RSVP with Love

by Sandra Kitt

  “Jewelry?”

  “That’s right. Lucius, the jewelry isn’t that important. I just couldn’t believe that she could actually do that to me. After all I tried to do to help her.”

  Her confession seemed to make him sad. He slowly shook his head.

  “I’m so sorry, Chloe. Unfortunately, any parole officer, or judge, or mental health expert, or social worker or correction officer will tell you, what people like your mother do is not about you or what you are to them. It’s all about what they want. In some ways I guess it’s like dealing with a small child who doesn’t know any better. Me, me, me. I, I, I.

  “Okay, here’s what’s going to happen. Billie is going back to jail for a long time. She will appear in court again on the more recent charges. She was caught with a significant amount of stolen property with a street value in the thousands. That’s not going to go away. Now, do you want to press charges?”

  “No.”

  “Fine. What would you like to have happen? What will help you?”

  Chloe stared off across the room. She thought of all those years as a child when she’d prayed for her mother to come and get her. To remember her birthday or Christmas with a card or gift. All those years she waited to be told she mattered. After a while she’d stopped. Whatever her life was going to be was up to her. She stopped depending on anyone to help her, save her, love her.

  Until she’d finally met and connected to Kevin. She couldn’t believe she was finally being rewarded, being blessed, to be with someone so strong and so gentle.

  And she’d ruined it. The fault for that could not be laid on her mother. Chloe knew she’d let her own insecurities destroy her one chance at happiness.

  “I never want to see her again, Lucius. I don’t want any more connection to her. It was so foolish of me to think I could make a difference.”

  He poured more tea. “I wouldn’t say foolish. You were very hopeful of a different outcome to what sounds like a sad story. And you were very brave to try.”

  Kevin had waited long enough. Chloe wasn’t going to call back. He didn’t know if it was intentional or if something had happened. He only knew this Mexican standoff could not continue. He’d waited at Bollito long enough, hoping to bring her up to date with what was happening concerning the contracts. But he was now headed over to his main office at Flavor.

  CB had complained that he was becoming hard to live with. Peg had been avoiding him. He had not been as outgoing with some of his top customers, squirreling himself away in his office, night after night, to brood. Going for runs at off hours when he couldn’t sleep, alone through quiet neighborhoods and dense parks and city streets with traffic flashing by.

  Kevin had given up the guilt he’d felt for snooping around the issue of Billie Burns. And he wasn’t going to apologize for it, either. He’d had only one goal in mind. To protect Chloe. But now he was angry that she’d shut him out. He was angry that she’d put him through this, worrying about her, missing her, still wanting to be with her, so much.

  He and Chloe were headed for a showdown.

  Kevin was just pulling into the parking lot when his cell phone rang. He gave the car over to the valet and answered the call as he headed inside.

  “It’s Kevin.”

  “What’s this about a problem with the contract? We both went over the details carefully.”

  His stomach tightened hearing her voice. It was the first time they’d been on the phone together in more than a week.

  “Hello, Chloe. It’s nice to hear from you,” Kevin said sarcastically.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t call back sooner. I’ve been busy.”

  “So have I, and your time is not more valuable than mine,” he shot back. “This is business, and you owed me the courtesy of a prompt call back. I’ve been trying to reach you for two days.”

  “Don’t you dare yell at me! What’s the problem with the contract? Aren’t you being paid enough money?”

  Kevin’s jaw muscles tightened.

  “You want to know what’s happening, you be in my office in the next hour!” He snapped the flip phone closed and exhaled.

  There. Take that!

  Already he was feeling better.

  Once in his office, Kevin prepared. He had no illusions that the face-off was going to be easy, but he was not about to let Chloe off the hook or let her get away any longer with ignoring him. He’d been patient long enough.

  CB knocked quietly on the door and opened it just enough to speak.

  “She’s pulling into the parking lot right now. Warning. She’s loaded for bear.”

  Kevin chuckled silently at the image CB had drawn. “Thanks. Once she comes in, my office is off limits, and I don’t want to be interrupted no matter what you hear, got that?”

  “If you say so. Anything else I can do?”

  “Stand by, CB. In case it’s worse than I think.”

  Kevin sat behind his desk and took up a comfortable position. He lounged back in the chair with his feet propped on the edge of the desk. He pretended deep concentration on an inventory list when he heard the minor commotion outside the door. He detected Chloe’s voice. It was firm and no nonsense. Good. CB’s was quiet, polite and helpful. Kevin heard CB tell her to go right in.

  Game on!

  She quite literally burst through the door.

  “Why are you doing this? What’s going on, Kevin?”

  He took his own time in drawing his attention away from the paper, as if the contents were far more important then she was. That was hardly the case. He began to smile as he looked up at her, and the smile quickly faded when he gazed into her face.

  She’d lost weight.

  There were faint circles under her eyes, and her eyes indicated she hadn’t been getting enough sleep. She was dressed as carefully as ever, but she wore not a single piece of jewelry and she seemed, somehow, underdressed and plain. And the look that made her eyes overly bright was not anger but anguish and distress.

  She was complaining, in full confrontation mode, but he really didn’t hear much of what Chloe was saying, he was so shocked and concerned about her appearance. No one would have necessarily noticed the small differences, but to Kevin they stood out in sharp contrast to when he’d last seen her.

  He slowly came to his feet.

  “Chloe…are you all right?”

  “Of course I’m all right. I just want to know about the club. I can’t believe you’d do this to me three weeks before homecoming. What conflict are you talking about, or are you just making it up to get back at me?”

  His jaw tightened, and then he relaxed. He had to remember that something else was going on, and he seriously doubted it had to do with his call to her about Bollito.

  “If I wanted to get back at you there are a lot of easier ways I could have done it. I think you know that. I’m not that much of a jerk. I care too much about you to take advantage.”

  He deliberately kept his gaze on her face, and his voice modulated low. He had to be nonthreatening, but more than that, he had to be the one in control. It was painfully clear that she was not. She faltered.

  “I don’t know if I believe you.”

  “Fine. You’ll have to figure that one out for yourself.”

  Again she looked taken aback by his cool responses. She was not going to get a rise out of him.

  She raised her chin defiantly. “I want to know about Bollito. Do we have it for homecoming or not?”

  “It was double booked, I’m afraid. I neglected to ask my assistant about its availability when you approached me about using it for the dance party.”

  “So…so…”

  “So, the club had been booked a full month earlier for a corporate event the same night.”

  She blinked. She opened her mouth to speak and stammered. Chloe closed her eyes and rubbed her temple, confused.

  “What does that mean? Someone else is getting to use it? What about homecoming and the reunion? What about…me?”

  �
��Chloe, I’ve taken care of it.”

  It was beginning to make him uncomfortable and angry to see what she was going through, what she must have been going through. He wasn’t sure she’d heard him.

  “What am I going to do?”

  He frowned. “Did you hear me? I said it’s taken care of.”

  “How? How? It’s too late to find another place.”

  Kevin stepped around his desk and reached out to take her arm.

  “Chloe…” She pulled away. “You’re not listening to me.”

  “It’s too late.”

  He firmly grabbed her arms and pulled her around to face him. “Look at me. I bought out the other contract, the first one that I didn’t know about. I’ve directed the company event organizers to another facility. They’re just as happy. You still have Bollito. You won’t be disappointing our classmates, understand?”

  Her eyes seemed glazed over, her chin began to quiver. And it was then that it finally sunk in for Kevin that she’d reached her limit. She was nearly on the verge of collapse, and it had begun the first time Billie Burns, Chloe’s natural mother, had tried to bogart her way into her life.

  “Christ,” Kevin muttered angrily under his breath. He released her arms and framed her face with his hands. She grabbed his wrists, holding on, not trying to pull away again. “Everything’s going to be okay. You’re going to be fine.”

  “No. It’s never going to be okay. I tried to help her. I prayed so hard to find the strength to forgive her. And she only wanted to use me.”

  Tears began to spill unchecked down her face.

  Kevin’s heart ached at the baring of her soul.

  “She’s not going to hurt you anymore. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you ever again.”

  One more time she found the strength to pull away, whirling on him in all her fury and helplessness.

  “Well, you did! You spied on me. You wouldn’t stop until you’d found out my dirty little secret. You don’t do that to people you say you care about.”

  “You do if you love them. You do whatever you can. I love you.”

  Chloe clamped her hands over her ears, squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head furiously. The clamp holding her hair in an upswept ponytail came loose and flew across the room. Her hair fell across her face, and her shoulders began to shake as the floodgates of months of stress finally shook their way open.

  Kevin murmured her name again and took her into his arms, holding on to her as tightly as he could. She fought him. But Kevin was smart enough to know he wasn’t the target. He wasn’t the issue. It was the soul of an eight-year-old little girl who had been discarded and left alone in the world to find her own way. And the one person who should have taken care of her hadn’t.

  Chloe sobbed and twisted and he grabbed her arms, and she cried so hard her legs gave way and she began to slip to the floor. Kevin held on, controlling the descent as they both ended up on the carpeted floor of his office. This was not what he’d expected to happen when she’d walked into his office, full of spit and vinegar. But they were safe here to ride out the crisis. CB would know if he was needed, but he wasn’t going to be. Kevin knew what he had to do.

  For the moment, he had to hold her to him and let her cry and rage and get it out. They couldn’t move forward until she did. He kept whispering to her, soothing her, stroking her hair from her face, kissing the tears from her cheeks, holding her forehead into his shoulder…absorbing every sob and quake and tremor. Reminding her, over and over again, that he loved her.

  It took a long time before Chloe was just lying in his arms with her breathing even and steady. The crying had ended, and for a while Kevin wondered if she’d actually fallen asleep. And then, Chloe’s arms came up to circle his neck, and she rolled onto her back. She undulated against him.

  “Kevin. Make love to me.”

  He drew back to look into her exhausted face. “Here? Right now?”

  She was already trying to pull up the hem of her dress, heaving her derriere to bunch the fabric around her waist. Wiggling her panties down her hips as far as she could. She was nodding, beginning to breathe rapidly.

  “Yes. Here.”

  Kevin didn’t need any persuading. The roll of her hips and pelvis against him was doing the job of getting him aroused, as was the two-week abstinence away from her. He opened his trousers and managed to kick out of them and his shorts. He got her panties off and tossed them aside.

  He groaned and stopped. “Dammit,” he muttered. “Chloe, wait.”

  “No, it doesn’t matter,” she whined. “It’s okay. I don’t mind.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Oh, Kevin,” she whispered, gazing into his eyes, and caressing his jaw. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. I’ve wanted to tell you that for weeks.” He was starting to rock against her, waiting for the signal that would let him go the distance.

  She sighed, closed her eyes and drew her knees back so that he fell into place between her legs. The rest, after that, was easy.

  “Love me,” Chloe said softly.

  It was the easiest thing she’d ever asked of him.

  Chapter 9

  “Excuse me.” Chloe signaled one of the homecoming volunteers, identified by the white T-shirt with the initials HC stenciled in the center of the chest, and beckoned the young man to her. “I don’t want these people standing in this heat trying to register. This can go a lot faster if you set up another table and get two more of you to sit and help out, okay?”

  “Sure, no problem, Ms. Jackson.” He nodded and jogged away to do her bidding.

  Chloe walked slowly along the registration area, making note of every little detail, and making notes as to what looked like a problem, what wasn’t needed anymore and other changes to make the process smoother for all. Registration had been scheduled to last until five o’clock, but the remaining lines meant it would have to be extended at least another hour, the result of CPT and so many of the alumni arriving late, some with cranky and tired children in tow.

  She searched for and found the volunteer she’d put in charge of registration for the weekend and pulled her aside.

  “I’m going to let today’s registration go until six-thirty and then we’ll close it off. Everyone will want to freshen up before they head out for dinner or other gatherings tonight. Oh, and we’ll definitely stop at noon tomorrow. If people aren’t here by the start of the tailgate party, they’re not planning on being here.”

  “I hear you.” The young woman laughed and went to make changes on the signage.

  As she walked away to see if there was any action at the “Be True To Your School” vendor market, her cell phone rang.

  “Yes, it’s Chloe,” she answered breezily, walking briskly to navigate the crowds of returning alumni who were meandering and strolling the grounds of their alma mater. Laughing and reminiscing and excited about being back.

  “How are you holding up?”

  She smiled broadly, waving to a faculty member she recognized in passing.

  “Listen, it’s only the first day. It will probably get harder as the day goes on. I’m good.”

  “Are you sure? Anything I can do to help?”

  “No. It’s not like you’re sitting at home with nothing to do until the reception tonight. How did you make out with your redirected corporate event?”

  “Well, the good news is that they really wanted to use one of the clubs, so they were perfectly happy with my suggestion to use KISS KISS as a stand-in for Bollito. That’s the first club I opened in Atlanta.”

  “I’m so glad. I really felt bad that you might have faced a financial loss so that I could still get Bollito for tomorrow night.”

  “Did you? How bad?”

  She chuckled. “Are you asking for some sort of bribe or payoff?”

  “Sometimes that’s how business gets done.”

  “I have a feeling this has nothing to do with business. What would you like?”

  “Come home w
ith me tonight.”

  “It sounds lovely, but I have to be back here by eight in the morning. I’m in charge, remember?”

  “You’re in charge so you can delegate responsibility to others. I won’t make you late. Don’t forget I’m coming for the tailgate party.”

  “That’s really nice of you,” Chloe said quietly.

  She slowed down as the tented vendors’ fair came into view. She stopped to sit on a bench and finish her conversation with Kevin.

  “I know you can’t stay for everything, but you’ve been so good about changing around your work schedule today.”

  “Chloe, I had a great time at Hollington. I think the homecoming weekend is a fun idea, but what I’m doing I do for you. As long as you’re clear on that.”

  “I am. Thanks.”

  “Where shall I meet you?”

  She looked at the time and gasped. “Oh! I didn’t realize how late it’s getting, and I still have to change. I should be arriving at CORK in a half hour. I’ll park my car first and then meet you inside. Is that okay?”

  “You got it. Love you.”

  He’d already clicked off. But Chloe continued to smile as she dropped her phone into the pocket of her skirt.

  “Love you, too.”

  She rushed over to the stalls and tables where school merchandise and independents with permits from the college were selling anything and everything that had to do with Hollington College. It was mostly the usual fare of baseball caps, scarves, buttons and mugs, but there were some really cute and creative things as well. Miniature put-together models of the historic main Hollington College building, the roaring lion mascot stenciled in frosting on cookies, a white handkerchief with the college logo repeated around the edge decoratively. And Chloe’s favorite, wine commissioned and bottled especially for the weekend, with a clever graphic label for Hollington Chardonnay and Hollington Zinfandel.

  The faculty member acting as manager for the fair waved as she approached.

  “Don’t worry. I’ve taken care of everything.”

  “Thanks, Professor Seymour.”