questions.
That went on for half an hour.
Finally, he thanked everyone and said he’d be signing his new book at the campus bookstore the next day, between three and five. The applause was protracted and enthusiastic. The house lights got brighter as the stage lights dimmed. Most of the audience headed for the exits, but fifty or sixty of them rushed onstage.
Another twenty minutes dragged by as Michael—correction: Mitch—accepted praise and shook hands. Kelly waited in her seat until only a few students remained.
When all but those last stragglers had headed for the doors, she made herself rise and put on her coat. Her heart hammering in her ears as it had been doing for most of the night, she slid out into the aisle and strode purposefully down front. There were stairs leading up to the stage on either side. She took the set to the left.
Once up there, she hung back, until the final student had finished gushing and shaking the speaker’s hand.
The student turned to go. The man who had once been Michael glanced toward Kelly where she hovered on the edge of the stage. He smiled.
Her heart stopped racing. It seemed to expand in her chest. A shiver went through her at the same time as heat bloomed in her midsection. This was really happening, the impossible moment was upon her, at last.
He asked, “Kelly?”
Sweet relief poured through her. It mattered a whole lot, that he remembered. That he recognized her. She gulped and nodded.
He started toward her, so big and strong and…imposing. Imagine. Her Michael had grown up to be imposing.
He stood in front of her. She looked up into those velvety eyes that looked deep brown in some lights, and in others, showed glints of green: Michael’s eyes. He said, “I have to admit, I kind of wondered if you might be here, if you might have come back to Sacramento….”
When they split up, she’d moved to Fresno, where Tanner was living and working when he finally got their mother to admit he had a sister. Tanner was twenty-one at the time and the court allowed him custody, once Kelly stood up before a judge and declared that she wanted to live with her brother.
She gulped in air and made herself explain. “My mom got sick again, a year after Tanner came for me. She needed us. And I wanted to go to Sac State anyway….”
He smiled again. He had the most beautiful smile. But then, so had Michael, though his smiles were rare. “Let me guess. You got a full scholarship?”
“That’s right.”
“I knew you would. And you’ve been here in Sacramento ever since?”
“Yes, I…have a house. A job I love. An old black dog.” And a daughter. Your daughter…
“Mitch. Ready?” said a voice from behind her. A glance over her shoulder showed her that the gray-haired professor waited in the wings.
Mitch gave him the high sign. “Be right there, Robert.”
She faced Mitch again. “I guess you have to go, but…” What to say next? It seemed all wrong to just dump the news on him without preamble, right there on that darkened stage.
“Listen.” He looked at her so intently, scanning her face in a way that seemed both eager and hungry at once. A funny thrill skittered through her. And the warmth in her stomach seemed to expand outward, to radiate all through her.
My God. I’m attracted to him—and he feels it, too….
After all these years. Who knew? He’d changed so much. And then there was DeDe. God. What would he do when she told him about DeDe?
He said, “I believe in keeping it simple and direct.”
“Oh. Yes. I prefer that, too.” But obviously not that direct. Or she would have told him already that he was a dad.
No. Really. Bad idea, to just blurt it out, out of nowhere, with that professor lurking behind them, waiting to lead Mitch off to who knew where.
Mitch asked, “Are you married? Engaged? With someone special?”
A short burst of surprised laughter escaped her. “Well, that was simple and direct. And the answers are no, no. And no.”
“Perfect.”
She actually found herself teasing him. “Which no do you mean?”
“All of them.” The air seemed to crackle around them. With energy. With…heat. He said, “I’ve got this faculty party I have to be at right now, but I’m in town ’til Thursday morning. How about dinner tomorrow night?”
Tomorrow was Valentine’s Day. How weird was that? To go out with her child’s father, whose name was now Valentine…on Valentine’s Day?
Weirdness aside, though, dinner would work. Just the two of them, sharing a table in a quiet restaurant. It would be a good opportunity—if there was such a thing—to break the news.
He said, “You’re taking too long to answer. I’m getting worried you’ll say no again—this time to me.”
Her cheeks felt too warm. She couldn’t resist. “No.” She paused just long enough for him to look disappointed. Then she added, “I’m not saying no.”
He laughed, then. “Seven?”
“Fine.” She hurried right on, before he could suggest that he would pick her up. “I’ll meet you at the restaurant, if that’s all right?”
“However you want it.”
She’d put a business card in her pocket, ready for this moment. “Here’s my work number and my cell, just in case…” Their fingers touched in the space between them. So strange. After all these years, the two of them, standing here. Breathing the same air, his hand brushing hers…
His skin was warm. Dry. And only slightly rougher than her own.
He produced a card and handed it over. It was thick vellum, green with black lettering, a personal card, just his name and a couple of phone numbers.
“If you need to call, use the first number,” he said. “It’s my cell.”
“All right.”
“Shall I ask around, get some recommendations for the right restaurant, or do you know where you’d like to eat?”
She named a place in midtown, on 28th Street. “It’s quiet there,” she said. “And the food’s good.”
“I remember it,” he said. “A Sacramento landmark. Though we never could afford to eat there, back when…” The place wasn’t terribly expensive, but for two kids with no money, it had seemed so—And Dr. Benson must be getting impatient, because Mitch was glancing over her shoulder and nodding. “Right there…”
She stepped back. “I’ll let you go then.”
“Until
