Sandra Kitt - RSVP with Love

She sighed. Then inhaled. “Yes, I’m fine.”

After another moment the shower curtain slowly pushed back. She instinctively crossed her arms over her chest and glanced over her shoulder. Kevin stepped in, stark naked behind her, his long, lean body filling the stall and crowding them together.

“Kevin! What are you doing?”

“Whatever I can to conserve natural resources.”

“There’s not enough room for both of us.”

Moving her aside he got under the spray, turning around to get completely wet. Kevin rotated Chloe around so that her back was to him.

“Let me,” he said.

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was the first black writer ever to publish with Harlequin Books. She is a recipient of two Lifetime Achievement Awards and the 2002 Service Award from Romance Writers of America. She has also appeared several times on the Essence magazine and Blackboard bestseller lists. Her book Significant Others was named by Amazon.com as one of the top twenty-five romances for the twentieth century.

A onetime graphic designer, she has exhibited across the U.S., designed cards for UNICEF and illustrated two books for the late science writer Isaac Asimov. Sandra is also an adjunct instructor in fiction writing and publishing, and is a frequent guest speaker. She has lectured at New York University, Penn State, Sarah Lawrence College and Columbia University.

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Dedicated to everyone who shared all those

fabulous college years with me.

Dear Reader,

I had hoped to attend a college with the traditional, away-from-home residential setting of somewhere like Spelman College. But as with some of you, I’m sure, I did not go away to attend college. Living in a huge urban center like New York City, I had more than a dozen top-tier, nationally known colleges within fifty miles of where I grew up: Columbia, Fordham, NYU, Sarah Lawrence and my alma mater, City College. The best I could do for a real campus experience was move into my own apartment in Manhattan at nineteen, and become very involved in clubs, activities and school government. There was still plenty of young-adult angst (like what my characters in RSVP with Love experienced), first (and second-chance) romances, wonderful opportunities leading to great adventures and the forming of lifelong friendships.

The HOLLINGTON HOMECOMING series reflects what I wanted my college and postgraduate years to be like…and they were! It was great fun revisiting the possibilities, and remembering everything about that transition period which was one of the most important periods of my life. I hope you enjoy RSVP with Love, the first book in the series. And I hope all the stories bring back good memories for you.

Sandra Kitt

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

“Go on. Admit it. The last four years at Hollington have been exciting, enriching and challenging. None of us will ever forget those night-before-exam cram sessions fueled by potato chips, beer and desperation…”

There was a smattering of laughter from the young men and women seated in front of the band shell stage, uniformly dressed in caps and gowns. Chloe Jackson was sure, as she knew the faculty must be, that their four years had been stoked at times with far more than what she’d politely mentioned. But this was neither the time nor the forum for reminding her fellow classmates that they’d arrived at Hollington College, for the most part, as teenagers with a penchant for arrogance, and were leaving as adults who’d learned they still didn’t know everything. There had been a lot of foolish mistakes, unforgivable behavior, triumphs, broken hearts and vendettas but also a unilateral determination to succeed.

Chloe glanced over the gathering of her classmates, detecting the rising hum of restlessness as they waited for the pomp and circumstance to be done, for her valedictorian address to end. The late afternoon sun was already shifting to the west. The next order of business for the graduates and the coming evening…some serious celebration.

“Even those crazy days and nights were part of our education, part of the process by which we learn to manage life, our uncompromising professors and bad diets. So, here we are at the tipping point. The scoreboard shows winning numbers all around. Hollington will soon be behind us and our futures straight ahead. We have been given all the necessary tools to make it bright and rewarding. Congratulations, class of 1999. We did it. Game on!”

Chloe gathered her notes and turned to leave the stage as enthusiastic and sustained applause broke out from the seated students. While she made her way back to her seat, the dean was already making final remarks, bringing the ceremony to a close. Chloe took her seat, and the young man in black-framed glasses sitting next to her leaned close.

“In training to be speaker of the house or a sports announcer?” Micah Ross whispered. “Impressive send-off.”

Chloe acknowledged the comment with a smile but said nothing. Micah, a very smart but quiet young man, was probably her best friend at Hollington. They’d somehow managed to become each other’s confidant in an environment that mostly cultivated couples and brief flings. Micah had been telling her in their last year that she would make a great senator, or congresswoman or anything. But she wasn’t interested in working for someone else, least of all the government.

“…We are so proud of all of you. Once again, congratulations to the Hollington College graduating class of 1999.”

With those words, it was done.

Chloe felt a chill of finality with the pronouncement. She stood along with everyone else as her classmates applauded each other. Most had decided on that time-honored tradition of tossing their mortarboards into the air and shouting with relief, joy and the freedom they’d earned along with their degrees and awards. She wasn’t about to toss her mortarboard anywhere. It had to be returned along with the gown or she’d be held financially responsible. It was an added expense she couldn’t afford.

Instead, after a brief hug from Micah, and cheek kisses from many around her with whom she’d spent four years, Chloe bent to retrieve from beneath her chair the three plaques and certificates she’d been awarded along with her diploma.

Then, she stood a bit dazed. Despite her speech heralding all her potential, she wasn’t sure what to do next. The graduation rituals seemed anticlimactic. Four years of work culminating in ninety minutes of speeches and a sheet of paper in a faux leather presentation folder. For a moment she felt a flash of emptiness. Like…how did she get here in the first place? Now that she’d actually achieved her goal of an undergraduate degree Chloe fingered the folder and wondered if this was all there was.

She looked around for the only two people in the crowd of nearly two thousand students and guests who should be attending the commencement ceremony because of her. There were clusters of people everywhere. Chloe quickly realized that she was the only one who stood alone.