Gerri Hill - One Summer Night

After dinner, Susan made coffee, but both Kelly and Jo declined. It was just too hot. Instead they both accepted a glass of wine and everyone went back outside to the patio.

The evening was pleasant, and they chatted quietly, listening to the crickets and cicadas in the yard. Johanna wondered why Kelly hadn’t mentioned to Susan and Arnie that they knew one another, though she was glad she hadn't. She would just as soon forget the whole thing anyway!

As they were leaving, Kelly opened the door to her Explorer and waited, looking at Jo across the hood of her car, a teasing smile on her face.

"That wasn't too bad, was it?" Kelly asked.

"Yes. It was a terrible surprise."

"Oh, now, come on, you enjoyed yourself, admit it."

"The meal was pleasant," Jo conceded.

Kelly shrugged and got in her Explorer, slamming the door. Jo stood and waited until Kelly’s window buzzed down.

"What are you doing here, really?" Jo asked again.

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"I was tired of San Antonio and when this position was brought to my attention, I took it.” Kelly smiled mockingly at her. "I didn't even remember that you taught here."

Their eyes held for a long moment, then Jo looked away.

"I really don’t want that night brought up again. Please,"

she said quietly. "It's bad enough I have to live with it without everyone else here knowing."

"Yeah, well, you should have thought about that before you seduced some stranger in a bar with those gorgeous blue eyes of yours," Kelly shot back.

"I did no such thing!" Jo protested.

"No? Then who was that woman making such beautiful love to me that night until the early morning hours?" Kelly asked softly. "Until we were too sated for even one more kiss?"

Jo stared at her, speechless, her pulse pounding in her head.

"Hey, but don't worry. I have no desire to broadcast what an easy catch I was that night," Kelly smiled mischievously.

"I do have a reputation to maintain, after all.” She pulled away and waved out the open window, leaving a stunned Jo staring after her.

"See you around," she called, as she sped down the street.

"Oh, God," Jo fumed. "That woman infuriates me!"

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Chapter Seven

Jo had her usual Sunday brunch with Harry, then spent two other mornings with him, fishing. Once the semester started, she would have little time to visit, other than on weekends.

"How are you doing, Jo-Jo?" he asked suddenly, when they were cleaning the catfish they caught for dinner.

"I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"You've just seemed unusually quiet, that's all."

She knew she had been preoccupied because she was worried. She hadn't been able to get Kelly Sambino out of her mind all week, and was dreading running into her at the college. It was going to be a long semester.

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"I guess I'm just thinking about work," she said. It wasn't all a lie.

Betsy called later that week, and Jo shoved a bookmark into her novel.

"You'll never believe who we ran into at the ball field,"

Betsy said.

"Who?"

"Kelly Sambino."

"Now, why doesn't that surprise me?" Jo muttered under her breath.

"What?"

"Nothing. So, did you talk to her?"

"Of course. She sat with us the whole game. Why didn't you tell us she'd taken a position at Austin City College?"

"I guess because I haven't talked to you. I just found out on Saturday myself."

"Well, it's great, isn't it? She's going to play third for us when the fall season starts."

"Yeah. Great," Jo said, thinking she wouldn't be making any more games this year.

"Why don't you sound thrilled about all of this?" Betsy asked sarcastically.

"Why should I?"

"I thought you said that nothing happened between you two."

"So? Does that mean I have to want to work with her?"

she snapped.

"Hey, sorry," Betsy muttered. "Who put a bee up your butt?” She hung up.

Jo replaced the phone, rubbing her forehead. She knew Betsy was not really angry. They had too much history between them for that.

She had first met Betsy Gannon in the girls’ locker room in high school. The new kid with the curly red hair had been 62

hurrying past Jo’s locker when she slipped and landed on her rear, practically at Jo’s feet. Betsy had laughed along with everyone else, reached for Jo’s outstretched hand and pulled herself up.

“Very graceful,” Jo remembered telling her. “I see the years of dance lessons have paid off.”

“Oh, great, a smart ass.”

They had become friends after that and had remained friends when Betsy had first confessed her attraction to another girl. Then, years later, when Jo was in college and struggling with her own attractions, Betsy had been there for her. Just like she had been there for Jo when Nancy had left. And Janis, too. They had been together so long, it was hard for Jo to picture a time when Betsy had been without Janis.

They had remained the best of friends throughout the years, and Jo had never hesitated confiding in them. But this thing with Kelly . . . Jo wasn’t ready to share it, even with Betsy.

The next week, two days before the first faculty meeting, Johanna went to her office, like she did each year. She prided herself on being organized, and she planned to take notes and begin her first two lectures.

Her office was immaculate: every book in its place, every paper put away. She could not work with chaos or disrup-tions. The freshman English classes she taught were really boring to her, after ten years, but the composition and rhetoric classes were more enjoyable. She loved to read, and she spent the morning going over her lists of books, deciding which ones her classes were going to review this semester.

A door opening and then slamming shut down the hall startled her. Soon, footsteps and then whistling followed.

She frowned, annoyed. The other faculty members were usually more quiet than that.

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A door opened again, just down the hall, then quiet, finally. She listened, then went back to her notes. Her head shot up at the sound of loud music blasting just a few offices away. The Rolling Stones? She closed her eyes.

"Who the hell is listening to the Stones?" she muttered, massaging her eyebrows and the bridge of her nose.

Johanna walked to her door, sticking her head outside briefly before slamming her own door shut. She sat back down, the music somewhat stifled. Turning to her computer, she tried to shut out the noise and concentrate. A short time later, a knock interrupted her. She scowled.

"Come in," she muttered.

Kelly Sambino stuck her head in.

"I should have known," Jo said under her breath.

"Hey, I didn't know anybody else was here.” Kelly leaned against the door, tan legs stretching out beneath her shorts. "What are you doing?"

"I was trying to work.” It had been nearly two weeks since she had seen Kelly, and Jo’s hungry eyes took her in.

"Oh. Am I disturbing you?"

"Yes. How can you possibly work with all that racket?"

"I work better with something for background noise."

"Well, I work better in absolute quiet!" Jo exclaimed.

"And you want me to turn it down?" Kelly asked, the ever-present mocking smile firmly in place.

"I want you to turn it off," Jo said pointedly.

"Now, Jo, you need to learn to compromise.” Kelly turned to go. "I'll turn it down a notch."

"Or three!" Jo called after her.

Kelly turned back and frowned at her. "What can you possibly be working on? Susan said you've been teaching here for ten years. You'd think you'd have it all down by now.”

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"Do you think I teach the same thing now as I did ten years ago?" Jo asked defensively.

"Has English changed?"

Jo ignored her and turned back to her computer. "I also teach a composition class."