The message read:
Hi Jensen,
I know this is out of the blue so…surprise! It's been a while, huh? I know... Guess we have both been really busy.
Anyway, Jon told me you are opening a brand new building back at home. Congrats on all your awesome accomplishments, by the way.
It is actually the reason why I am texting you right now, but I don't think we should discuss this in a text or on the phone for that matter. That is why I would love for us to meet next week and discuss this in person.
You pick any day you will be free and I will be there. I do hope I hear from you soon.
Best, Katherine Kavell.
Jensen frowned. Memories he had fought so hard to surpres rushing back at him. Anger blazed in his chest. Singeing. Devastating. He had to hand it to her. He thought. The woman had a lot of fucking nerve.
So this was how she was going to play it? No 'How have you been all these years?' Acting as if nothing had happened? Like they had barely known each other? Like everything was okay between them?
As if they had simply…fallen out of touch and she was initiating a reconnection while she had a few minutes to spare in her busy day?
Well, he could do cool and impersonal if that is the way she wanted it. Hell, he was a master at it. He thought.
He decided to ignore the text. Keep her waiting. Ignore her like she had ignored him. Keep her waiting like she had kept him waiting. Wondering if she would ever come back. Well now she wanted to see him... But it was just because he was opening his new building. If not for that he wouldn't have heard from her. He was really mad at her.
He put his phone away and pulled his laptop closer. Determined to get to work and ignore the text... Maybe even forget about it.
But that was impossible. He couldn't concentrate. Now that he had read that damn text. He kept thinking of her. What the hell did she want? How was she? He wondered. Was she still as beautiful as she used to be? He didn't doubt that one bit... She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen... With an amazing heart... Until she had crushed his.
"Damm you, Kat" he muttered under his breath.
He stopped working and relaxed in his chair, then closed his eyes. Letting himself do something he never let himself do for years - think about her.
Her long brunette hair, her big black eyes, her lips —lips he tried so hard to keep from kissing—and failed, her sexy body. She was gorgeous. His mind drifted to the first time he saw her. It was a long time ago.
He had been eight years old and he had gone to her house to play football with her brother Jonathan. Jon had been his best friend — still his best friend. Although Jonathan used to say Katherine stole Jensen from him.
Katherine had been four then, and she was hell bent on joining the match. Which Jon didn't want... And he asked her to leave. But Katherine wouldn't listen. She very, very stubborn. She insisted she was going to join.
When Jon had captured her in a headlock to teach her a lesson and force her to leave them alone. Jensen had gone to her rescue.
Free of Jon's hold, Katherine had stared up at him with wide, adoring eyes, and the damage had been done. She had followed him around from then on.
He didn't want that. Didn't want some little girl following him around. It was embarrassing. So he had done everything he could to discourage her. She didn't take a hint though.
The next time he was fourteen and she was ten. He was on errand for his father, walking down the gravel path that cut from his father's cabin.
She was hanging upside down from an old tree, her skinned knees hooked over a low think branch. She was swinging back and forth, so her long braids dangled like ropes. The whole time she hummed while she blew the biggest pink bubble he had ever seen.
He didn't know you could hum and blow bubble gum at the same time. As he walked past her, there was a loud pop.
"Where are you going?" she swung up so she was straddling the branch with one leg, while the other dangled down. Her palms propped up by her body and she stared down at him.
Dust fell all over him and scowling he wiped off his face and head. He frowned. On the same level as his nose was a pair of blue canvas shoes. He slowly looked upward along her legs and knees to the small indignant face, which looked like a doll.
She blew another bubble, sucked in and popped out in an obnoxious way. "I asked where you were going" she repeated like she were the queen of some island.
"None of your business, Kitty" He said trying to annoy her. It worked.
Jensen turned his back on her and started to walk away.
She jumped out of the tree and appeared beside him.
"My name is not Kitty" she said. "Don't call me that"
He grunted some response and kept walking.
"You are such a grump" she said.
He stopped and looked down at her. Her expression dared him to ignore her again.
He started walking away again and she kept up with him, not saying anything, but he could feel her studying him. He looked at her finally. All he saw was an expressive face and a pair of frowning black eyes.
"Go away" he said.
"I'm not a baby, you know" she piped. "I know a lot things"
"Oh really" he said sarcastically.
"Yeah"
"Things like what... Kitty?" he asked.
"I dunno" she replied. "Anything"
He almost laughed then. She was so weird. He thought... And kinda funny.
"Go ahead". She said. "Ask me something"
He stood, looking at her face staring up at him with a look that dared him to argue with her. Which he wasn't in the mood to. Didn't want to.
He could have called her bluff. But he didn't. He knew all about pride. It was something he understood.
He turned away from her and went on his way.
She didn't follow him.
She was such a pain in the ass.He was Seventeen... And she was Thirteen.Jensen discovered that she had an annoying habit of popping up at the worst possible moment. Really embarrassing moments.Like when he was at the back of his house drinking one of his dad's beer. Or when he was making out with some girl behind the old well.One time he chased her, all the way to her house. He was determined to teach a lesson... Teach her not to mess with him. But when he caught her, he just couldn't. He let her go. Then watched as she tried to dust the sand off her clothes. Her face red.He smiled. "Kitty Kat" he said.She answered by calling him a dork.One time she stole a pack of cigarettes from him and broke them all in two. He wasn't even smoking them, he just carried them around to look cool. He didn't know what to do with her.
He was Twenty five and she was twenty one.He was going on some errand for his grandfather or something —he couldn't remember what it was. Because the moment he saw her walk down the beach toward the dock he had forgotten what he was supposed to be doing.He was hidden in a group of trees. Oh yes —he remembered now —he was cutting wood from a tree that had fallen when he heard the hinges squeak and a screen door slam. He cast a quick glance toward the house where a girl in bright blue bikini came down the front porch steps and crossed the lawn.He leaned a shoulder against a tree and just watched her. She had a great body. He had thought.Then he recognized her face. He couldn't believe it. It was Katherine Kavell—kitty Kat.He stared at her, his mouth open.Gone was the awkward teen who wore too much make up and followed him everywher
He hadn't moved, only watched her. He said nothing until she finally glanced up at him. He gave her a long look she would have to be blind not to understand.And she got it. Her face flushed and she looked down quickly, rubbing the hell out of her her legs so she missed the grin he had to bite to hide. She straightened then, still holding the towel. She raised her chin a little, defiant and challenging, the Kitty Kat he remembered. He smiled.A moment passed. A minute or two. Neither said anything. They just stood on the dock and looked at each other under the warm and unpredictable sunshine. He felt like a thirsty man staring at an icy cold beer.She returned his look, then whispered his name in that raspy grown up voice he felt go all the way through him."Jensen" she said softly.Just Jensen — his name was all she said.And he was lost."Hey Kitty —" he said.
They swam on the cove where the water was shallow and warm enough to enjoy. One time they hung out in a sailboat's small cabin, laughing at the weather and eating a Lunch of egg salad sandwiches and barbecued potato chips she had brought along. Years later, he couldn't eat barbecued potatoe chips without thinking of that day —without thinking about her.They spent so much time together. They talked about everything. About school. About poetry. About music and movies they loved. They talked about life and death and dreams.One day they went to their childhood favorite place. The place where she had seen him cry. The place that had become their favorite spot. They stayed out there till late in the evening, and when they decided to go back, on their way he pinned her against a tree and did the one thing he had wanted to do since he saw her again on that beach.He pinned get against a tree and kissed the hell out of he
He tried not to let out bother him much.Till Jonathan had told him she planned to move away for good — with Mitch.What the hell? He couldn't let her do that. Even if she was doing a damn good job of hiding it he knew she still had a thing for him. He saw it in her eyes whenever he saw her, the sharp intake of her breath whenever he was close to her, with the way she did everything possible to avoid him.He couldn't let her go. He forgot about his decision to respect her wish and he went after her.And so he told her. The night before she left. Told her he wanted her to stay....Begged her to stay. She didn't want to listen. She said Mitch cared about her and she was going to try to make it work between them.In his opinion Mitch didn't care about her like he did. Mitch didn't deserve her. And he told her that.Telling her that hadn't helped matters. Be
One day, Eight hours and…six minutes.That was how long the text had been sitting in Jensen's inbox. He detested that he was reduced to even knowing how long it had parked itself in his consciousness, taunting him with it's presence.Taunting him with that gut twisting mix of hope and bitterness he thought he was finally rid of. He detested the fact that it had taken just one text from her to reduce him to this. He hated that she still had that effect on him. After five damn years.How he wished it were one of those mundane work texts or emails he had become so adept at passing to his assistant to deal with.Then, from a safe distance, it would have been so easy to tell her to handle it. Or, better yet, delete it.But here it was. Not handled. Not deleted.And about as far from mundane as it could get.Not when he had already read
Jensen was torn between grinning at her sheer nerve and cussing at her unsubtle hints that his response was in any way defective.Okay. So maybe he was a little rude. He could admit that, but It wasn't like she didn't deserve it. He thought.But even at that, his gaze remained riveted on a particular line: I'm moving back into town in a few days.…She was coming back. So even if he didn't meet with her. He was definetly going to see her again. And that was something he wasn't sure he wanted to do.He sighed."Damn you, Kat" he muttered. "Damn you".----------------------------------Katherine realized that she was boxing up the kitchen stuff with a little more force than required.She stopped, and took a deep breath. It wasn't her fault. No one could blame her. Jensen and his stupid attitude was capable of making anyone lose it.The
It read :I didn't know you were moving back. That's good news... I guess. Anyways, we could meet in my office on Monday. One pm..I guess you already know where my office is. If you don't, get Jonathan to tell you.Katherine stared at her phone for a while. The man hadn't changed. He was still as arrogant and annoying as before, maybe even more annoying.She realized a part of her was hoping he would refuse to meet her. Now that he had agreed to meet her she was nervous. How the hell was she going to handle seeing Jensen Packard after all these years.——————————————Katherine sighed as she got closer to her parents house. It had been a long journey. And definitely not easier when Tim had asked "Are we there yet?" like every fifteen minutes.Their stuff had arrived two days ago, thanks to Jonathan. He took care of that too, and Katherine was so thankful. What could she have do