Winning Moves

by Lisa Renee Jones

  Kat started dialing, not sure why she hadn’t thought of that, knowing she needed to calm down and invite a little reason into her thoughts. She tucked the phone between her shoulder and ear to shove her feet into her socks and tennis shoes. The phone went to voice mail two times in a row. She ended the call and redialed.

  “Nothing,” she said grimly.

  “Keep trying,” he said, standing up. “It’s probably nothing. You’re overreacting, but we’ll go check to be safe.”

  “We’ll?”

  “You drive bad enough when you aren’t worried,” he reminded her

  “I do not,” she said, grabbing her bag, where her keys were stuffed. “I don’t need a chauffeur.”

  “Good,” he said, taking her bag from her, his eyes dark as they collided with hers. “Because there are a lot of things I want to be to you, Kat, and chauffeur isn’t one of them.”

  She opened her mouth to argue, scared to count on him, to lean on him, only to have him leave again. He was going to leave again. But the voice of reason she’d been looking for reminded her that he was here now and she needed him.

  Kat reached for the bag on his shoulder and pulled out the keys before dangling them in front of him.

  8

  THE RIDE TO her parents’ house was ten minutes that felt like forever. “Why aren’t they answering?” Kat asked Jason from the passenger seat of her rental car.

  “Maybe they were fighting and now they’re making up,” he suggested, “in which case we could really embarrass everyone, including ourselves, by showing up unannounced.”

  “Please do not suggest my parents are having makeup sex,” she said. “That isn’t something I like to think about.”

  “Makeup sex is a logical answer,” he pressed. “If there was something wrong when she called, then I’m sure your mother would have left a message. Better yet, she would have taken your calls. Think about it. What’s the one time when you wouldn’t answer your mother’s call? While working or while having sex.”

  “Again, Jason,” Kat chided. “I know you’re trying to distract me, but it’s not working. I have this bad feeling in my gut I can’t ignore. Maybe they aren’t taking my calls because one of them is rushing the other one to the hospital and doesn’t want to scare me.”

  “Yet they tried to call you earlier?” he asked, and then gentled his tone. “Kat, baby, you’re working yourself up for what is probably nothing. This isn’t like you at all.” He turned the corner to her parents’ house. “See? No firetrucks and no police cars.”

  Kat let out a relieved breath before quickly fretting again. “Unless they’re already gone.”

  “What is up with you?” Jason queried. “Do you really have that bad of a feeling or is it something else? You’re supposed to be more calm now that you’re home and close to them, not less.”

  “I know,” she agreed. “I know. I do, but they don’t tell me things, Jason. I found out six months after the fact that my mother had a cancer scare last year. She must have been terrified and I wasn’t even aware it was going on. They’re older now. I need to be here if they need me. I need them to know I’m here for them.”

  “They know,” he promised. “And they’re proud of you for all you’ve achieved. You know they are.” He pulled the car into her parents’ driveway, and put the gear in Park. “Let’s go put your mind at ease that all is well.”

  Kat was already shoving open her door before he finished the sentence, but Jason was fast and met her at the hood of the car, falling into pace with her as she headed up the drive. It had been so long since she’d had him by her side, she was surprised by just how right he felt there. But then, maybe she shouldn’t have been surprised at all. Their breakup wasn’t created by cheating and lies, or even love lost, between them. It was distance that always destroyed them.

  “The porch light is on,” Kat commented as they neared the blue-and-white cottage-style home she’d grown up in. “They aren’t in bed or they’d turn it off.”

  “Kitchen light, too,” Jason commented, taking the first of five wooden steps to the porch in unison with Kat.

  “But they won’t answer their phones,” Kat said, taking the final step to the porch. “I don’t get it.”

  Jason laughed and wiggled a brow. “I told you why they won’t answer.”

  Kat was about to knock when the door flew open, and Sheila Moore, Kat’s mother, appeared before them. “Kat. Jason. I didn’t expect you to come over.”

  Kat’s brows dipped at her mother’s rather stiff, uncomfortable reply, that was far from the normal, eager welcome she was used to.

  “Please tell me you two aren’t here because you worried over my calls,” her mother exclaimed. “Because I’m really going to feel horrible I did that to you. I just wanted to chitchat and when you didn’t answer I called a friend. You know how I am. Every time I click over to a call, I hang up on the other person.”

  “Of course we were worried,” Kat said quickly, glancing at her mother’s attire, which wasn’t at all the robe she’d expected. No, not at all. Her mother was fully dressed, looking stylish, and as usual, a good ten years younger than her age of sixty-five, in a pair of jeans and a floral shirt, her shoulder-length light brown hair sleek and straight. “Were you and Dad on your way out?”

  “I was bored and tried to talk your father into a movie. Clearly that didn’t work out. I’m sure I ruined whatever plans you two had in the process. I hate that I scared you into driving over here.”

  “We were about to eat pizza,” Jason put in quickly. “So if you happen to have some of that home cooking of yours you love to test on visitors, I’ll be happy to volunteer for the job.”

  “Certainly,” her mother said, motioning them forward. “The least I can do after scaring you is to feed you.” She disappeared inside the house, clearly expecting them to follow.

  Kat faced Jason, puzzled by a number of things. “Why isn’t my mother surprised you’re with me?”

  “I told you I got your new address from your parents,” he said. “So I stopped by and had a long chat with them.”

  “You stopped by and had a long chat with them?” she repeated. “What the heck did you say to them?”

  Her mother popped her head back out of the door. “You two want coffee or iced tea?” she asked, as if she didn’t notice they hadn’t come inside yet.

  “Both,” Kat said at the same time Jason did.

  Her mother smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her light green eyes and Kat could feel the tension radiating from her.

  Kat turned to Jason the instant her mother disappeared again. “I want that answer. Just not now. Something is up with my mother, no matter how much she is trying to act like there isn’t.”

  “I agree, something is up,” he said, his hands settling on her shoulders before he gave her a quick kiss. “But the answer to your question is that I told them I want you back. The same thing I told you. Fortunately, they’re ‘Team Jason.’” He drew her hands into his and kissed her knuckles. “Now, if I could just get you on board.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. “I’ve always been ‘Team Jason.’”

  “Correction then,” he said, his voice gentle, even tender. “I need you on ‘Team Jason and Kat.’”

  Oh, how Kat wished it were as easy as just jumping on board that request, but she wasn’t sure she could be on “Team Jason” and still be on “Team Jason and Kat.” If she held him back, if she’d held him back in the past, would there even be a “Team Jason and Kat” to talk about?

  He motioned toward the door with his head. “Your mother wants to feed us. Let’s not stop her. She’ll be happy and so will my stomach.”

  “Mine, too,” Kat agreed, her shoulders relaxing as she dodged the difficult topic of what the future held. “I was beyond starving when we ordered the pizza.”

  They entered the house, turning to their immediate left where her mother busied herself with the coffee pot in the pale blue-and-white rectangular-shaped over
sized kitchen. The whole house had the same color scheme, which her parents both loved.

  “Tell me you have some of that famous cheesecake of yours stashed away for dessert,” Jason pleaded, making a beeline for the fridge, as comfortable here as if he had never left the family. “I love that stuff.”

  “You’ll have to settle for chocolate cake,” her mother informed him, walking toward Jason and pointing at something inside the fridge. “Hand me that tray. It’s lasagna. I just made it a few hours ago.”

  “Thank goodness you didn’t answer your phone,” Jason said, handing the requested container to Kat’s mother and elbowing the door shut. “Do you know how long it’s been since I had home-cooked anything?”

  “I’d have thought your mom would keep you well fed since you moved your folks to California,” Kat’s mother replied.

  Kat digested that with a twist in her gut, her gaze dropping to the floor in an effort to hide her immediate reaction. How had she forgotten that Jason had moved his parents to L.A. a few years back? Sure, he’d bought a house here, a convenience and tax write-off, while filming this season’s show, but he had one there as well. He was no more rooted here than he’d been before. Not really.

  “My parents have minds of their own,” Jason replied. “They hated L.A. and they hated being retired. They both took jobs teaching English in Thailand two years ago.”

  “They’re in Thailand?” Kat asked, her eyes lifting, seeking Jason, and finding him propped against the counter, arms and legs crossed, his gaze on her.

  “Yes,” he said, the look on his face telling her that he knew what she’d been thinking. “They’re in Thailand.”

  So he wasn’t bound to L.A. by anything but the work he might choose to take, but hadn’t.

  She swallowed hard. “Aren’t you worried about them?”

  “I was until the first time I went to visit them and saw how happy they are,” he said, “though I admit the visit was meant to beg, bargain and plead for their return.”

  “Oh!” Kat’s mother exclaimed. “I would love to do something like that. I’ve been volunteering at the children’s hospital and Hank has been helping out at a free legal service since selling his firm. We are both going nuts with nothing to do. I’ve been trying to talk him into travel.” Her gaze settled on Jason. “Maybe I could talk to Isabel about it?”

  “My mother would be thrilled to hear from you,” Jason assured her. “Call her on Skype by using her first and last name. She’s always online.”

  “Skype?” Kat’s mother asked, looking confused. “Is that the same thing as Twitter? Because I don’t want to tell the world my life story in ten words or less. I just want to talk to Isabel.”

  Kat and Jason exchanged a look and laughed. “Twitter is one hundred and forty characters or less,” Kat informed her mother. “Skype is a private chat without long-distance fees, a lot like instant message. I’ll show you how to do it.”

  “Is it forty characters or less? That seems very limiting.”

  “No limit,” Kat assured her. “Just type as you like and you can even do video if you want.”

  “Perfect,” her mom replied, putting the food in the oven and rubbing her hands together. “Dinner in about fifteen minutes.”

  “That’s perfect,” Jason agreed. “I have to admit the one thing I’d change about your daughter is her hatred of cooking.”

  Kat’s mother laughed, but that forced and tense quality to her demeanor had returned, and abruptly, at that. Even her tone was tight as she jokingly replied, “Kat prefers eating to cooking.” She winked at Kat and turned away to the stainless steel stove, opening the door and checking the lasagna, as if she hadn’t just put the tray inside.

  Kat and Jason exchanged a concerned look. “Where’s Dad?” Kat asked, determined to find out what the heck was going on.

  “Yeah, where is ol’ Hank?” Jason asked. “He and I haven’t gotten in a good game of chess in years.”

  “Oh, he went out for a while,” Sheila said, using a pot holder to adjust the foil on the tray before fiddling with the temperature only to change it right back to what it had been a second before.

  Kat walked to her mother, resting her hand on her back. “Talk to me, Mom. What’s wrong?”

  Her mother inhaled heavily and stood up. “I don’t know. I just…don’t know.”

  “What does that mean, Sheila?” Jason asked, sounding as concerned as Kat felt.

  “It means that Hank says that he’s out drinking and that every man deserves to go drinking now and then. And when I told him I was calling Kat, he got mad, and now he won’t answer his phone.”

  “Dad is out drinking?” Kat asked, glancing at Jason and confirming he was as baffled as she was.

  “Since when does Hank drink?” Jason asked. “I could barely get the man to have a beer with me during the holiday football games.”

  “He started today, apparently,” Sheila said. “Which is why I know something is wrong. He doesn’t want me to know about whatever it is.” She shook her head. “I… What if it’s another woman?”

  Kat gasped and grabbed her mother’s hand. “Oh, God, Mother. It’s not another woman.” She hoped.

  “It’s bad, whatever it is,” she said. “And I’d rather him be cheating than hiding some medical condition from me. What other two things can you think of that he would want to hide from me?”

  “Hey, Hank,” Jason said, and Kat and her mother turned their gazes to find the phone to his ear as he continued talking. “What’s this about you having a drink and not inviting me?” He listened a minute and then added, “Yeah. I know the exact spot. I’ll see you in about half an hour.” He hung up and dialed another number. “Yeah, I need a cab.” He quickly spouted off Kat’s parents’ address and ended the call.

  “Where is he?” Sheila asked. “And why did he answer your calls and not mine?”

  “Or mine? And why did you call a cab?” Kat asked.

  “In the order asked,” Jason replied, “I’ll try to answer. He’s downtown at a casino. He answered because I check in with him every now and then, and he knows my number. And finally, I called a cab because sometimes a man has to dump back a few drinks to get another man whose already drinking to talk.”

  “I’m going with you,” Kat said at the same time as her mother.

  Jason smiled. “No, you both are not.”

  “Yes—” Kat and her mother said again at the same time.

  “No,” Jason finished for them. “If you want to know what’s going on with Hank, then give the man some space to talk to me. I’ll get us both back here alive. Maybe not sober, but alive.”

  Kat and her mother looked at each other and then reluctantly nodded. “Call us when you know what’s going on though,” Sheila insisted.

  “I will,” Jason said, and gestured to the door at Kat. “Wait for the cab with me outside?”

  She nodded and they headed outside, with Jason calling over his shoulder, “Don’t eat all the cake while I’m gone, Sheila. I’ll be back.”

  Kat smiled at his comment, his natural way with people, that made him a great leader on a set. They stepped onto the porch, pulling the door shut behind them.

  “Do you have any clue what’s going on?” Kat asked.

  Jason twined the fingers of one of his hands with hers, and pulled her close to him. “Only that he was quick to invite me to join him, and he told me to come alone. That tells me he needs to talk.”

  “It really could be either of those things my mom said, couldn’t it?”

  “Let’s not jump to conclusions,” he said, settling down on the top step of the porch and pulling her down beside him. He slid his hand over her knee, aligning their legs. “Maybe he’s simply experiencing the same thing your mother is, lost in retirement.”

  The feel of Jason’s hand possessively on her leg, his hip joined with hers, warmed her well beyond the physical desire he so easily stirred within her. She was worried about her parents, and he was here for her.
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br />   “Why not just tell her that?” Kat asked.

  He faced her more fully. “Maybe he’s afraid she’ll think this is something to do with her, when it’s about him.”

  “What if they’ve grown apart? What if—”

  He kissed her, his fingers curling on her cheek. “They haven’t,” he said. “There are a lucky few people in this world that have a special bond, Kat, like they do. Like we do. Space and time doesn’t divide those people. It hasn’t divided us.”

  Kat’s lashes fluttered, the warmth of his breath teasing her lips. “Jason,” she whispered, because there were no other words ample enough to explain what she felt. She didn’t even know what she felt.

  A horn honked and Kat jumped at the sound. The cab had parked in front of the house.

  “My limo has arrived,” Jason joked, brushing his thumb over the corner of her mouth. He stood and helped Kat to her feet. “I’ll text you when I get to your father’s side.”

  “That would be great,” she said. She trusted Jason. He was very much a part of her life again. When she’d told him she didn’t know what she felt, she was wrong. She felt scared of getting hurt, scared of what might be going on with her parents, but she could say that to Jason and he would listen, he’d care. And that made her feel lucky.

  “Jason!” Kat yelled, running down the steps to catch him.

  He paused, halfway inside the cab, and stood up, turning to her. Kat rushed up and leaned into him, pressing to her tip-toes to kiss him, and then whispered, “I missed you.”

  His arms closed around her, his tongue pressing past her lips, caressing hers. “I missed you, too. Later, I’ll show you how much.”

  9

  JASON WAS INSIDE the busy downtown Blue Moon Casino, searching the blackjack tables for Kat’s father, Hank, within fifteen minutes of sliding into the cab. To say that he was eager to get back to Kat after that “I missed you” proclamation she’d made by the cab was an understatement. But because he loved Kat, he was also eager to find out what was going on with her parents, especially her father.