softly.

"One day." Cate responded with a little smile. We continued walking in relative silence. I noticed that the warnings I was used to getting weren't there any longer and she was referencing our future, together. I treated it as a rare animal sighting holding my breath in the hope that it didn't disappear in the blink of an eye. We were in no particular hurry to the dismay of some people that passed us by.

"You're quiet."

I nodded. "So are you."

"What are you thinking about?"

"Dreams."

She cocked an eyebrow and glanced at me sidelong. "Fulfilled?"

"Yes." I smiled and gave her hand a little squeeze. She chuckled.

"Come on, you're not getting off that easily."

"No, it's true. You've stopped warning me at every turn about the future and started talking about it."

"Have I?" She seemed genuinely surprised. "Dylan, I..."

I turned her quickly planting my lips on hers. She pulled back with a shocked expression. "No." I said. "Don't bring up doubts or worries, just move forward Cate. Let fate be your guide."

"Aren't those concepts mutually exclusive?" She said grinning.

"I don't believe so." I returned her grin. "We've nominally agreed that it was fate that brought us back together, don't try to overthink it. I want to enjoy it for as long as I humanly can." Her smile softened and her eyes welled up as she slowly wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me deeply in the middle of the sidewalk.

"You've an old soul Dylan Butler." She said looping her arm in mine and we continued along our route.

"Funny, my mother used to say the same thing to me."

"I know, she told me, now I know what she meant."

Surprised I chuckled. "Oh, what's that?"

She tilted her head as she formed her response. "You're not filled with the youthful angst so many people your age, or should I say our age, like the worries of future success, or the fear of failure. You seem self assured without being pompous." She thought for a minute longer and a smile crept across her face. "You're the embodiment of the French saying, "Que sera, sera."

"What ever will be, will be. The future's not ours to see. Que sera, sera." She gasped, as I sang the lyrics.

"What?"

"You've got a lovely singing voice too. It's a good thing Shannon didn't hear that last night." She added laughing.

"I wouldn't say lovely. I'd barely say passable."

"I'm surprised you know the lyrics. It's not exactly the kind of song you hear on the radio any longer."

"Doris Day, Jimmy Stewart, The Man Who Knew Too Much, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. I'm surprised you know it too." I whispered conspiratorially. "It was in a movie."

"I'll have you know it was one of Mum's favorites and we had the sheet music." She turned and stuck her tongue out at me. I leaned in to bite it and she kissed me again. She turned us towards the hotel on the next block and we headed back. Forgoing the usual afternoon tea, we stopped at the cafe off the atrium for hot chocolate. "This was a good idea." Cate said inhaling the scent.

"I thought so too."

We went up to the room for a few hours before dinner. The television played something low while we generally ignored it. I sat on the bed leaning back against the headboard with Cate curled against me. She let out a little laugh.

"You know, if you told me a few years ago I'd be this smitten I'd have told you that you were daft. Strong independent women we Murray girls are."

"I hope to keep you smitten for at least sixty or seventy years." I said and kissed the top of her head. I paused waiting for the push back and got none and I grinned.

She turned her face into my shoulder and mumbled. "Let's start with sixty, no need to get crazy just yet."

I laughed. "Okay we'll start with sixty and see where we go from there." I tilted her head back and kissed her. "Mmm you taste chocolatey."

"Have another taste." She said grinning. I proceeded to do just that.

"You know, you're pretty good at that." I said catching my breath.

"You are too."

"Practice makes perfect."

"Think we should workout for the Olympics?" Cate asked breathlessly.

"Sure but which nation would we represent?" I asked laughing.

"Ireland, of course." She grinned and kissed me again.

"You're making me wish we didn't have plans for dinner. I could stay like this all night."

"Damn." Cate sat up quickly looking around for her phone. "What time is it?"

I laughed. "We're not late, relax."

"No, but a bit rumpled." She said looking down at her clothing. "I should probably change."

"Only if I can watch."

"Pervert." The grin on her face belied the fact that there was no conviction to the claim. I decided to clean up a bit and change out of my jeans as well. Cate came out of the bath and groped me on the way by. "Nice arse, hot stuff" she added sending us both into a fit of giggles.

"You called me the pervert?! How quickly the tables have turned." She disappeared back into the bath claiming she needed to make her self presentable. I scoffed loudly at that. She came back out a ten or so minutes later, her eyelashes bolder, her cheeks showing a bit more color and her lips a slightly darker shade of pink.

"You still look beautiful. What have you been doing for ten minutes?" She looked sharply at me, her mouth opening slightly. I started laughing and leaned in for a kiss. She quickly retreated.

"Ah ah, not dry yet. In five or so minutes you can have your way with me."

"Won't your sister be upset if we stand them up?"

"She's met you, she'd full well understand why I would."

We got our coats on and made the short two block trek to the restaurant. Shannon and Mik had arrived a little ahead of us and were already at a table. We made small talk, Shannon suggested that Cate should take her mother out for some girl time before we went back home to the States.

"She'd never admit it to you but she wasn't happy when you kept winging off to foreign lands. She misses you terribly."

"Do you get back home often?" Cate asked.

"I have been back a few times last year, but it's not the same for us. You're her favorite."

Cate made a face at her and disagreed.

"No it's true, I'm not being snarky. I think it's because you're so much like Da." Shannon turned to me. "She's the quiet one, Sinead and I are the natterers."

"I think we can work in a day before we leave." Cate said laying her hand on mine with a nod. "I'll just have to find this one something to do before hand so he doesn't wander off." We had a terrific dinner and a few bottles of wine to go along with it. Mik wasn't chatty. I think he was self conscious about his accent, but joined in when Shannon dragged him into the conversation. The wine probably didn't hurt. We stayed well after the plates were cleared and finished off the dregs from the wine and sipped coffee. I liked Shannon, she was bubbly and surprisingly extroverted compared to Cate. She was quick witted and a bit of a joker. I imagine it's easy to get lost in the crowd of a symphony but when you're only one of four or five on a stage and you're the main vocalist, it's not a good idea to be shy.

Cate had asked me politely to not jump on the bill, a simple offer to split it would suffice. She didn't want me to look overtly American as she called it. I chuckled because I knew what she meant and let her know I'd be as humble as possible. In the end it didn't matter, Mik had covered it without a bat of an eye. We left with many hugs and well wishes on our trip home. We invited them to come to see us in the States any time they'd like to visit.

As we walked back to the hotel for our last night in Cork she brought it up. "You know, I think that's one of the biggest differences of culture. I've seen it often. Americans have this success culture built up in their heads that they have to be wealthy to be happy. You know it only occurred to me a few times that it would have been handy to have my own car when I was living in the city. I had a nearby lorry stop and could get most places by foot if need be and I didn't feel... embarrassed I guess is the best way to put it."

"The American dream. Everybody gets their own home with a yard and a car, or two, plenty of money to afford regular vacations, and a fat nest egg to retire early on." I nodded.

"That's not to say that you don't line your home with things. Televisions in every room, electronics and toys, boats and caravans. I'm sure there are plenty of people here that would be the same, but by and by they're happy with a roof over their head and a steady job." She said, and I noticed she was using terms more common to her own homeland. "I know it make me sound very critical, but I think we value people more than things."

"I'm not going to argue the consumer culture. I think we Americans have that well nailed down." I said laughing. "In the immortal words of Henry David Thoreau, 'Our life is frittered away by detail, simplify, simplify.'"

Cate chuckled. "Yet here we are in very detail oriented, fast paced careers."

"It does seem counter-intuitive, doesn't it?" I thought for a moment. "Though computers, and the Internet are just the next form of communication. We're just doing our best to police it."

"What you said before, that it's counter-intuitive, I think that's one reason I went crazy on you every time you tried to solve a problem by throwing money at it. I don't want you to lose sight of the point."

I was surprised by that. "What point do you mean?" She looked over her shoulder to see if we had any people in earshot.

"I mean that the point isn't that the one who has with the most money wins." She said softly. "I'm probably rambling, I'm sorry."

"No, no." I encouraged her. "I'm genuinely curious."

"I don't know what's making me so philosophical, probably the second bottle of wine." She laughed. "It's just that I've felt, and still feel that the life well lived is full of experiences both big and small, not one filled with yachts and expensive cars, and villas in warm places."

"Okay then I'll sell the place in Monte Carlo."

She elbowed me gently. "Arse. I mean that it's not about diamond buying trips to Antwerp as you so eloquently put it, or shopping sprees on Bond Street, at least for me, though I do like to look through the windows." She added pointedly. "I'd much rather spend a night over dinner with family and friends than practically anything else. A home made dinner would make it even better."

I paused for a moment as we turned towards the front of the hotel. She turned to face me. "Cate? You know who I am now. I don't live like that either. I have a decent car and a nice apartment, but I don't have crazy spending habits." Her eyes went wide. "Okay that one thing, but that doesn't count in this discussion. The most expensive thing I've purchased was the airline tickets to come here with you. I would consider that more of a check in the experiences column of my life's ledger than an extravagance. I hope you understand that."

Her mouth quirked in a little grin. "I know, but I think we're not on the same track here. I'm saying that I myself don't want become a slave to money. I was once on a track to climb my way up the corporate towers of power and money, and I now consider it a blessing that it got derailed. Does that make sense? I mean it sounds so very nonsensical considering the drive and direction we're pushed towards these days."

"I'm glad it got derailed too, or you would never have been sitting outside my favorite little tea shop on a hot summer day for me to meet."

Cate's face brightened at that and a smile spread instantly across her face just before it hit mine crushing my lips. Her arms wrapped tightly around my neck. I finally got a chance to speak for a moment. "I'm guessing that was the right response?"

"You know, for all the time we've spent together there's an awful lot we don't know about one another." She said.

"Okay you can test me in sixty years to see what I still don't know about you." I said. Cate just smiled and put her forehead against mine. "Come on, let's get inside where it's warm." We got on the elevator before I spoke up again. "I have to admit that the windfall I've had has made life very easy for me, but I haven't let it go to my head, at least I don't think it has, I haven't done anything crazy." I held up my finger before she could jump on that remark. "I don't plan on changing now, which has been a great relief to my folks, but if it comes down to forgoing a minor extravagance for the sake of humility, I'll take the extravagance so I can at least say to my conscience that I didn't deny myself the experience. I won't pass on a steak and eat peanut butter and jelly because it was more sensible. That's all I'm trying to say."

Cate was quiet all the way to the room. I hung up our coats and she just stared out the window at the lights along the river. I took her hand and walked her to the foot of the bed and nudged her to sit. "I feel the same way about you. That was the explicit purpose of this trip, so you wouldn't go without getting to see your family at the holidays."

Cate tilted her chin up and looked me in the eyes. "Thank you." She whispered. I knelt in front of her and her eyes went wide. I pulled her knees apart and scooted up to her.

"Do you understand Cate? I want that freedom for you too. If you want to come back this summer, then I'll call the travel agent and book it as soon as we get home. We can take golf lessons, visit the countryside." I grinned. "See the fields full of sheep up close rather than through a window on a fast moving train."

"Sheep stink you know." She grinned back at me.

"They don't when they're cooked right." I said with a wink. "When we get back to Dublin, take your mom out for the day. Hire a limo and do whatever you like with the knowledge that you can." I said. "Go to a conservatory and listen to chamber music, go shopping, or go to a day spa, rob a bank if you want. Wait, skip that last one. I don't want to get on your fathers bad side." I laughed. Cate's expression changed from stunned to smiling, a tear ran down her cheek.