by Mallory Kane
"Lemon squares." A fluttery panic started at the back of Cat's throat.
"Yes. Don't they smell good? It took me forever to find the recipe in your grandmother's things."
Of course they smelled good. Cat closed her eyes and inhaled. They smelled like spring days and grandmotherly hugs and hot summer rain and cold winter nights. Cat had to swallow the lump in her throat. "Janice, why are you doing this?"
"You don't have to call me Janice, dear. You can call me Mother if you want."
"I can call you Mother. You just called me Cat. What's going on here?" She sat straight and rigid, wishing herself anywhere else but here, in her mother's apartment, where suddenly nothing was the same as it had been.
Her mother turned pink. So that's where I got that irritating blush, she thought inanely.
"I think it's time you and I tried to work out our differences. I don't want us fighting any more."
Cat had no idea what to say.
Janice slid the oven mitts off. "You know, Hank really likes you."
"He does?" Cat watched her mother warily. "I was surprised that he's Williams Blair."
Janice nodded. "Hard to believe he'd care about me, isn't it?"
Cat shrugged. "Yes--no. I don't know."
Janice cut the lemon squares and set them on a plate. "I know I haven't been the best mother, Sugar."
Cat winced. Sugar had been her stepdad's pet name for her. She opened her mouth to make a retort, but suddenly all the anger was gone and sadness took its place. "Mom?" she said, hating the child-like sound of her voice. "Why did you keep running off and leaving me?"
Her mother almost dropped the plate of lemon squares. She set them down carefully and dusted her hands against each other, watching them as if they were the most interesting thing she'd ever seen. She spoke without looking up. "Your grandmother was much better for you than I would have been."
Cat thought of Michael's words the night before. "Mother, what about you and Gram?"
Janice paused for a split second, then continued cutting the lemon squares. "What do you mean?"
Cat reached over and took a square, biting into it, her mouth watering at the sour/sweet taste. "You never seemed to talk. It seems like when you and Gram were in the same room, there was always this thick--tension, or something." Cat licked her fingers, watching her mother. Janice was dusting her hands together again.
On an impulse, Cat reached out and put her hand over her mother's. "Why?" she asked.
"Oh, I don't know." Janice laughed nervously. "My mother never really got over the embarrassment I caused her by becoming pregnant 'out of wedlock'. It was a huge scandal back then."
"But I thought my father died."
She nodded and smiled sadly. "It was a freakish accident. At the State Fair. The car he was in on the Ferris Wheel fell." She sighed.
Cat stared at her mother, picturing her as a sixteen year old girl in love. What a tragedy, for her boyfriend to die and leave her pregnant and alone.
"Looking back now, I can see it was probably for the best. Something would have happened to him eventually. He was wild. No parents, just a no-good older brother. He was smart, and funny, and handsome." She touched Cat's face. "You look like him. But he would have been a terrible father, and a worse husband. He had no sense of responsibility."
She blinked, and Cat realized she was close to tears. "Besides, then we would have never known your stepfather."
A tear slipped down Janice's face, and Cat felt a lump in her own throat. "Daddy was a wonderful man."
"Yes, he was. I think your grandmother even thought so."
"But then, after Daddy died, you left me with Gram and disappeared. What happened?"
Janice sniffed and pressed her lips together.
"I'll tell you what happened."
Cat jumped at the voice.
Hank came in the kitchen door, dressed in shorts and a tank top and jogging shoes. His hair was damp and his face and body were covered with a sheen of sweat. He was handsome and rugged and totally male. He grinned and kissed Janice on the cheek. To Cat's amazement, Janice didn't cringe away from his sweaty face. In fact she blushed, even as she lay a hand on his forearm and murmured, "Hank, don't. I'm not sure this is the right time."
"Don't worry, Janni," he whispered.
Cat marveled at the adoring look on his face. He really loved her mother.
"Your mother will never tell you this, so I'm going to."
"Hank, please."
"No." He held up a hand, and looked from her mother to her. "You two deserve a chance. Cat deserves to know."
Cat's stomach was feeling decidedly queasy. "Know what?" she asked reluctantly.
"Your grandmother didn't think Janni was a good mother. She never forgave her for getting pregnant. So she insisted that you stay with her, for your own good. And your mother was left alone."
Cat swallowed. "Am I supposed to believe Gram bullied my mother into giving me up? Gram loved me."
"Oh, Sugar, of course she did." Janice's eyes were damp with tears.
"And so does your mom," Hank said. He put his arm around Janice, who gave him a watery smile.
Cat stared at the two of them. "I always thought I was a burden to Gram."
"No, no. She adored you. It was me she was disappointed in."
"But why didn't you stand up to her? Why didn't you make her give me back?"
Janice shook her head. "I don't know. I was young, alone, afraid, and she was my mother. I guess I believed her when she said I wasn't capable of raising you."
Hank hugged her. "But now you've got me." He shot Cat a sharp look. "I hope we can be a family."
Cat opened her mouth but nothing came out. She didn't know what to say. It occurred to her that she felt light as air, as if a burden had been lifted.
"You know what, Cat?" Hank went to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water, which he turned up and drank. Wiping his mouth, he continued. "I think Janni had plans to set me up with you."
"Wh-what?" Cat stammered. "Me?"
Janice laughed. "I thought Hank would be good for you, but he wouldn't give up until I went out with him. And how could anyone resist his charm?"
Too much was coming at Cat at once. She stared at her mother, who looked younger than she'd ever remembered seeing her. Happier, too. "Mom, I am so happy for you." As she said the words, she realized she meant them with all her heart.
Her mother obviously realized it too, because she came around the table and hugged her.
"Thank you, Sugar." Janice touched Cat's head, patting a stray curl. "I've been worried about you, but you have Michael now, and the two of you are so perfect for each other. Maybe we're both getting our happily ever after."
Cat frowned. "Perfect? Michael and me? What are you talking about?"
"Michael loves you so much. He always has. And he's so strong and so sweet. He's a lot like your stepfather. A lot like Hank. Just what you need. Trust me."
"Just what I need?" Cat repeated blankly, her head filled with visions of him, dancing with her, wiping chocolate chocolate fudge ice cream off her lip, making love to her. "Michael?"
Hank looked at the two women and shook his head. "I think I'll take another run around the block before I shower." He affected a quick exit.
Cat's head was spinning. She looked at her mother. "How do you know?"
Janice was watching Hank jog down the street. She turned distractedly. "What?"
"How do you know when it's real? When he's really the one?"
"Oh, Sugar, you just do." Janice sobered. "Sometimes, you'll think you're in love with someone, because you want to be so badly. But when it's real, you just know." She looked keenly at her daughter. "You are in love with Michael, aren't you? He's been in love with you forever."
Cat shook her head. "I'm afraid I am," she said in wonder. "I'm very much afraid I am."
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
"Michael? Michael, where are you?" Cat rushed in the door of the apartment, but alm
ost before she got inside, she knew the apartment was empty. It had that hollow, empty feel.
"Darn it," she muttered. "Too much is happening. She'd been so scared after she made love with him. So worried about losing him as a friend. If she were honest with herself, she was still scared. Nothing about this relationship was normal. In fact, if she believed the You Dot Com software, she and Michael were totally incompatible.
She sat down on the couch to wait for him, then got up immediately. Where was he? He'd as much as said he didn't have anywhere to go today.
Still, she had sort of run out on him this morning without a word. Cat realized she was pacing. She stopped.
What was she going to say to him? What if Deb and her mother were wrong, and he wasn't in love with her. She remembered Deb's words. You forget. I've seen him look at you. What kind of proof was that? The irrational ramblings of a certified romantic.
She stopped at the balcony doors, surprised to find herself there. When had she gotten off the couch? How long had she been pacing? Oh this was ridiculous. She was losing her mind.
Where was he?
She looked at her watch, then looked out the balcony doors. His car was gone, so he wasn't down at the pool or in the weight room.
Cat glanced toward his bedroom, and chewed on her thumbnail, then continued pacing between the front door and the balcony, passing his bedroom and hers each time. She rubbed her eyes tiredly. As she turned and headed back toward the front door, she glanced into his room. She stopped. His bed was rumpled and the jacket he'd worn the day before was tossed carelessly on the end of the bed. He obviously hadn't slept well either. A scrap of red material protruded from the side pocket of the jacket. It was the other pair of boxers. The ones he hadn't wanted her to see.
She sent a sidelong glance toward the front door. Did she dare? It certainly couldn't hurt at this late date. If Michael was in love with her he'd forgive her. If he wasn't, well, it wouldn't matter.
Using two fingers, she slid the shorts out of the jacket pocket and held them up, holding her breath, waiting to see what song he hadn't wanted her to see. There, emblazoned across the front, was the picture of Carrie Underwood and the words "Don't Forget to Remember Me."
Standing there, clutching the underwear, Cat started to cry. Her sweet, steady Michael. No nonsense, down to earth Michael. Good old Michael. She laughed through her tears. He hadn't wanted her to see the shorts with the sappy, romantic, sentimental song title on them.
Oh, she loved him.
She hugged the boxers, and looked up to see Michael standing in the doorway to his room.
"What the hell are you doing?" His dark blue eyes flashed with more hot, angry fire than she'd ever seen.
"I--" she started, but he held up his hand.
"Don't even tell me." His jaw worked, his face was hard, and those eyes were burning holes in her. "Just get out of my room. I'm tired of it, Cat. I'm tired of the way you treat me. I'm tired of your snooping. I'm sorry about what happened last night. I never meant to do that. You should probably move out." He said it all flatly, as if he really didn't care, but there was no mistaking the anger in his face.
Cat took a deep breath, and for the first time in her life, she laid her heart on the line. She'd never left herself wide open before. The utter terror inside her made her voice quiver. "We're totally incom--" her voice hitched. "Incompatible."
Michael stared at her, his anger fading to bewilderment at her words. "What? What are you talking about?"
"We took a compatibility test, based on some new software I'm working on."
"Oh we did? That's funny, because I don't remember--" Suddenly, some of the odd things Cat had asked him in the past weeks came back to him. "Ah. The questions about trees and stuff."
She nodded.
Michael watched her. She was so cute, standing there in the middle of his bedroom, holding those stupid boxer shorts. He should have shown them to her long ago, then maybe they wouldn't be so significant right now. He'd thought he'd melt through the floor in embarrassment when he'd seen her holding them.
"So from questions about trees and stuff, you figured out we weren't compatible. So what other questions were there? Did you ask me all of them?"
She shook her head.
"I guess you answered the others for me."
She nodded.
Michael would have thought this whole thing was hilarious, except that he had the feeling this was a very important conversation to Cat. Maybe to him too, he thought drily.
"So you decided you knew me well enough to answer the questions for me, and you determined we're incompatible."
She shook her head. "The software determined we were. And it said Deb and her husband were totally compatible, so--." She shrugged, and if Michael weren't mistaken, her lip quivered.
"So what kind of questions did you answer for me?"
Cat looked away.
"Cat?"
"You know, like when did you lose your virginity."
"I assume you got that one right."
She nodded, her face turning pink.
"What else?"
"Um, whether you like blondes or brunettes. Would you--fall into bed with your best friend or your worst enemy. Have you ever been in love with someone who didn't know you existed."
"So did you answer brunettes, best friend, and yes?"
A tear rolled down Cat's cheek, and she shook her head miserably. "No," she said. "Blondes, worst enemy, and of course not. You always dated blondes." She held up one finger.
"I couldn't say you'd fall into bed with your best friend, because that would be me." She stuck up a second finger, "and what woman in her right mind wouldn't love you back?" She sat down on his bed, still clutching his boxers.
Michael's heart ached with love for her. "I think I see where you made your mistake."
"Mistake?"
"Sure. In fact, Catherine Mary Morris. Actually, we're totally compatible."
"But –"
"Just listen." Michael stepped into the room and pulled her up to stand in front of him. "First of all, I never noticed the hair color of women I dated. I find it interesting that you always did. Second, why would anyone want to sleep with their worst enemy when they could sleep with their best friend--no matter who they were, and third, you spent a number of years not loving me back."
Cat looked up at him, her eyes wide and damp. "What--what are you saying?"
He extracted the boxers from her clutching fingers, put his arms around her, and smiled down at her. "I'm saying, twit, that I have been in love with you since the day you walked into that classroom when you were six years old. You didn't consider that when you were answering that silly compatibility test, did you?"
She shook her head miserably.
He leaned down and kissed her, long and hard, and she kissed him back. He picked her up and took her into his bedroom and they made long, sweet love together.
Much later, Cat was tracing the little swirls of hair on his chest. "Michael?"
"Hmm?" His eyes were closed and his breathing had grown soft and steady.
"Do you think this is going to affect our friendship?"
He opened his eyes and glanced sidelong at her. "Oh, yeah. I believe that falling into bed with my best friend is going to keep me happy for a long, long time."
"Me too."
THE END
From the Author:
I hope you have enjoyed this very short contemporary romance. I loved writing this book, although it's a departure from my usual grittier romantic suspense books and my darker paranormal romantic suspenses. I hope to write more light contemporaries; therefore I'd love to hear what you think of It's In His Kiss. You can write me at [email protected] or leave a message on my Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/mallorykane
Coming soon from Mallory Kane:
Time Rider, on Amazon.
He came from the future to kill her but he couldn't resist her healing touch.
Heart of the Hero, on
Amazon
Danny White returned home from space with a new face and no memory of his past. The more he finds out about the man he was, the less he can believe that he really is that man. Can his young, beautiful wife help him remember the man he was? More importantly, does she want to?
Shadow of the Cat, on Amazon
A grim faerie tale, an evil witch's curse, and a man who knows that he can never let go of the fierce control that keeps the monster inside from breaking free. Only one woman can save him from the evil that seeks to destroy him, if he doesn't kill her first.
