Gerri Hill - One Summer Night

Kelly opened the door and stood leaning against the frame, dressed in her familiar jeans and T-shirt. Jo lowered her eyes quickly.

"Lunch?" Kelly asked.

"Oh, no, I don't think so," Jo said, tapping away on the computer.

Kelly was silent until Jo finally stopped and looked at her.

"Are you okay?" Kelly asked quietly.

Jo nodded. "Yes, I'm fine."

"Good.” She looked at her for a moment longer, then smiled mischievously. "I was going to go for Italian. You still do like Italian, don't you?"

Jo laughed and felt some of the tension slip away. "Yes.

I still do," she smiled.

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"Good.” Kelly shoved away from the wall. "Seriously, I'm going to the sandwich shop on the corner. Want me to bring you something?"

"Actually, a tuna on wheat sounds good. Extra mustard."

"Ugh," Kelly said with a grimace and left.

The days got back to normal for them. At least, what Jo perceived to be normal. Neither of them mentioned the night at the bar, and Jo was thankful. Kelly came each day at lunch again. Jo politely refused the lunch date, but often asked her to bring her back something.

One day, Kelly waited at her door while Jo was on the phone with Harry. When she hung up, Kelly was glaring at her.

"Who's Harry?" she demanded. "Do you lead a secret life, or what?"

Jo laughed. "Harry is my grandfather."

"Grandfather? Why do you call him Harry?"

"I don't know.” She shrugged. "I've always called him Harry."

Kelly surprised her by coming into her office, something she rarely did. She pulled out a chair and sat down, casually leaning one ankle across the other knee.

"I just realized how little I know about you. Tell me,"

she insisted.

"Tell you? Tell you what?"

"About you. About your life."

Their eyes met and held, and Jo felt her pulse race unexpectedly. "What do you want to know?" she asked.

"Parents?"

Jo shook her head. "My mother was killed when I was twelve. I never knew my father.”

"So Harry raised you?"

"He and my grandmother."

"Is she still around?"

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Jo shook her head. "No. Beth died two years ago."

"Anybody else?"

"No. Just Harry and me," she said quietly.

"Oh.” Kelly was quiet for a moment, then leaned forward, closer to her desk. "What about your love life?" she asked.

Jo laughed, a blush creeping into her face. "What about it?"

"Do you have discarded girlfriends all over Austin?" she asked seriously.

"Of course not. I only have one ex, and she moved to New York with the woman she was cheating on me with.”

"Oh.” Kelly nodded.

"Oh, what?" Jo asked.

"That explains a lot," she said. "How long were you together?"

"Why are you asking me all this?"

"Because I want to know."

"Four years."

"Lived together?"

"Two."

"In your house?" she asked.

"Yes," Jo nodded.

"In the same bed you have now?"

Jo blushed again. "Yes," she said quietly.

"How long ago?"

"Three years."

"Okay," Kelly said and smiled.

"Are you quite finished?"

"Of course not, but that's enough for now.” She stood up, leaning a hip against Jo's desk, and Jo stared at her, letting her eyes rest for a moment on Kelly’s beautiful brown ones. She had missed looking at them.

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Kelly smiled at her sweetly. "Now, what about lunch?

How long are you going to keep turning me down?"

"As long as it takes."

"I won't keep asking forever," she said.

Jo laughed. "Thank goodness."

"I mean it," she said softly.

Jo met her eyes. "I'm afraid to be alone with you," she admitted.

"Please don't be. I would never force the issue.” She was serious.

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?"

Kelly laughed, knowing very well what Jo was thinking.

"Anyway, we won't be alone. The restaurant will be crowded with people."

"Like the dance floor?" Jo blurted out, before she could stop herself.

Kelly smiled. "No, not like the dance floor. Not unless you want to dance around the tables."

Jo laughed. "Okay. I'll have lunch with you. But I have a class at two."

Kelly smiled, and Jo noticed how her eyes sparkled. "I'll have you back at one forty-five," she promised.

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Chapter Thirteen

They did not go out to lunch the next week, but Jo did ask Kelly to bring her a sandwich on a couple of occasions.

Johanna had wanted to go, but she thought better of it. Kelly had started coming into her room to visit and during their talks Jo learned more about her, especially about her college days at Stanford.

“So you were a big college jock?” Jo asked around a mouthful of sandwich.

Kelly nodded. “That’s where all my troubles began.”

“Troubles?”

“Women.”

“So many women, so little time?” Jo teased.

“Something like that.” She met Jo’s eyes without flinch-102

ing. “I wasn’t a very nice person back then,” she said sadly.

“I dated . . . a lot.”

“Hundreds?”

Kelly grinned. “I wasn’t that good. But it was just so easy for me. It was like there were groupies following the team around.”

Jo nodded. “I remember. I had a crush on the basketball team. Lindsey Morgan, in particular. I made every game, home and away.”

“I can’t picture you chasing after the basketball team.”

“Well, I didn’t really chase,” Jo admitted. “And I didn’t actually ever sleep with any of them. I just had a huge crush.

I wouldn’t have known what to do, anyway. I was still a virgin,” she confessed without blushing.

“I slept with the gym teacher when I was seventeen,”

Kelly volunteered, and Jo nearly spit out her sandwich.

“You’re joking?”

“It’s not something I’m proud of,” Kelly said. “Of course, in college, it made for a great story.”

Jo leaned back, trying to absorb this.

“I’ve shocked you,” Kelly stated.

“I don’t know why I’m surprised.”

“That was a long time ago, Jo. I suppose we’ve all done things when we were younger that we’d like to take back.”

“I don’t know if you could call twenty-eight young, but I wish I had never gone out with Nancy Stewart,” Jo said.

“Was your relationship really so bad that you wish it hadn’t happened? Surely there were some good times,” Kelly suggested.

“I’m sure there were,” Jo said. “However, her cheating, and then leaving, have pretty much clouded my memory.”

They ate in silence while Jo studied Kelly. There was so much she wanted to ask Kelly, but she was afraid her 103

questions might be perceived as interest on her part. Which it was, of course, but Kelly didn’t need to know that.

“Have you ever been in a long-term relationship?” Jo asked, her curiosity finally getting the best of her.

“Just once.” Kelly lowered her eyes and her voice softened. “That’s really why I left San Francisco.”

“What happened?”

“It’s ironic, really. I had just started working on the book and I was hardly ever at home.”

“You were teaching then?”

“Yes. I could work uninterrupted in my office and that’s where I stayed until late most nights.” She put her sandwich down and folded her arms on the desk. “Kathy thought I was seeing someone. Instead of confronting me, she decided to have her own affair.” Kelly paused, and Jo didn’t miss the pain in her eyes. “With one of our good friends.”

Jo sat quietly, waiting for Kelly to continue.

“I hadn’t been out with any of our friends in months.

I’d been so involved with my book I hadn’t even realized it.

Anyway, she had already convinced them that I was cheating on her. I had very little sympathy.” She tried to smile. “It was a pretty big mess.”