“Now don’t get your knickers in a knot” she said opening up the till. “Here!” Jasmine held out an envelope for Kit. “Its eight-hundred dollars” she beamed. “I sold it”
“What?” Kit cried out, taking the envelope and looking at it like it may explode.
“Congratulations, you’re an artist.” Jasmine whooped. When Kit remained silent she added, “What do you think?”
Kit swallowed hard. “But who bought it? I mean, it’s so much money. How did it happen?”
“It happened yesterday. A man was walking down the street window shopping, he saw it through the window and boom, it happened” Jasmine clarified. “And the best part is…”
“It gets better?”
“Yes, indeedy. The guy who bought it runs a gallery in the city. Apparently he’s always looking for new talent. He said when he saw it, he had to have it. Not for the gallery, mind you, but for his personal collection. He left his card in the envelope, and he’d like you to give him a call so you can maybe meet up sometime”
“I need to sit down” Kit said shakily. Jasmine hurriedly got a stool and put it under her. “Thanks” she murmured, practically falling onto the seat.
“Isn’t it exciting?” Jasmine clapped.
“I don’t believe it. Things like this just don’t happen.” Kit started to giggle. “I’m an artist; a real, somebody-bought-my-painting, artist. I don’t know how or why it happened, but it happened.” Kit stared off into the distance, completely overwhelmed.
Jasmine broke the silence. “So what now?”
Something clicked in Kit’s head and she came out of her stupor and looked back at Jasmine with a determined face. “Well, I’ll tell you one thing. I’m not going back to the city and sit in some cubicle for the rest of my life; date guys like big-eared Bob, and get stuck in elevators with guys who are out my league. I’m going to move back here to Brandon Bay, permanently. And then you know what I’m going to do?”
“What?” Jasmine grinned, not understanding the half of it, but glad to be along for the ride.
“I’m gonna paint Jasmine. I’m gonna paint everything I see. I’m going be an artist and a darn good one. You said that I should do what makes me happy, be around people that make me happy. Well painting makes me happy; you make me happy.” Kit paused for a breath. “But first things first…,”
“Yes?”
Kit held up the envelope with a smile. “First we’re going to celebrate.”
CHAPTER 12 - A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand
Kit decided that Fred’s diner would be the perfect locale for their celebratory dinner. No need to dress up and no way of spending too much money.
It was wonderful to have such a windfall, but Kit was nothing if not practical; the term “starving artists” existed for a reason. The sale of her first painting could be a gigantic fluke that may not be repeated any time soon; so it was best to be a penny-pincher for a while and only spend money when she really had to.
Arriving at Fred’s, Kit noticed that Jasmine was already there and sitting with … her mom. She looked from one to the other; it seemed her mother was joining them for dinner. Oh joy!
Jasmine observed Kit’s unimpressed face concerning Gladys and explained, “Your mom was just getting off work, so I invited her along. Who better to celebrate good things with, than family and friends?”
“Yeah, who better?” Kit smiled morosely.
Gladys spoke up. “Jasmine was telling me about you selling your first painting. Why didn’t you tell me you started painting again?”
Kit shrugged. “I guess I didn’t think you’d be interested”
“I don’t see why not” she said, then turned to Jasmine “I used to paint myself, but of course, quite a while ago”
“Yeah, you painted mom” Kit said, unimpressed. “You also did macramé, yoga, photography and what else was there, oh, the infamous copper enamelling. You almost burnt the house down with a Bunsen burner with that one, if I recall correctly” Kit sarcastically commented.
Her mother was visibly hurt and Kit cringed. Gladys’ eyes quickly filled and she looked down at the table. “I don’t know what I did to deserve that, although I know you weren’t happy that I wasn’t a mother like Mary Calder.” She raised her eyes to her daughter. “But I did my best Kit. Life’s not always a bed of roses, but you have to deal with it as best you can. I’ll have you know, that maybe you were embarrassed by my peculiar hobbies, but by selling them I managed to put food on our table after your father up and left us”
Kit was well and truly chastened. She had no idea that her mother had sold her crafts to support them. Where was she, when all this was going on? Oh yeah, she was escaping to Barnaby’s sitcom of a house reliving “Father knows best” and in later years, mooning over Jeremy.
Kit suddenly felt incredibly ungrateful and a complete brat. Her mother was not highly educated having gone straight from high school to wedded non-bliss. She’d done what she had to, to make ends meet. It wasn’t her fault the ends kept getting further apart. She may have not been there all the time in body or in mind, but she was always there. Even now, she had taken Kit in without complaint, in fact in all her twenty-seven years Kit had never heard a word of complaint from her mother. That must be some sort of record!
Putting her hand over her mother’s she squeezed it hard. “I’m sorry mom; I didn’t know you sold all that stuff you made. I guess I didn’t realise how tough it was for you. And I certainly didn’t help any by ignoring what was going on. I’m really sorry”
Gladys gave Kit a small smile and Jasmine looked on, pleased as punch.
Kit perked up a little. “Well it seems I’m just following in the family tradition of selling my artistic vision, doesn’t it?” she said returning her mother’s smile with glistening eyes.
Gladys chipped in, “I must say, I never got anything close to eight-hundred dollars for anything I did”
“Well, I want you to have some of the money. I may have moved back home, but I still want to pay my own way. Now that I have a Gallery contact in the city, who knows, this could be the beginning of something big for me” Kit grinned.
“Tell me Miss Davidson” Jasmine asked in what Kit guessed was a pseudo English accent, “will you still remember us little people when you’re a rich and famous artiste?”
“Oh no my dear” Kit replied in the same manner, “I’ll have no time for you peons when that happens”
Gladys cut in. “When you two are quite finished, can we order, I’m starved”
“Lobster and caviar for me” Jasmine said regally.
Kit nudged her. “Can it Queen Elizabeth, you’ll get burger and fries and like it”
“Oh, yummy” Jasmine clapped her hands.
*****
On the drive home, Kit was pensive. Having dinner with her mom and Jasmine had been an enlightening experience. She found that her mom was relaxed and talkative with Jasmine in a way that frankly, made Kit a little jealous.
When the subject of Barnaby and Jeremy came up, Kit had tried to tell Jasmine to pipe down with her mother there, but Jasmine went relentlessly ahead discussing and filling Gladys in on everything that had transpired between Kit and her menfolk. Feeling very exposed and little embarrassed, Kit was unsure of what to say now that she no longer had Jasmine as a buffer.
“Thanks for dinner” Gladys said, as they entered the house.
“No problem,” Kit replied, adding, “thanks for coming.”
“I was glad to be a part of it”
As Kit walked towards her bedroom Gladys stopped her. “Sweetie?”
“Yeah?”
“I know that Jasmine’s a little over the top, but she means well” she said kindly. “I could tell you were a little uncomfortable with all the talk about your love life”
“You could say that. But I’m quickly learning that Jasmine Peabody is a force to be reckoned with; and I, for one, actually like her very much just the way she is; big mouth and all.”
Turning to enter her room, she stopped and asked, “Mom, how exactly did you two become so close?” It was something she’d been dying to know.
Gladys hesitated, unsure if she should tell the story, but evidently deciding that Jasmine wouldn’t mind. “Well Jasmine’s a little different now to when she arrived in Brandon Bay two years ago. You see, she was involved with a boy that, shall we say, didn’t treat her as well as he should have. I found her in Fred’s diner, her car had run out of gas and she was crying. She’d run away from him, and she ended up in Brandon Bay all alone with no-one to call on to help her out”
“No-one?” Kit asked with a frown.
“Her parents are pretty wealthy, hence all the clothes she has, but they disowned her when she got involved with the wrong guy”
“So you helped her out?”
“I guess you could say I did. I took her in and after much cajoling managed to convince her to call her parents. They needed to know she was okay.”
“But why is she still here; how did she get the store?”
“Her parents gave her the money to start up the store. They were so happy she’d gotten away from the guy who’d almost ruined her life, that when she said she wanted to stay; they just wanted her to be happy”
“Well, she’s now the happiest person I think I know” Kit said with a grin.
“Yeah, but back then Jasmine wasn’t the girl you see today. It took a while. I remember one day she asked me how to be happy; at first I was little stumped, but you know what I told her?”
“What?”
“I told her, do things that make you happy and be around people that make you happy. Happy goes where happy is”
Kit lips parted in astonishment. “You said that?”
“Why, doesn’t it sound like something I’d say? Not quite a proverb, but close, don’t you think?”
“Happy goes where happy is” Kit repeated. “That’s good mom, really good”
“Glad you like it”
“I like it. I like it a whole lot more than I used to.” Kit smiled and her mother smiled back. It was a little fuzzy, but they’d finally connected a little.
“Well, it’s been a long night. Time to “hit the hay”. Um, Kit?”
“Yeah mom?”
Gladys gave her a warning look. “You be careful with those two boys huh? Don’t go getting yourself into trouble”
“Mom!” Kit rolled her eyes.
“Hey I’m still your mother remember”
“I’m sure you’ll never let me forget it. Night Mom”
“Night baby”
CHAPTER 13 - Flash in the pan
Jeremy Atwell was staring at her intensely and she didn’t like it. Not one bit. Damn those eyes, the second they were aimed at her they had the precision of an MK17 and were almost as deadly.
Grocery shopping had never been this dangerous before, Kit thought to herself, picking up a cantaloupe and inspecting it like there was no tomorrow. Why on earth Jeremy was so interested, she had no idea. Sure, she’d had a makeover and was now a true Californian blonde. Well, as true as most of them were. But she was still the same girl from high school; snub nose, wide lips and a sprinkling of freckle across her cheeks. Nothing to write home about, certainly nothing that would, could or should attract the attention of one, Jeremy Atwell. Raising her eyes to meet his, he waved. When she smiled shyly back, he took that as an invitation to forge ahead and determinedly made his way over.
“Hello Miss Davidson”
“Mr. Atwell. Fancy meeting you here” she replied smartly.
“A guys gotta eat”
“True” she smiled, looking into his basket. You could tell a lot about a man by what he bought at the store. She saw some vegetables and a “Hungry man” or two –not what she expected. Well what did she expect, condoms and copy of Playboy?
“So tell me Kit, what have you been doing since high school?” he said suddenly.
Kit’s smile dropped in shock. “You remember me?”
He grinned sheepishly. “I didn’t at first, but then I remembered your last name. I put a new roof on your mom’s house a couple of years ago, and I remembered her telling me how we’d gone to school together”
“Gee, thanks Mom” Kit said under her breath. “So what else did my Mom say about me?”
“Not much” he added with a grin, “Except that she was very proud of her high-flying daughter”
Sighing, Kit gave him a shrug. “High-flying, huh? Turned out more like crash and burn”
He chuckled at that. “At least you got out of Brandon Bay, some of us weren’t so lucky”
“You? –not lucky?” Kit asked with a frown.
“Not as much as people seem to think” he said with a scratch of his chin.
“I guess sometimes things aren’t always what they seem from the outside. I would have thought you had it all” she replied lightly.
“Yeah” he grinned sadly, “Did you know I almost got to play professional?”
“Almost …?”
“I wrecked my leg just before the scouts came to see what I could do. Unfortunately, by then, I couldn’t do much” he gulped at the memory. “I can tell you, I was pretty unhappy at the prospect of running my dad’s business instead of playing pro ball like I wanted”
Kit noticed he was genuinely upset by the way things had turned out, and touched his arm in concern. “It seems dreams have a way of evaporating pretty easily when you least expect it. It’s funny how they always pump you up in high school to follow your dreams. They never tell you, that except for the incredibly lucky few, they’re pretty much bound to remain only dreams”
“And what was your dream in high school?” he asked seriously, looking at her hand on his arm.
Kit let out a long breath and removed her hand thinking, oh Jeremy, if you only knew. “Let’s just say what I wanted in high school, was all dream with no basis or hope of reality” Until now, she thought unwisely.
Looking from side to side down the aisle at the other shoppers, Jeremy gave her a thoughtful look and asked, “Want to get a cup of coffee and catch up some more? This is not really the place for a D and M”
“Well I, um” she stammered. Oh what was the harm, she thought, it wasn’t like he was asking her to his place to see his etchings. GAG Kit GAG. “Sure Jeremy, why not”
He gave her a knee-weakening smile. “Why don’t we finish up our shopping and meet at Fred’s in say … fifteen minutes?”
“Sounds great” Kit replied, wondering at the sanity in her decision.
“See you soon” he said shortly and took off down the aisle.
Watching as he walked away from her; Kit was quite positive that the effect Jeremy had on her was a faded memory. Unfortunately, she was also quite positive that he was, without a doubt, the most gorgeous human being she’d ever laid eyes on; with a butt tight enough to bounce off a penny.
Kit looked into her basket and decided she’d put it all back and do her shopping later. For now, a quick trip to the ladies room to reapply her lip gloss was in order. For as much as she hated to admit it; she’d always dreamed of going to Fred’s diner on the arm of Jeremy Atwell and sitting at a booth, gazing into each other’s eyes.
So what if it was ten years late, and no-one from high school were around to rub their noses in it. It was a harmless fantasy she could make happen without guilt or regret. And she couldn’t think of a better way of spending the afternoon, than swimming in Jeremy’s sea-green eyes.
CHAPTER 14 - A Doubting Thomas
When Kit strolled into Fred’s diner, she spotted Jeremy within seconds. The middle-aged waitresses were fawning over him as though Brad Pitt was in their midst. Jeremy took it all in stride; just another ordinary day in his world. The idea that she would soon be visiting Planet Jeremy made her incredibly uncomfortable. Orbiting his planet for so many years; she never dreamed she’d actually get clearance to land.
Approaching the table, his fan club dispersed and he smiled at her warmly. “
I was starting to think you weren’t coming” he confided.
“If I didn’t, I don’t think you’d be lacking for company” she said smartly, noting the dirty looks being thrown her way from the diner’s female contingent and taking a seat across from him in the booth.
“I prefer to choose the company I keep; not the other way around”
“Still,” Kit began, “must be nice to have so much choice in the matter”
He shrugged. “Well, I’m glad you’re here; I wasn’t sure if my attentions would be appreciated after the other night. You were pretty rough on me as I recall”
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