Back to Square One (Brandon Bay Babes)

by Calbane, Noni

  “Thanks Jasmine. I needed that vote of confidence.” Kit said with a small grin, glancing around the room at the menagerie of men.

  Jasmine patted her arm. “Just ignore them. If a guy’s interested he’ll make his presence known; if not, then what does it matter. Mr. Right may be just around the corner and I, for one, want make sure I’m not with Mr. Wrong when that happens”

  Kit nodded in agreement. On previous excursions out to bars, catching some guy’s eye had always been the motivation for the entire evening; but taking that out of the equation, the pressure was off. Maybe Jasmine was right; instead of looking for romance, if she just stood still and forgot about it, it would come looking for her.

  As the night wore on, Kit was amazed to discover she was having one hell of a good time. The place was really hopping by ten, and she and Jasmine had laughed till their cheeks hurt.

  All of sudden, Jasmine jumped up. “Uh-oh –feel the urge to sing” she yelled out. Bounding up on stage, she requested a song and lowered the mic to the right height for her small stature.

  When the Bangles’ “Eternal flame” started up, Jasmine sang every heartfelt word of the song with discordant verve. Kit was stunned; Jasmine couldn’t hold a tune to save her life. She nervously looked around the room at the myriad of faces that confirmed that her new gal-pal was completely tone deaf. The moment the song ended there was a hush over the audience and then a thunderous applause. Jasmine smiled and blew kisses, screaming out “Thank you. Good night Brandon Bay!” like a true rock star.

  Kit was in awe. Jasmine didn’t shirk from life; she grabbed it and experienced it with seemingly infinite passion and energy. She was the most amazing person Kit had ever met.

  Returning to the table, Jasmine plonked herself down and let out an exhausted “Whew”.

  “That was …” Kit started.

  “Bad, right?” Jasmine giggled. A passerby gave her the thumbs up, “You rock girl” he said on his way. “Thanks” Jasmine called back.

  Shaking her head in disbelief, Kit wished she had the courage to do what Jasmine had done.

  “Why don’t you give it a go?” she asked Kit, as if reading her thoughts.

  “Oh, no” Kit answered. “I have a very low humiliation threshold. If I got up there, I’d literally die of embarrassment. So I’ll leave the superstardom to you, if you don’t mind. You’re more cut out for it.”

  “You know what I think Kit Davidson?”

  “What?”

  “I think we’ll have to work at getting you over being embarrassed about silly things like singing karaoke to a bar full of half-drunk strangers. You’d be surprised how quickly the walls of shame can come down when you forget yourself and let go for the first time. It’s like opening the floodgates. All of sudden, you realise that by laughing at yourself, you negate everyone else’s opinion or ridicule.”

  “Maybe” Kit replied with scepticism. “I’ll take you at your word for now, but don’t expect me to be up there singing Madonna any time soon.”

  Jasmine clapped her hands together in glee. “Oh, you’d make a great Madonna. And I’m pretty sure I have a Jean-Paul Gaultier pointy bra somewhere in my warehouse of a closet.”

  Before Jasmine could get carried away Kit stopped her. “Not gonna happen Jasmine”

  “Never say never, I always say. Good things come to those who wait” she said with a wicked grin. “Speaking of good things, a certain somebody over there is checking you out.”

  “Where?” Kit asked without looking around.

  “Over in the far left corner” she said secretively behind her hand.

  “I thought you told me to ignore them”

  “He’s much too cute to ignore” she whispered back.

  Pretending she needed to stretch her back and roll her shoulders, Kit quickly glanced in the direction of the so-called admirer. Oh. My. God. There was no mistaking who it was. Putting her face in her hands, Kit found it hard to breathe and the urge to nervously giggle reared its ugly head.

  “What’s up?” Jasmine touched her shoulder in concern.

  “Jeremy Atwell. It’s Jeremy Atwell” was all she could manage to get out in muffled tones.

  “As in Atwell Construction?” Jasmine asked in bewilderment.

  She raised her face to her friend, “I guess so. His father owned the business, so I suppose he runs it now. I kind of hoped he’d left town, like most of the kids I went to school with, and never come back.”

  “Wanna tell me about it?”

  “Not much to tell really. I had a huge crush on him in high school, and he didn’t even know I existed.” Kit left out the whole toilet paper fiasco. She’d save that tidbit for another time.

  “Well, he seems to have noticed you now, in a big way.” Jasmine said wide-eyed.

  “What makes you say that?” she giggled.

  “He’s coming over”

  No. No. No. This couldn’t be happening. One day in Brandon Bay and she’d encountered the one person she wanted to avoid more than anyone. Kit could feel her palms start to sweat. Was he really coming over to talk to her, or would her cloak of invisibility kick in and he’d walk straight past.

  “Hi there, I’m Jeremy” he said from behind her, with the confidence of someone who was someone. Crap! Why oh why couldn’t she be invisible when it counted!

  Kit looked up. The pained look on her face, she was sure, was anything but attractive; unlike the guy gazing back at her. Oh yeah. The tousled blonde hair was a little shorter than she remembered; but all in all, still as gorgeous as ever. Weren’t boys supposed to peak in their teens? Of course, there was no chance that he could develop a beer gut in the last ten years or so. No, that would have been much too much to ask for.

  Wait! Did he just introduce himself? Kit mentally slapped herself. He didn’t recognise her! Apparently she’d been so insignificant in high school that he didn’t recollect her at all.

  All of a sudden the penny dropped and Kit realised she’d expended years of her life in torture and worry about a moment that didn’t even rate a footnote in the memory of Jeremy Atwell’s illustrious high school years. The thought pissed her off. Pissed her off in a big way!

  “I’m sorry. What did you say your name was?” she said curtly, the giggles departing as quickly as they’d arrived.

  “Jeremy” he replied again with a dazzling smile.

  Oooh, what she wouldn’t have done for one of those back in high school. “Did you want something, um … Jessie?”

  “It’s Jeremy” he repeated, getting a little annoyed. “I was sitting over there with my friends and when I saw you, the thought crossed my mind, you might like to dance?”

  “So, the thought crossed your mind? Must have been a long and lonely journey” Kit smirked and Jasmine looked on in confusion. If this was some sort of cruel joke, there was no way he was getting the last laugh once again.

  Jeremy glanced around like a hidden camera was placed somewhere. He was obviously not used to having his interest unreturned. Looking nervously back at his friends, it took a second for him to once again speak, “Um, so is that a no?”

  At that moment, Kit realised that he was deadly serious –Jeremy Atwell was hitting on her; she internally rubbed her hands with glee; ecstatic to get a little of her own back, ten years after the fact, but better late than never.

  Not willing to accept defeat, he shrugged “How about I buy you a drink then?”

  “Actually, I’d prefer the money” Kit shot back. Witty comebacks had never been her thing, but she was rather getting the hang of this put down routine. For some reason the words were just rolling off her tongue.

  Looking at her with dismay, he uttered under his breath, “Why are you trying to make a fool out of me?”

  “Believe me,” Kit replied seriously. “I don't want to make a fool out of you. Why should I take all the credit?”

  Jeremy was flummoxed and held up his hands in surrender at her. “Look sweetheart, I don’t get why you’re giving me
such hard time. All I asked was if you wanted to dance. What did I ever do to you?”

  Blowing out a long breath, and still reeling that she’d actually attempted to cut a huge hunk of a man like him down to size, Kit looked Jeremy up and down and an unnatural calmness overcame her. And just like that, she unexpectedly felt the hold that Jeremy Atwell had exerted over her all these years, slip away.

  She resolved to let him off the hook for not returning her feelings all those years ago, and to treat him as she would any other stranger; because essentially that was really what he was. Yes, she’d imagined and dreamed of being Mrs. Jeremy Atwell, but it had all been one gigantic fantasy in her immature, teenaged head.

  “You know what Jeremy, you didn’t do anything to me. You didn’t deserve me being so bitchy with you and I’m sorry. I have no excuse except that I’m an old hand at doing and saying exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time. Can we start over?” She put out her hand, as if to shake his. “I’m Kit. Kit Davidson.”

  “Actually, I thought what you said was pretty funny –just not so much when aimed in my direction.” Taking her hand in his, he shook it but wouldn’t release it. “Jeremy Atwell. Very nice to meet you Kit”

  “Likewise” Kit said looking up into his sea-green eyes and thinking yeah, that’s why I had it so bad for him in high school.

  “Now that we’ve started over and been properly introduced, how about that dance?” he grinned.

  “Sorry Jeremy” Kit said, extricating her hand from his.

  Looking over at Jasmine, Kit said “We gotta go, right?” Jasmine nodded mutely, somewhat in shock. Getting up, Kit deftly brushed past the guy who’d haunted her dreams and fuelled her nightmares for so many years.

  “Sure I can’t change your mind?” he tried again, dodging in front of her with another equally dazzling smile.

  “No, I’ve got to go. It’s late” Kit uttered, then added under her breath “unfortunately about ten years too late.”

  CHAPTER 7 - Rome wasn’t built in a day

  Kit strolled into Jasmine’s shop around one o’clock the next afternoon loaded with some muffins from the local bakery and a couple of coffees from Fred’s diner –sans Sambuca.

  She’d managed to avoid Gladys’ speculative looks all morning, by rolling out of bed at eleven and meeting up with her just in time to say goodbye as she left for work. Gladys had tried to quickly grill her about where she’d been and what she’d done the previous evening, but Kit took it as an intrusion and avoided her questions with the agility of a professional dodge-ball player.

  Maybe Jasmine could give her some good advice as to how to talk to her mother. The two seemed to be close; a fact that Kit planned to quiz Jasmine on today.

  “I brought muffins” Kit announced, holding the bag up for Jasmine’s perusal.

  “Yummy –what sort?”

  “Chocolate and Bran” she said, putting them on the shop counter.

  “Bran? What am I, eighty-three?” Jasmine chuckled.

  “Can you not just say thank you Kit for being so kind as to bring me sustenance?”

  “Thank you Kit” she replied with a flourishing bow. “I thank you and my bowels thank you.”

  “Don’t mention it” Kit smiled. “I mean really, don’t mention it.”

  Jasmine grinned back. “Can you believe we’ve only known each other a day? I feel like you’ve been my friend forever.”

  “Me too” Kit responded taking a sip of coffee. “I wished you’d moved here when I growing up; I could have used a friend like you back then.”

  “Going to school with Jeremy Atwell couldn’t have been a hardship” Jasmine said, taking a bite of chocolate muffin. “He’s a hottie.”

  “Like I said last night, he didn’t know I was alive back in the day. I told you about what happened the night of the Prom and how I embarrassed myself in front of him. After all that, he didn’t even remember me from high school. I suppose I can’t blame him. I really wasn’t his type. His taste ran to perky blonde cheerleaders, who were so dumb, the closest they got to a brainstorm was a slight drizzle.”

  Letting out a snort, Jasmine’s coffee almost came out her nose. “Well his taste seems to have changed from what I saw at Gillman’s. Either that, or you were a little perky yourself last evening.”

  Kit looked down at her 34A chest. “I couldn’t be perky if I tried.”

  “Well then, maybe he’s matured a little since high school and he’s through with perky.”

  Kit raised her eyebrows at that. “Men are never through with perky.”

  “Yeah, men suck sometimes.” Jasmine said sadly.

  Watching as Jasmine carefully soldered the metal around the precious stones of her latest creation, Kit sighed. “You’re so good at that. I wish I was good at something with my hands.”

  Jasmine squinted at the piece she was working on, then reached for her glasses and perched them on her nose. “You’ve never done anything “arty”?” she asked.

  “I used to paint” Kit replied with a small smile. “But it was just a hobby, I really wasn’t that good. Although my Art teacher at the time said I had talent –I couldn’t see it.”

  “So what made you want to become a fact checker?”

  Pondering the question, Kit went to grab a muffin for herself. “It’s not like I was going to do it forever. I originally applied for the graphics department. I’d hoped that McIntyre and Jones would allow me to get into something more like graphic design or fashion editing after a while. Guess none of it was meant to be.”

  “Well it seems you have a leaning towards the artistic, being interested in painting and graphic design. Maybe you should reacquaint yourself with your old hobby and do some painting while you’re here." Jasmine said with grin. “It’s not like you have anything going on at the moment. Why not watch paint dry?”

  Kit thought about the possibility of picking up a brush again and getting creative. The idea didn’t terrify her as much as she thought it would. She was sure that Jasmine had something to do with that. Her encouragement was a crutch that Kit needed, but hoped to do without when she felt ready to go it alone.

  Narrowing her eyes at her friend, Kit commented. “You know Jasmine, I can’t decide if you’re an innocent or just about the wisest soul I’ve ever met. Just when I think you’re the most naïve and guileless girl in the world, you blow me away with your insightfulness.”

  Blushing like a schoolgirl, Jasmine looked away. “I call ‘em like I see ‘em Kit, nothing more.” Raising her eyes back to her friend, she beamed at her. “So you’re gonna do it? Paint, I mean.”

  Kit beamed back at her. Her enthusiasm was contagious. “Yeah, I think I will. In fact, I’m going to go over to Williams Art Store and get some supplies right now! What do think of that?”

  Jasmine clapped her hands, which Kit had learned in a very short time was her version of the happy dance. “What will you paint first?”

  “Hmm. I think the sea. I really love the sea.”

  Looking worried, Jasmine bit her lip. “Shouldn’t you start with something like a fruit bowl or some flowers?”

  Kit smiled at her concern. “Don’t worry Jas, I’m not planning on becoming Picasso overnight. Rome wasn’t built in a day!”

  “That sounds like something your mother would say”

  Throwing her hand over her mouth, Kit was horrified. “Oh God. It did. I sounded just like her.”

  “There are worse people you could end up being like than your mother Kit. I’d be Gladys in a minute if the opportunity ever magically presented itself to switch places.” Jasmine told her with a straight face.

  “But, but … why?” she asked in bewilderment.

  “Spend some time with her and you’ll figure it out.” Jasmine said mysteriously.

  “Ya think?”

  “Definitely. You and your mother seem to have a difficult relationship, but I think it’s because you’re more alike than you care to admit. I’m positive it will all work out for the two of
you.”

  “But how, and when? It seems we’ve been on tenterhooks for years.”

  “It takes time to unload baggage, open the suitcases and air the past. Once you do that, you may just find you don’t want to pack up those suitcases again. By going back to where you came from, you can actually move on.”

  “O-kay” Kit answered wide-eyed, looking at Jasmine like she was a pink-haired version of Yoda.

  “In other words “Rome wasn’t built in a day” she smiled as Kit rolled her eyes in derision.