“No, but you’re the only one who’s my sister.”
“I’m willing to meet him when things slow down,” I say more to get Thea off my back than anything else.
“I’m taking that as a promise, and I’m holding you to it.”
This is not an idle threat, but there’s no point in worrying about forces of nature like my sister. I have more immediate issues.
The Peach Bowl is a nail-biter that South Carolina, ultimately, loses. Which makes the running back slightly less cocky and a lot more eager to sign.
Three days later in Tampa, Beverly Sizemore and I spend a fairly quiet New Year’s Eve at Bern’s Steak House. With its red velvet and brocade decor, old-school waiters, homegrown beef, and deservedly famous wine cellar, it’s the perfect place to dine with clients and potential clients. And I’m not the only agent making the most of the ambience. I freeze for a moment when I spot who I think is Rich Hanson slithering out of the bar and toward a private dining room.
“Jazmine?” Beverly leans across the table. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. Sorry.” I glance back toward the bar, but there’s no sign of the snake. Nonetheless, I don’t leave Beverly alone, not even to go to the ladies’ room. Just in case you-know-who wasn’t an unpleasant figment of my imagination.
“Has anyone else approached you lately about representing Kaden?” I ask as we finish up coffee and dessert and receive our individual bills. (I have never disobeyed NCAA guidelines, and I’m not about to start. There will be plenty of opportunities to treat Beverly to meals once Kade turns pro.)
“Does a bear shit in the woods?” She snorts. “I’ll be glad when tomorrow’s over. Once Kade officially signs with StarSports Advisors, I assume the sharks will finally stop circling?”
“Well, the most predatory sharks have to keep swimming or die. But I hope you know that I’ll protect and represent Kaden as if he were my own flesh and blood.”
“I do. In fact, I’m counting on it.” She reaches out and places her hand on mine. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now. I’m not just here for the steak.”
Sara
Having Mitch home for the whole week of Christmas reminds me just how much I’ve missed him and our life before Dorothy’s surgery and his new position in Birmingham. I’ve spent the last several months telling myself I’m fine on my own. But the truth is, life is so much better and brighter when he’s here.
Even Dorothy seems happier. Or at least less unhappy than usual.
It’s almost midnight now. The new year is about to start. Dorothy went to her bedroom a couple hours ago, and I’m savoring this rare alone time every bit as much as the bottle of champagne that we’re in the process of finishing. The TV over the fireplace is muted so we can watch the ball drop in Times Square. Jazz plays softly in the background.
Mitch refills both our glasses and lifts his to mine. “Here’s lookin’ at you, kid.”
“And you.”
We both take a long swallow. The champagne bubbles down my throat.
“I know these last months have been hard on you,” Mitch says softly. “But I really appreciate how great you’ve been to my mother. She isn’t always the easiest person to have around.”
I blush at the compliment and grow warm under his gaze. “I know it must be difficult to be alone and getting older. The surgery was hard on her.”
“You’re a saint. Knowing she has you looking out for her means a lot to me.” He places a kiss on the top of my head. “Having you here to come back to means even more.”
We drain our glasses and look into each other’s eyes. My husband has always acted as if he sees me as a “Titian-haired goddess,” not the carrot-haired woman with too many freckles that stares back from the mirror.
He leans in and presses his lips to mine.
“Ummm. You taste like champagne.”
“And you taste like heaven.” The way he looks into my eyes as he says this makes me feel as fizzy as the champagne.
“I miss you when you’re gone all week.”
“And I miss you.” He leans in and kisses me again, more slowly this time.
“But I . . . I do worry what spending so much time apart could do to our relationship.”
“And here I was thinking it adds a little extra spice to things.” His eyes darken. The look he gives me is so intimate it makes my pulse skitter beneath my skin. “You know what they say about absence and the heart . . .” He lowers his head and nuzzles my ear. “I feel myself growing fonder by the second.”
My arms loop around his neck. He pulls me into his lap.
“Are you happy with the new position?” I ask.
“Oh yeah.” He repositions me so that I feel every inch of his erection. “I absolutely love it.”
“Very funny.” I nibble at his lip and wriggle in his lap. Because how can I not when he makes me feel so sexy? So not my usual self? “But you are happy with the new job?”
“I am. But you know what would make me even happier?”
I wriggle further onto his lap and raise an eyebrow in question.
“Definitely that.” He unbuttons my blouse, palms a breast, then skims his thumb across my nipple. “And a little bit of this . . .”
I shiver as he carries me half-naked and fully aroused to our bedroom. Where he proceeds to make us both deliriously happy.
* * *
• • •
I wake the next morning with Mitch’s body wrapped around mine.
My eyes slit open. Morning light streams through the bedroom window and splashes across the wood floor.
This is the first and only house I’ve ever owned. Mitch and I bought it right after we got married and have spent the years since putting our personal stamp on it. For someone who moved from foster home to foster home and then apartment to apartment, owning this house, knowing that I couldn’t be removed from it or sent elsewhere, meant everything.
Mitch’s breath is warm on the back of my neck. His arm folds over my waist. His presence fills up the house and makes it “home” in a way I can’t manage on my own.
I smile and snuggle closer. I feel loved. Protected. Happy.
Agreeing to give up this home, my job, the friends I’ve made, so that Mitch could take the new position he was offered was one of the most difficult choices I’ve ever made. In appreciation of that sacrifice, he insisted I finish out the school year before we even put the house on the market or begin to look for a new one in Birmingham.