CHAPTER 31
CAT
The second mediation session brought forth no change to the situation whatsoever. Actually, scratch that, it did manage to get Cat a whole new level of pissed off. By the time they walked out of there she was absolutely fuming. James was still as pigheaded as ever, no surprise there, and now they would have to go to court in the near future – or distant, depending on how long they dragged this out – to settle this once and for all.
The one thing that didn't completely suck was the checks that'd be going directly into her bank account every month until they had this whole thing settled.
To be honest, accepting James' money – or his parents', since they were the ones paying for this whole thing – after everything he'd done was hurting her pride more than just a little bit, but it was part of the process and Sullivan assured her it wouldn't have a negative impact on her case. The fact that James was helping her financially didn't mean he'd have reason to argue she couldn't provide for herself, which had been her main concern.
James was currently not allowed any visitation with Luke, which was another plus in a sea of negatives, but he was fighting it. Cat was expecting to get a call at any moment telling her he was allowed supervised visitations. But right now it was a no-go, and if anything it felt like a good sign that things were going her way.
She really had to think of these little things that were going right, because right now she just wanted to bury herself in pessimism.
"So what do we do now?" Cat asked as she rounded on Sullivan in the parking lot near the lawyer's car. Her grip on Nick's arm forced him to jerk back slightly and he came to a halt next to her. "We have to prepare our case. Don't we? We can't just–"
Sullivan gave her shoulder a little squeeze.
"Now you two will go out to dinner and enjoy yourselves," he interrupted her, his tone soft but still commanding. "Date night, my treat, and then this weekend you'll have a blast at Luke's birthday party. On Monday we'll all get back to ass-kicking."
So with that plan in motion, he drove them downtown and stopped in front of a nice little Mexican place. At first Cat wasn't going to accept the generous amount of money he wanted to give them to pay for dinner, but the lawyer in him won the argument in the end.
"Thank you so much Sullivan, for everything," Cat smiled at him as she got out of the front passenger seat and waited for Nick to join her with Duke at his side.
"You're very welcome," Sullivan smiled back. "Now you two go have fun... and if you have too much fun at least wear a condom," he smirked.
Cat had absolutely no control over her features as embarrassment took over. The heat rushed to her cheeks like a volcano erupting from the pit of her belly.
Nick grinned mischievously, draping a casual arm around his girlfriend's shoulders.
"Will do," he said, which only deepened the blush on Cat's face.
After saying their goodbyes, Cat and Nick lingered for a few moments on the sidewalk, listening to the slow drawl of heavy rush hour traffic. Cat leaned into Nick's embrace slightly and sighed. How long had it been since it'd been just her and her boyfriend alone together? It felt like months, but in reality it couldn't have been more than a couple weeks.
They made their way inside and were seated at a table for two by a young waitress. It was a little early to be eating, so the restaurant was still a little empty, but there were a few other people, couples mostly, as well as a family of four sitting at the table right next to theirs. They had two very loud and energetic little boys – one was about five and the other was just a little younger than Luke.
"We haven't done this in a while," Nick stated after their waitress handed them a pair of menus. He was on his phone, checking the restaurant's website to see if they had an online version of the menu he could read with his text to speech app. He usually prepared in advance when they knew they were eating out, that way he didn't need to have people reading the menu to him.
"I know, not since finals before finals started," Cat agreed with a smile. They went out to dinner sometimes, but they usually had Luke with them or Nick's sisters and their significant others or children. "Do they have it?" she added, watching his fingers swipe and tap at his phone a mile a minute.
"I don't think so. Their website's fucked up," Nick said in a low voice.
"Maybe they should hire you to fix it," Cat joked.
"No thanks, I've got enough of putting together websites for a lifetime," Nick huffed.
"I know," Cat smiled in understanding, knowing full well how much Nick hated his current job working public relations for an up-and-coming business that cared more about their budget than hiring other people to help their overworked staff.
Cat read him the menu and they picked out their meals.
They talked some more about work and other trivial happenings in their social circle or in the media, but by the time their food finally arrived they were deep in conversation about a gig Nick was doing next Saturday. He was hired by a cousin of Leon's to perform a set at her wedding and apparently he was allowed to bring Cat along, so on top of everything else on their plate for the remainder of July and the first week of August, they were going to a wedding now too. Cat couldn't say she was too stressed though. In fact, she loved weddings and was looking forward to it. She even had a dress that'd fit nicely!
"I'm excited to hear you sing again. You know, I think your voice is what made me fall in love with you," Cat smiled shyly, ducking her head so that she was looking at him through her eyelashes.
"I thought it was my skills in bed," Nick smirked.
"Okay, that too," Cat giggled.
There was a short stretch of silence, at least between the couple. The table next to them was still incredibly animated. The mother was trying to feed one toddler while keeping her older son from running off – again – toward the bathrooms. The father remained on his phone the whole time, apparently oblivious to what was going on around him.
"Speaking of weddings though. Have you thought about your brother's?" Nick inquired.
"I... uh," Cat murmured, thinking about all of the times she'd been about to send Derek a text, but then chickened out. Sara kept encouraging her, letting her know there were no hard feelings and that her brothers loved her regardless, but it was easier said than done. "Yeah, I have, a lot," she admitted with a sigh.
"You want to go," Nick said knowingly, not for the first time giving his girlfriend the impression that he was reading her mind.
"It's my brother's wedding. I'd want him to be there at mine if the roles were reversed, regardless of our family... dysfunctionality," she sighed. "But it's the 6th, that's the weekend after your gig. Do you wanna go to two weddings in two weekends?"
"Yeah, I wouldn't mind... I get to dance with the cute sister of the groom. That's, like, a bachelor's goal at a wedding isn't it?" Nick smirked.
"So you're a bachelor now?" Cat giggled.
"Ain't no ring on it, baby," Nick smirked, wriggling the fingers of his left hand.
"OK, fine... but as long as you only dance with the cute sister and not the sexy bridesmaids," Cat told him with a wag of her finger in his direction, joking of course.
"I promise I won't even look at them once, no matter how sexy they are," Nick said seriously, placing a hand over his heart.
"You're such a dork," Cat giggled.
"Yeah, but you love me anyway," Nick shrugged.
"I do," Cat smiled.
"Ha, I see what you did there," Nick grinned.
"What did I do?" Cat asked, confused.
"We were talking about weddings... you said 'I do'..." Nick explained.
"Oh! Ha, I didn't even do that on purpose," Cat laughed.
They finished their meals and the waitress came back asking if they wanted dessert. Nick looked like he was about to decline, but Cat was quick to interrupt him. "The red velvet fudge cake looks so good! Can we get that?" she asked him.
"Sure, whatever the lady wants," Nick laughed.
The sun was hanging out low in the sky when they were finished eating, painting the scene all sorts of pretty pinks and oranges. It was so nice out too, the warm breeze playing in Cat's hair and causing the hem of her dress to dance around her calves. Not quite ready to call it a night just yet, they went for a walk on the beach and kept the conversation rolling so effortlessly, going from one topic to the next and keeping well away from anything that had to do with James Knightley.
Cat loved this part of her relationship with Nick. They could talk about anything; it was just so easy with him.
"So tomorrow," Nick said when finally the sun was low enough in the sky to bring forth a chill in the air. Cat nestled a little closer to Nick as a response. "Did my mom tell you to bring anything we need to pick up—?" he wondered.
While Luke's birthday was actually in the middle of next week on the 27th, they'd be going over at Nick's tomorrow to celebrate a little early, since the weekend was a lot easier on everyone's schedules. Nick's 22nd birthday was also coming up on August 5th, and Nick's niece Ava's was on August 30th, so they'd be doing all three at once.
It was funny to think they were at a point in their relationship where Nick's mom called Cat's cell to talk to her about family events and not her son, who usually got all of the information through her now.
"No, I have two salads ready in the fridge so we'll bring that over," Cat said thoughtfully.
Between everything that was happening right now, she didn't have a lot of time – or the desire – to labor around in the kitchen, but she felt the need to provide something for the party tomorrow, since they'd be celebrating her son's birthday and it'd be kind of rude to show up empty-handed.
"I'll have to ask your mom for more recipes, those salads turned out so good!" Cat added.
"Her recipes make even the culinary-challenged look good," Nick smirked.
"Hey! I already know I suck at cooking, you don't have to be a jerk about it," Cat giggled, elbowing him playfully. She wasn't actually mad. "Keep talking like that and you won't get to use those condoms Sullivan was talking about."
That shut him up about that topic, although not quite about the party tomorrow.
"You could always call up your brothers and sister and see if they'd like to come tomorrow. Maybe it'd be easier on you to attend Derek's wedding if it's not also the first time you're seeing them after three years," Nick suggested.
Cat mulled it over in silence for a moment; the only noises they could hear were the sound of Lake Michigan to their left and the distant sound of the traffic on the street to their right.
"But it's your choice," Nick went on.
"Yeah, I think I'll do it," Cat nodded.
They ended up walking all the way back to Hannah and Josh's place and it was almost nine by the time they arrived to pick up Luke. He was still wide awake, dressed in his favorite Cars pajamas and watching TV next to Josh on the couch. The moment he saw Cat and Nick walk through the door, he bolted towards them, going right for Nick's legs.
Cat grinned sheepishly in Hannah's direction. Apparently Luke missed Nick more than he missed her. There was nothing new there.