Back to Square One (Brandon Bay Babes) (26 page)

“You know Kit, I must say I was surprised to see you up there singing; knowing how embarrassed you can get when things don’t go the way you want them to.
 
But you were fantastic!”

Keep it light, Kit thought, don’t get all serious and deep.
 
Keep the conversation on an even keel and there would be no way the word “love” and “forever” could come up.
 
“Well, I’m not the same girl anymore Barnaby.
 
Things change, like you said.”

“Sometimes things can change all around you; but the big stuff has a habit of staying constant.
 
I’m finding the really important stuff doesn’t alter” he said softly, his arms tightening around her.
 
“Look Kit I know I said all that stuff about water under the bridge, but-”

“Can I cut in?”

Jeremy stood beside them with an expectant look on his face.

“No, you can’t Atwell” Barnaby growled.

Kit sighed.
 
Saved by the bell; well almost.
 
Butch and Rover looked like they may just get into it, and the bone was feeling kind of superfluous.
 
Contrary to what she’d told J.J. earlier, Kit was almost hoping Fido would come bounding in and snap her up.
 
Glancing over at her table, she saw that J.J. was viewing the proceedings with a guarded look.
 
Guess this bone held no interest for Fido anymore, she thought despondently.

She’d better do something.
 
This may very well turn into a cock fight rather than a doggy one.
 
“Now Barnaby, the law is, when someone cuts in, you let them” she shrugged as if she couldn’t care less, either way.

“Yeah” Jeremy added, hardly helping his case with a winning argument.

Barnaby looked at Kit.
 
“Okay” he said resignedly.
 
“But I may just cut right back in again in a few minutes” he added with a furious glare at Jeremy.

“Sure you can.
 
The law’s the law” Kit replied gravely, although she hardly thought it would stand up in court.

Released from Barnaby’s clutches, she was swiftly embraced by Jeremy’s strong arms.
 
“Keep your hands where I can see them Atwell” Barnaby warned in his best sheriff impersonation.
 
Kit started giggling.
 
Her nerves couldn’t stand much more.

Jeremy grinned at her.
 
“That Calder’s still a geek” he said nastily, watching as Barnaby walked off the dance floor.
 
Kit wasn’t impressed by his comment.
 
“Oh I don’t know,” she said looking misty, “He used to have just a great mind, now his body has caught up, he’s quite the hottie, as Jasmine would say”

Ignoring her remark with the confidence of a guy who always got the girl, Jeremy shifted those incredible green eyes her way and zeroed in for the kill.
 
“So now that I’ve got you in my arms once again, Miss Davidson, I’m thinking that I just may never let you go.”

The blatant reminder of the last time she was in his arms ruffled Kit’s feathers.
 
If he thought that she was going down the road to make-out city with him again, he was greatly mistaken.
 
That road had “wrong way, go back” signs plastered all over it.
 
Black Russians and Jeremy Atwell were categorically in her past, and that’s where they were going to stay.

Kit looked over at her table again.
 
J.J. and Jasmine were deep in conversation.
 
He didn’t give a rat’s butt that she was in Jeremy’s arms.
 
Well I guess it’s well and truly over, not even a glimmer of concern
, she thought, tears starting to sting the back of her eyes.

“Cutting in!” Barnaby appeared at her side again.

“No fair” Jeremy raised his voice.

“Enough!” Kit said loudly, just as the music stopped.
 
All eyes in the room turned in her direction.

Kit glanced around.
 
Everyone had stopped everything to see what the commotion was about.
 
And it was about her!

Looking from Barnaby to Jeremy and back again in horror, she then spared a glimpse at J.J. sitting across the room.
 
He was watching her too; with what had the appearance of unmitigated and absolute contempt.

Jasmine stood up and addressed the room. “Hey, what are all you people gawking at?
 
The girls popular okay, is it a crime?” she said in her loudest and most obnoxious voice.

Kit gave her a small smile.
 
This was in no way the most humiliating thing that she’d ever experienced, definitely not acronym worthy like TPG, but it was certainly not pleasant being the center of attention for something so
Jerry Springer
-like.

Walking up to her, Jasmine put her arm around Kit like she was some sort of disaster survivor.
 
“Are you okay?” she asked thoughtfully.

“I’m fine Jas” she whispered back.
 

Barnaby and Jeremy were still staring each other down in what was fast becoming just a manly “peeing contest” in Kit’s eyes.
 
Why, she could probably leave and they wouldn’t even notice?

Kit decided to do just that and with a quick word to Jasmine about getting some air, walked out of Gillman’s into the small courtyard they used only in the summer months.

Breathing deeply, she mulled over the look that J.J. had given her.
 
Was that really contempt she saw in his gaze?
 
Had his feelings disintegrated that far?
 
What was he doing here anyway?
 

Kit then remembered what Jasmine had said to her about their conversation,
“He wanted to know if you’d forgiven him yet?”
 
In her anger and all the brouhaha surrounding Jeremy and Barnaby, she’d let it get pushed to the side.
 

Had
she forgiven him? Hell, after analysing and re-analysing the turn of events, she could certainly see that he’d meant no harm in suggesting her to Charles for the show.
 
He didn’t have a clue that it would upset her so much.
 
Like her mother had said, men were from another planet when it came to the female mind.
 

Kit was sure it was over.
 
She’d told him in no uncertain terms they were
done
.
 
Yet, here he was, back in Brandon Bay and making contact.
 
Could it be that Kit Davidson was actually worth fighting for, like Jasmine said?
 
There was only one person who could answer that and Kit wondered if she had the intestinal fortitude to confront him.
 

Making her way towards the backdoor to the pub, it was suddenly pushed open and Jeremy emerged, peering into the darkness.

“Oh crap!” Kit muttered, spinning around and walking quickly in the other direction.
 
Butch was on her tail and Rover was probably not far behind; she was utterly sick and tired of being the “bone” of contention between those two.
 
Maybe the time had come to finally put everything and everyone from the past to rest and go forward.

“Kit, wait up!”

Turning, Kit sighed and waited for Jeremy to catch up with her.

“Where are you running off to?” he asked with a grin.
 
“And can I come too?”

Kit swallowed and got up every ounce of nerve that she had to open her mouth and speak.
 
“Look Jeremy.
 
I don’t know how to tell you this except …, I’m not sure what you think is going on between us, but there’s nothing between us –just air.”

When he opened and closed his mouth in astonishment, but said nothing, Kit continued,
 
“Ten years ago, it would have been a resounding and emphatic yes, oh
God yes
.
 
But I’m not the same girl I was ten years ago, I’ve changed.
 
What I wanted then and what I want now has changed.
 
To put it bluntly Jeremy, and I don’t mean to be insulting, but you were much better in my head.
 
And maybe that’s where you should have stayed.”
 

Jeremy looked dumbfounded and a little lost.
 
Kit was sure this had never happened to him before.
 
“Hmmp” he replied with an accepting air.
 
“Well I guess there’s nothing more to say”

Kit let out a relieved breath.
 
Wow, that was easy.
 
“You’re a great guy Jeremy.
 
I’m just not the girl for you” she said sweetly.
 

He pursed his lips and nodded miserably; but Kit had no doubt that Jeremy Atwell would recover from her rejection, and probably very quickly at that.
 
There was no shortage of women who would gladly take her place as the object of his affections.
 
He wouldn’t be lonely long.

“I just want you to know one thing Kit Davidson” he said suddenly.

“Yeah?” she blinked at him.

“I want you to know that, well …, I was an idiot in high school for not knowing you when I had the chance Kit.
 
I’ll always wonder where we’d be if that weren’t the case.”

She smiled, “I guess we’ll never know”

“I’ll see you ‘round TPG” Jeremy said with a small, knowing grin.
 
Walking towards the parking lot, he soon disappeared into the darkness.
 

Kit turned back towards Gillman’s then gave the place a dismissive gesture and decided to forgo going back inside for the moment.
 
She needed to reorganize her thought processes before tackling anything or anyone else.

“Kit?”

She spun around to face the direction of the voice. “Who’s that?” she asked in trepidation.

“Barnaby” came the reply from out of the shadows.
 
He emerged, grinning from ear to ear.
 

Making his way to her side, he looked like the cat that swallowed the proverbial canary.
 
“I heard what you said to Atwell”

“Did you?” she said crisply.
 

“I, um, guess from what you said, that you’re really and truly over him” he said sheepishly.
 

“Yes I am” she replied a little coldly.
  

“So what about that
other
guy?” he asked hopefully.

Kit thought sadly about J.J. for a moment.
 
“There
is
no other guy.
 
I can safely say that, right this second, Kit Davidson is a free agent”

Barnaby stepped towards her.
 
“Is that so?”

Turning on him with anger, Kit exploded, “You know what Barnaby, I’m sick of all the pussy-footing around you do.
 
You’re not interested in buying a car, then stop going to the lot and bothering the salesman.”