Winner Takes All by Sandra Kitt

Author:Sandra Kitt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2021-01-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Jean rode back to Brooklyn with Patrick after her parents had left them. It was so wonderful to be in his luxurious vehicle, just the two of them cocooned within the air-conditioned space…

“How are you feeling?”

“Good. Tired. I look a mess,” she said, making a half-hearted attempt to smooth her wild hair.

“You look beautiful. Sexy, with your hair like that. When we get to your place, I’m kissing all your bruises. You know, to make them go away.”

She laughed. “I’d enjoy that.”

“Me too.”

“Thank you for everything you did, Patrick.”

“I want to stay in your folks’ good graces. It’s obvious they’re protective of you. Glad I had a chance to meet them.”

“I bet they have a ton of questions about you. Probably more about you and me,” she ventured quietly.

He grinned broadly and then sobered for a long moment.

“Your dad lives in LA Your mom still lives in Tarrytown. Aren’t you the least bit curious?”

“About what?”

“Okay, you don’t want to speculate. But from my seat at the table, I’d say…they’re not done yet. It’s more than just being amicable and pleasant for your sake. There didn’t seem to be any tension between them, considering.”

“I noticed,” Jean murmured thoughtfully. “I’m not sure I should make anything of it. Until my dad said my mom invited him to stay for the night. The way he said it. It’s like it wasn’t the first time. It may have just slipped out. Maybe he didn’t mean to reveal so much. I don’t know.”

“It didn’t look to me like they’re trying to hide anything. Did you happen to catch the moony-eyed looks they were exchanging when we left first aid?”

“I did.”

Patrick stared out the windshield waiting for her to continue. When she didn’t, he pulled himself together.

“Okay, end of discussion. There’s probably really nothing to talk about.”

“I don’t know what to say. I don’t know how I feel. I spent my childhood praying for the miracle that would make us a whole family. That my dad and mom would come together in one place.”

“And you’d live happily ever after,” he added.

“By the time I was getting out of high school, it seemed less important. I was going off to college and becoming an adult, getting on with my own life. It was too late to wish for that kind of normal family. There were so many single-parent households all around me that it was no longer a thing, you know?”

“How would you feel if your parents are forming some sort of new relationship?” Patrick said.

“Bewildered. After all these years. Maybe they’ve somehow worked out that nothing matters anymore but how they feel about each other.”

Patrick reached out and wrapped his hand around the top of her thigh. “That makes perfect sense. That’s exactly how I’d handle it…”

For Jean, it was an intriguing recap that was just beginning to emerge into a new possibility, a new updated reality. Did her parents still love each other? Was she only wishing?

* * *

Jean sat watching Patrick’s bent head as he studiously checked out the scrapes on her arm and her hand.

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