My Everything - Seth & Amber (37 page)

The quaint, one story hospital that she had
been admitted to when she had been suffering from chicken pox and
had a temperature of 104 at age six, had her tonsils removed in
when she was eight...and had spent three weeks practically living
in when she was eighteen, keeping her vigil beside Nick’s
motionless body as he lay in a coma...was now a four story hospital
that looked to be straight out of the pages of Architectural
Digest. And, if the exterior was any indication, it was now
state-of-the-art.

She had counted four McDonald's, three Burger
Kings and two Taco Bells since she had entered the city limits.
This was quite a contrast to her days in Harper’s Crossing, when
there had only been one fast food restaurant in town – a Dairy
Queen – and it had been the local hang out for all the pre-teens
and teens in town. Katie had noted sadly that the Dairy Queen,
which was another place that held so many of her teenage memories,
had also been obliterated at some point in the past decade.
Replaced by an Office Depot.

Nothing had changed on Harper Lane, though.
Certainly not the houses, which were still all painted in one of
three color combinations – blue and yellow, green and white, or
blue and white.

And judging by the few neighbors that she had
seen out on their lawns, the people hadn’t changed, either. Mrs.
Belmont still watered her yard in that same pink and green moo moo
she had worn since Katie could remember. Mr. Peters still mowed his
lawn in white shorts that were two sizes too small and black socks
that he pulled all the way up to his knees.

As she pulled up in front of her Aunt’s
two-story home (painted in the white with blue trim option, for
that Mediterranean flair, Katie thought with a small smile) she
felt a confusing combination of relief, nostalgia, sadness, and
anxiety. She had always known that at some point she would need to
come home and face her past. She’d just…been busy.

After she graduated from law school at
Pepperdine University she had immediately started working at
Wilson, Martin, Gregory and Assoc., a very prestigious law firm in
San Francisco.

The first three years at the firm went by in
a blur. Katie worked 80+ hours a week and even worked every
holiday, including Christmas. She'd barely had time to breathe, let
alone go out of town.

Last year, even though she was on the fast
track to make Junior Partner, she had taken a vacation.

Well, vacation might be a bit of an
exaggeration. It was two days off, tacked onto a weekend...and she
hadn't gone in on the weekend, which was her normal custom. So, it
was four blissful, unscheduled days all to herself.

Katie had spent her ‘vacation’ in her
apartment, so it was really more of a ‘staycation’ - but still. She
cleaned, cooked, slept and had a Julia Roberts movie marathon, but
she had indeed taken time off.

At the end of the four days, she had felt
herself starting to take stock and think about dealing with her
past, so she had been MORE than happy to go back to work on
Wednesday.

Now, as she opened the door to her rented
blue Honda Accord, Katie took in a deep breath and let out a
cleansing sigh. The air smelled of a familiar combination: sweet
from Mrs. Greyson’s beautiful flower bed, and fresh from the trees
that lined the street. Katie was home.

She moved to the back of the car, popped open
the trunk, and reached for her suitcase. She was stopped cold in
her tracks by the sound of a man’s voice.

“Need a hand Kit-Kat?” a deep voice sounded
from behind her.

A shudder rippled through her body and the
hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Her carry on slipped from
her shoulder and dropped to the cement ground of the driveway.

“Jason?” she said, her voice a whisper of
disbelief.

Katie had known that she would have to face
Jason at some point on her trip home. He was, after all, the best
man in Sophie’s wedding - and seeing as how Sophie was marrying
Jason’s little brother, Bobby, well let's just say it was
inevitable that their paths would cross. She just thought she would
have a little more time to prepare herself before she came face to
face with him.

She also thought she would have the buffering
(protective?) shield of a room full of people surrounding them.

Nope. Here they were. Face to face, for the
first time in a decade. Alone.

She stood frozen with her back to him,
staring down at her pink and black suitcase, wishing with all her
might that she could just climb into the trunk and hide. That,
however, was probably not the most mature response to this
encounter...and also, shall we say, not the most subtle.

As the realization sank in that the extra
time and buffer-people she so desperately needed to get through
this encounter with Jason WERE NOT FLIPPING FORTHCOMING, Katie felt
as though the air was literally being sucked from her lungs.

Great. Panic attack number two, here we go.
And right in front of him. So, yeah. You could say this visit was
not going well.

Jason Andrew Sloan had chestnut brown hair,
dark soulful brown eyes, and a smile that could, as her Aunt Wendy
always said, “melt butter in a freezer.” He was also the first
person Katie had met in her kindergarten class at Harper's Crossing
Elementary.

23 Years Ago

It was the first day of Kindergarten and
Katie was paired up with a boy as a table buddy. A BOY! Could this
day get any worse? The class’ first official assignment as
kindergartners was to write their names on the white paper sitting
on the desk in front of them and then tape it to the back of their
seats.

Katie wrote her name in all capital letters
and rainbow colors and taped it on the back of her seat, just as
she had been instructed to do. She was proud of finishing her
assignment in time to go out for recess. She noticed her table
buddy (THE BOY!) had not.

After the first recess, when the kids came
back into the classroom, she saw a few of them standing around her
chair laughing. As she walked up behind them to sit in her seat she
saw that the 'ie' at the end of 'Katie' on the nameplate she had
been so proud of had been crossed out, and the word 'Kit' had been
written in front of the 'Kat' that remained of her original
creation.

She was so embarrassed. Why would anybody
ruin her name paper? She looked over to see her table buddy Jason
(THE BOY!), smiling a toothless grin from ear to ear as he patted
her chair “I think this is your seat Kit Kat” he said.

All the kids started laughing and Katie just
slumped down in her chair, furious at her table buddy aka THE BOY
aka Jason Sloan.

Jason never admitted to being the one who
had defaced her beautiful rainbow colored name paper but she knew
deep down in her heart that he was the culprit. And she would never
forget it, just like no one ever forgot the nickname. From that day
on Katie Lawson was Kit Kat. Well, to all the kids in Harper’s
Crossing Elementary, anyways.

Present Day

His voice interrupted her thoughts now.

“Wow all this time and you know it’s me
without even having to turn around. I guess that means I still got
it,” he said with his usual cocky tone. A tone that had always
amused Katie, not that she would ever let him know that. His ego
was big enough!

Jason had had girls swooning over him for as
long as she had known him. In fact, Katie believed that even their
sixth grade math teacher Mrs. Carson had a crush on him. Whenever
Jason would turn on the charm, usually to get out of detention for
not completing his homework or being tardy, Mrs. Carson would just
smile as her cheeks turned a light shade of red and say “Oh, Jason
if you were just 10 years older…”

Mrs. Carson never finished the sentence but
Katie always knew what she meant, and Jason never got detention…at
least in that class.

But, it’s not like his charm only worked on
older women. Jason had always had girls eating out of his hand and
he knew it. There wasn’t a single girl in Harper's Crossing that
wouldn’t do just about anything to get Jason’s attention.

Well, there was one girl. Katie.

“Oh yeah, you still got it, Mr. Sloan,” Katie
said sarcastically, trying to buy herself even a few more seconds
before she would have to face him, “If by 'it' you mean the
maturity of a five year old, then yes, you definitely still have
'it.' There's no other explanation for why you would still call me
by that stupid nickname.”

All of the oxygen seemed to have disappeared
around her. Deliberately and methodically, she slowly breathed in
through her nose and out through her mouth, trying desperately to
remain as calm as possible. She HAD to be calm in hopes of staving
off panic attack #2. She absolutely couldn't think about how
humiliating it would be to fall to pieces in front of him, of the
maddening satisfaction it would give him, or fear would take over –
her heart would start to race, her breathing would quicken...and it
would all be downhill from there.

“Come on Kit-Kat...you know you always loved
that nickname,” Katie heard Jason say playfully, but his voice
sounded as if it were coming from a long distance, across a great
expanse. She felt his hand grasp her arm, and then she felt her
body being turned in his direction.

As Jason’s fingers wrapped around her arm
they were causing tingling sensations in places located much lower
south and not nearly as innocent as the place where he was touching
her. Hmm, that wasn't a very good sign. It also wasn't doing a
whole helluva lot to help her in the campaign to keep her heart
rate under control and slow her breathing. Nope. Not one little
bit.

As she turned, her eyes alighted on a broad
chest that...oh my, yes...filled out his white t-shirt quite well.
Her mouth instantly filled with saliva, like one of Pavlov's dogs.
Hmmm, she thought...so this is what they mean when they say
something looks 'mouth-watering.' She didn't disagree! In an effort
to avoid drooling, she swallowed, but to her own ears it sounded
like a shockingly loud gulp.

Slowly, Katie moved her eyes up the length of
the solid, strong, statue-like figure standing mere inches away
from her. She paused momentarily to admire (against her will) the
smooth, olive skin at the base of Jason’s neck. It just so nicely
contrasted with the stark white color of the t-shirt's v-neck it
was peeking out of, she couldn't help herself!

Unconsciously, she licked her lips and saw
the pulse on Jason’s neck jump. Her eyes darted up to meet his
chocolate brown ones, which caused the aforementioned tingling
places to start pulsing.

Katie felt her heart beating so hard she
thought it might beat right out of her chest. And the mantra
began.

You can breathe. Just breathe. Breathe in and
out slowly. You can breathe.

--- ~ ---

As Jason stood in front of Katie, who was
wearing a simple grey tank top and blue jeans, he was momentarily
paralyzed with shock at the effect that she had on him.

Suddenly he was back in Mrs. Garcia’s
kindergarten classroom.

23 Years Ago

It was the first day of kindergarten
FINALLY. Best. Day. Ever.

Putting his backpack in his cubby he felt a
brush of something that tickled his arm. When he swatted his arm he
felt the softest, silkiest thing he had ever touched.

When he looked up to see what it was, he
couldn’t believe his eyes. There she stood, a real life angel! Rays
of sunlight from the window streamed through her long blonde hair,
and she was looking down at him with the biggest blue eyes Jason
had ever seen in his life.

The earth stopped spinning and everything
stood still. Nothing existed except this amazing creature. She
slowly reached her hand to her neck and flipped her long blonde
hair behind her back as she placed her backpack in her cubby.

Jason could not speak. This was a new
phenomenon for Jason, as the spoken word has always been one of his
greatest gifts.

Since the time Jason was able to put two
words together he always knew just the right thing to say to either
get out of trouble, get what he wanted, or just put a smile on the
women in his life’s faces. Even before he was old enough to speak,
he had exuded a natural born mojo. The first word ever used to
describe Jason in the nursery was charming. All of the nurses in
the infant care ward would fight over who could hold him. Even as a
newborn he had a twinkle in his eye and a little smirk on his lips
that the opposite sex just couldn’t get enough of. But in this
moment, five year old Jason could not even remember how to say
'Hi.'

But, luck was on his side, as it usually
was. YES! He was assigned to the same table as this heavenly being.
Jason could barely sit still next to her. He fidgeted, and couldn't
keep his eyes off of her.

She, on the other hand, sat next to him
totally composed, completely ignoring him, working on their first
assignment, the name paper.

Jason had tried all morning to get her
attention somehow, but to no avail. When she finished her paper,
she looked so proud of it as she taped it to the back of her
seat.

When she sat down again beside him, he had
the sudden urge to pinch her, just to see what she would do.
Anything to get her attention! He was desperate to have her
acknowledge him!

But, reason prevailed, and he realized that
pinching her wouldn't be the best course of action. He had to keep
thinking. Before another plan could take shape, however, she was
out the door to recess.

Finally, genius struck! As he sat in his
chair while all the other kids were at recess he decided he would
‘redecorate’ her name paper to give her a nickname. That would be a
way he could start to talk to her, an ice breaker of sorts. He knew
that would get her attention. And it would be special! If he gave
her a special name paper decoration, she would know for SURE how
special he thought she was!