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Authors: Christine DePetrillo
Kisses to Remember
KISSES TO REMEMBER
by Christine DePetrillo
Copyright 2012 Christine DePetrillo
All Rights Reserved
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, places, events, business establishments or locales is entirely coincidental.
Author Contact:
Website:
christinedepetrillo.weebly.com
Email:
[email protected]
Twitter:
@cdepetrillo
To Mike, for listening
To my parents, Dave and Rosie, for encouraging
To Kathy and Janet, for reading
Other Titles by Christine DePetrillo
“How much longer do we have to wait, Mom?”
Johanna Ware did her best to contain the sigh threatening to shatter the quiet of the tidy waiting room.
“Mom?”
Her nine-year-old son, Kameron, wiggled beside her on one of the blue plastic chairs lining three of the room’s walls. His shoes were untied as usual, and a grass stain marked the knee of his jeans. How the boy managed to get dirty going from the house to the car was a mystery.
“Shouldn’t be long now, Kam.” Johanna pointed to his shoes, and Kam pulled one of his feet up to rest on the edge of the chair. As he concentrated on tying his sneaker, Johanna smoothed his dark brown hair and gave his neck a little pinch. “Did you comb this?” She raked her fingers along the back of Kam’s head in an attempt to conquer the raised-by-wolves look.
“Uh-huh, but the new style is to keep it messy.” Kam flashed her a smile, one like his father’s.
“Is it? And where did you pick up this bit of fashion news?”
“Christina Darren in my class. She said a boy with messy hair looks like he’s been places doing things.” Kam tied his other shoe then let his feet dangle.
Johanna’s mind flashed forward to a time when her little boy’s feet would touch the floor. That time would be here before she knew it. She wasn’t ready.
She glanced at the empty chair on her other side and pictured a girl with long, dark brown hair, the same color as Kam’s, probably gathered into a ponytail. Would she have been wearing a dress? If she was anything like Johanna, definitely not a dress. Jeans and a T-shirt instead, with a pair of comfortable sandals.
“Christina said she likes my hair messy.”
Kam’s voice made the girl’s image dissipate into the unmoving air of the waiting room, and Johanna blinked back the unshed tears before turning to face her son.
“And so now we’re doing whatever Christina says?” Johanna caught Kam’s chin in her hand and squeezed until his cheeks squished in. The muscles in his face fought against her fingers as he laughed.
“Chrithina ith pretty,” Kam said.
Johanna released him and dropped a kiss on his nose, which he didn’t rub off.
Bless him.
“The pretty girls are the ones you have to watch out for. They’ll turn your world upside down.”
“She makes my hands sweat.” Kam held out his hands as if checking them for perspiration.
“Well, good thing you have the summer out of school so your hands can dry out.”
Kam rubbed his palms on the thighs of his jeans. “Yeah.” He was quiet for a moment, then looked up at Johanna. “Can I invite Christina to my birthday party next week?”
Yeah, Kameron was definitely going to grow up faster than Johanna wanted.
“We’ll see, honey. Read your book.” She tapped the book on Kam’s lap, and he picked it up.
Satisfied that Kam was really reading and not just looking at the little illustrations accompanying the text, Johanna dug her phone out of her purse. She checked her messages, most of which were clients interested in having her design their company’s logo. As owner of Ware Teez, Johanna used her graphic design skills to capture a company’s “essence” in an eye-catching symbol. She also made T-shirts, which companies paid her and a team of their own employees to wear out in public as advertisements. It was a new marketing strategy Johanna had jumped all over a few years ago, and she’d had nothing but success with it since. The best part was it allowed her to work from her farmhouse in Valentine, Nebraska.
It also kept her well stocked with new T-shirts.
After answering several messages and making notes on two new designs, Johanna shut off her phone and dropped it back into her purse. She made a study of her fingernails, stared at the industrial beige paint on the wall opposite her, picked lint off her current Pets Paradise “Where Paws Go to Play” T-shirt, made a mental note to get a haircut, and mined in her purse for a stick of gum. Only once every sixty seconds did she glance over at The Door.
She absolutely hated The Door.
She fixed her gaze on the doorknob as it turned.
Shit, here we go.
She sucked in a breath, unclamped her hand from the chair handle, and tightened her other hand on the straps of her purse. She’d been here many times before, but it didn’t get any easier. How could it? This was not the way things were supposed to have ended up. Nobody ever penciled this in for the future plans.
Kam closed his book and slid to the end of his chair. “Finally.” He stood and reached down for Johanna’s hand. “C’mon, Mom. It’s time.”
The Door was fully open now, and a burly guard dressed in a charcoal gray uniform filled the threshold. He didn’t look familiar. Must have been a new guy. “Mrs. Ware?”
Somehow Johanna got to her feet. Kam’s fingers intertwined with hers, and he gave her a little tug forward.
This is backwards. I should be helping him find the strength to go in.
Squaring her shoulders, Johanna approached the guard. “Yes, I’m Mrs. Ware.”
“Follow me.” The guard led Johanna and Kam to a small room off the main corridor beyond The Door. He motioned to the room and said, “Wait here.”
Johanna and Kam sat at the room’s only furniture—a simple metal table with two blue plastic chairs on one side and one identical chair on the other. Johanna focused on the chair across from her until her vision grew blurry. That chair was so close yet so far.
“Dad!” Kam jumped up from his seat and rushed to the man who had been led into the room by the guard.
Slowly, Johanna slid her gaze from the empty chair to the man wrapped around her son. Their son.
“Hey, Kam. Hi, Johanna.” And there was that smile. The one that didn’t fit in this place. Smiles like that didn’t belong in jail.
Johanna swallowed the knot in her throat. “Hey, Alex.”
“You have thirty minutes.” The guard stepped outside and closed the door, his form visible through the door’s glass panel. He’d stand there during the entire visit.
Kam sat back in his chair next to Johanna while Alex took the seat across from them.
“So what’s been going on, Kam?” Alex asked, although his dark, bottomless black-brown eyes were on Johanna.
Kam launched into a rundown of all the major events in his exciting nine-year-old life, and Alex tore his gaze off Johanna every now and again to remark about something Kam had said.
Johanna noted how Alex’s eyelids drooped lower than usual, how the corners of his eyes were bloodshot, how his skin had lost its golden tan. His black hair was a little messy. Maybe Christina Darren knew what she was talking about. Despite the fact Alex was wearing a navy Valentine Correctional Institute jumpsuit and was now her
ex
-husband, he still had something that held Johanna captive. Would she ever find someone else who could hook her like Alex had?
She wanted to. Kam deserved a male role model in his life that didn’t come with prison guard supervision and the distant rattle of jail cell doors. He should have someone to toss a football with in the field back home. Someone to take him to the hardware store and show him which nails were good for building a barn and which ones were good for making furniture. Someone who could tell him how to handle Christina Darren when the time came.