As Jenna sipped at her tea, she realized she had never been this uncomfortable at lunch in her life. They had been close in school, such good friends that it was difficult for her to understand how they could have so little in common, even after ten years. Actually, she had to wonder how she had become such a bad friend. For the last ten minutes, she’d been thinking about Jackson while Chad talked about a clinical trial. Even if she had given her undivided attention she doubted that she’d have understood most of what he said.
Chad had changed little since high school. He’d grown a couple of inches, filled out some, but that only bumped him from scrawny to lanky. His eyes were a flat shade of grey that brighten when he spoke of his work. Jenna had to smile every time her eyes strayed to his hair. It was the same as it always used to be: an unruly mop of forgotten hair atop his head. Perhaps it was the absent-minded scientist in him that always forgot most people owned combs.
Jenna wondered if her illustrator would be able to capture that careless style for the book. She had halfway spun the plot in her head of an eight-year-old boy, with forgotten blonde hair, conducting science experiments in his parent’s attic when she realized Chad was asking her a question. “I’m sorry, Chad. What was that?”
“I was asking how you like being back in Dallas after all the time you spent in Boston.”
Jenna remembered she’d last spoken to him while she was still in law school, long before she’d been forced to move home. Long before Tony…It wasn’t something she wanted to get into with him so she searched for something plausible to say. “You know, Boston was never home. I missed my family and my friends.”
“But you gave up on being a lawyer? That was all you ever talked about wanting to be when we were in school. You had your life planned out. How could you walk away from all that?”
Jenna slunk back against her chair. “Life happens. Things change.” She looked away and caught sight of the waitress staring at them from the corner. Apparently, she wasn’t thrilled about having a table stay for almost an hour after paying the check. Turning back to Chad she said, “We should get going. I have a lot of writing to do tonight.”
Chad nodded and followed her outside to her car. “It was great getting to catch up with you after all this time.” He touched her face. “Jenna, I’ve missed you so much.”
She was still trying to figure out what his hand was doing on her face when she felt his other hand grasp the other side of her face. He pulled her to him and forced his lips against hers, a sloppy tongue licking at her lips.
You’ve got to be kidding me with this, she thought.
Pushing him away and wiping off her mouth she demanded, “What are you doing?”
Chad looked startled. “I was kissing you.”
Jenna let out her breath slowly and tried to make her voice calm. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt him. “I’m flattered, really I am, and in another time then maybe…” It was such an obvious lie to her own ears that she paused. “I’m seeing someone, Chad. I value you as a friend, but I’m involved with someone else.”
© 2009, Sydney Katt. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use of content will result in dragon attacks.
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