She walked towards him. Taking him by the hand and they both walked back to his bedroom. She would have preferred to carry him. But lately he had been letting her know he wasn't a little boy anymore. He wanted to be treated like a big boy that he was.
Katherine smiled as she thought of it. He was one of the reasons she was moving. He loved Jonathan and he was always sad everytime Jon visited them and had to go back. His excitement when she told him they were moving was so great. She couldn't bear to disappoint him now.
So they were moving. Five years later. Back to her hometown. Back to Jensen Packard.
She wasn't going to like this. Of course she wanted to get closer to her brother too. He was the closest thing Tim had to a father right now. And she knew Tim needed one. She wanted Tim to have one.
The problem was Jensen Packard. She wasn't sure about seeing him again. And judging from the way he ignored her text. It was obvious that he wasn't crazy about the idea of seeing her either.
Katherine tucked Tim back into bed.
"Good night honey". She said. "Want me to sing a lullaby?"
"Mom" he said. "You know I'm too old for that... But thanks anyways"
"Fine" she replied. "But just so you know, You are never going to be too old for me dear... You are always going to be my little boy. Just so you know"
Tim smiled. "I know... Thanks mom... Good night"
"Good night sweetie"
Katherine returned to the living room. She picked up her phone from the table. There was no need waiting for Jensen to text her back. He clearly wasn't going to. She would just have to find another place.
She went to her room. She undressed and took a quick shower.
Time to go to bed... And maybe come up with a plan B.
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Jensen woke the next morning.
He had to go back to work. But he sure as hell wasn't going to work on an empty stomach. He needed food. And not just something he bought at a store. He wanted something home made.
He fed Rufus, took a shower, then got dressed quickly. He left the house and got into his car. He thought of stopping at his family house. The one Dillon and his family now lived in. But he decided against it. They were probably dealing with preparing the kids for school right now. Probably best not to distract them.
He went to his sisters apartment instead. If anyone was going to have food at her place, it was Elaine. She was a great cook. And he had a key. So he could let himself in even if she wasn't around.
She was. But let himself in anyway. Elaine wasn't in the living room. Maybe she was still asleep. He thought. He wasn't going to bother her. So he headed straight for the kitchen. He opened her fridge.
There was some left over chicken in it. Great. He thought. He knew he wasn't going to be disappointed. He took it out.
He was heating it up when he heard footsteps. Elanie was up.
From behind him a voice said. "Hello...Man who doesn't live here"
Jensen smiled. He turned around, the smile still plastered on his face. "Well... Good morning to you, dear sister" he said, trying to sound normal... And failing.
"Good morning... The fact that you have a key doesn't mean you should abuse the privilege" Elanie said, trying to look pissed.
Jensen went on smiling.
"And you just barge in here and eat my food!" Elanie continued. "You suck... You know that?"
"Oh come on" Jensen said. "I was hungry... Damn it"
"Then get a wife...Or a cook...Dummy" Elanie replied.
"Maybe you should set me up with one of your friends then"
"Yeah I don't think so... It didn't work out before and it won't work out now... You seem to find a reason to ruin every relationship you get into... And you want to know why I think you do that?"
Jensen rubbed his chin, pretending to give her question some thought. "No... Actually I don't" he replied finally, transferring the food into a plate and sitting on one of the chairs.
He took a huge bite and smiled at Elaine. "Hmmmm" he said, his mouth full. "This is good".
Elaine rolled her eyes and continued anyways. "Because you still think about her"
"Don't mention that name, Elaine. I mean it"
"I didn't... I simply said her... But you know who I'm talking about. And the fact that you won't even talk about her is the reason why you are never going to be able to get over all this... You have to forget about her"
How could he forget. He thought. Forgetting about her seemed to be the one thing he couldn't do. The one thing he throughly sucked at. But she was in the past now. She made a decision. One that had hurt him so damn much. But it didn't matter now.
Elaine kept talking. "You have to find someone else you know. And not all those one night stands you usually have. A nice, meaningful relationship with someone"
"I didn't come here so we could talk about this" Jensen said
"But we are going to talk about it anyways" Elaine replied. "You have to find a way to move on"
"I don't know what you are talking about
I have moved on... A long time ago"
"No you haven't"
"Fine... Can you just shut up.. Please"
"Okay" Elaine said as she left the kitchen. "Please finish your food and leave... I will see you later... And you better don't leave that plate in the sink unwashed"
Jensen smiled. That was exactly what he intended to do. And that's what he did. He left the plate right there in the sink. He and Elaine were very close, and he enjoyed torturing her. She did the same to him whenever she got the chance though.
He got into his car and drove to his Office. While Dillon handled the family business., He had concentrated on starting his. And now he was almost done.
When he got to his office he took off his suit, placing it his chair headrest. Then he took out his phone. He had a text message. He remembered his phone buzzing last night. He remembered he hadn't checked the message last night because he was so tired. Who had texted him? He thought.
He opened the text. It was from an unknown number.
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 '
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