Alone in Rome

Chapter Four

When Kate awoke in her childhood bedroom the next morning, she had to take a second look almost forgetting where she was. It hadn't taken her long to fall asleep that night, she felt so safe and secure in her cosy king single bed. Even though Kate hated the thought of having to stay with her mother for the next few days, possibly weeks, the wonderful memories of her childhood home always made her feel better. Kate hopped out of bed and got herself ready for the day. She had agreed with Nina that it was best she take a few days out of the office to get things back on track. So she figured she would spend the time looking for a new apartment and making a few more wedding related phone calls. Ugh, but those could surely wait, she thought to herself. At least her mother hadn't made a massive deal about the wedding being called off. She had always loved Ryan, probably a little too much. What she didn't know is that there was still a chance he could become her son in law.

On her way to pick up a coffee and check out the few apartments she had managed to find online, Kate stopped at the travel agent. It was conveniently in her parent's neighbourhood, they had given her and Ryan a travel gift voucher as an engagement present. The flights were booked well in advance, however, they were yet to sort out any accommodation. She had hoped maybe going in face to face would result in a more favourable solution. Unfortunately, all she got was a 30-minute wait and the offer of airline credit, which of course she took. Kate walked out of the travel agent feeling a little defeated,

She ordered her coffee at the place next door and sat down to wait, it was during lunch hour and it certainly was busy for such a small cafe. Kate's thought's wandered back off to the travel agent and their beautiful brochures..

"Kate." The barista called out casually at first. "Kate? Extra tall latte for Kate. KATE!" Kate snapped out of whatever it was that had her so distracted and made her way over to the rather impatient barista. She made sure to apologise for the wait, lest steam begins to escape from his perfectly rounded man bun. She picked up her extra tall latte and headed off on foot to inspect the few apartments in the city that were currently available. She didn't have very high expectations and considering her cash wasn't exactly flowing at the moment, she was only going to be looking at studio apartments and a one-bedroom a little further out. She would need to separate her accounts before she could access all her funds and Kate wasn't exactly ready to ask Ryan for anything at this stage. Besides, anything would be better than staying at her mother's any longer than absolutely necessary. 

Okay, so maybe not anything and definitely not the last place she saw; a tiny studio with what one could barely call a kitchenette. It had a laundry sink for a bathroom basin and the carpet, if she could call it that, was so badly worn you could see the underlay through it in some places. That was enough apartment hunting for the day, she thought. Kate realised she hadn't checked her phone all morning, she fished it out of her handbag and noticed a message, "Hey Kate, just checking in. Nothing to report here, Nina". Kate decided she would call her later, there were a few things she was hoping Nina could look into and she didn't have time to list them all via text.

On the way back to her car,  Kate's thought's seemed to have wandered off again and she found herself daydreaming. On the drive home and during dinner with her mother. Kate just couldn't seem to shake a thought she had had earlier, but it was so completely absurd she tried to brush it off again. She forced herself to focus on her mother's ramblings, but she had joined in far too late and had no idea what the conversation was about. Curious as to whether she had heard from Elise, Kate interrupted her mother to ask. "Come to think of it, Elise hasn't called in a while. I did get a message from her last week, but nothing since." She said. Maybe she really had left the country? Kate thought, and with that, she excused herself to hide out in her bedroom and call Nina back. 

"Hey Nina, how was it in the office today? Anything come up after your message?" 

"No, all good Kate. Take all the time you need, it's been pretty quiet. The only real work I've had is Mr Bond's estate and even that was only one phone call to the council to follow up on those old pipes. Accounts are all up to date. I did have to file a report for those documents that Arlene incorrectly shredded last week, Mrs Oldman came in asking to see them so I spent the better part of 2 hours trying to piece them back together for her. Seriously, riveting stuff."

Kate had a good laugh at poor Nina's expense and asked if she could follow up on a few things for her. She was hoping Nina could check on Elise's employee credit card transactions in an attempt to figure out where she has disappeared to. Whilst Kate was still furious with Elise, it was really strange that her sister had not even gotten in touch with their mother. Even if she thought she was staying with Ryan, Kate couldn't be sure it was her in the car with him yesterday afternoon. Considering what she had overheard on Friday, she didn't really think Elise could possibly have forgiven him so soon. 

Kate asked Nina to start proceedings for the separation, after what she saw today, she knew she would need access to her accounts right away in order to sign a lease for a nice enough place, but maybe that wasn't the only reason she wanted access to her money. Kate thanked Nina for her help and ended the call. As she laid back on her bed that night, her thought's trailed off once more.