Winning Moves (Stepping Up 3)

Jason slid his plate aside and leaned forward. “Nick—that’s my investment expert—is expecting you at ten in the morning. Your flight is at two. The trip is a gift from myself and Kat, for all the love and support you showed us both while we worked to build our careers. A gift that pleases us both very much to give you.”

Jason watched Sheila and Hank look at each other. He took Kat’s hand under the table as they waited for a response. “You think we can get teaching jobs there?”

Jason hesitated and glanced at Kat. He knew she was excited to be back with her parents, but she gave a nod of her head, her approval. “I know you can.”

Sheila glanced at Hank, who said, “You really want to do this, don’t you?”

She nodded. “I do.”

He hesitated, seeming to struggle with his pride before letting out a breath. “Okay then. We’ll go.”

Sheila clapped and hugged him before rushing to Jason and Kat for hugs as well. “My parents want us to call them on Skype,” Jason announced when things finally settled down.

A few minutes later, after dialing up his parents, Kat and Jason left Sheila and Hank in front of the computer, talking excitedly about their trip.

Jason followed Kat to the wooden deck off the back of her parents’ house. “Our families have always gotten along as well as we did,” Jason commented, sitting down on the wooden swing next to Kat. The sky was clear, the moon full, the stars bright, and the cool breeze off the mountain a perfect temperature on what could have been a hot night.

“They did,” Kat said, glancing at him. “They do. I’m excited they’re going on this trip.” She angled her body toward him, lacing her fingers in his. “Thank you for making this happen for them.”

“There’s a lot of things we can do for them, Kat,” he said. “For both of our families. It’s what we always wanted. What we talked about.”

She drew a deep breath, shadows dancing in her eyes. “We did. Yes.”

He drew their joined hands to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. “We didn’t get here the way we wanted to, but we’re here, nonetheless.”

“Yes,” she said, shifting away from him, her gaze lifting to the sky. “We’re here now.”

His gut clenched. She didn’t have to say more for him to read the subtext that said, “But for how long?”, before she added, “I believed we’d really make all of those things happen, too.”

“So did I.”

She turned back to him, her soft fingers trailing over his jaw. “I know you did.”

“We let distance exist where it shouldn’t have.”

“There wasn’t a way around it,” she said. “One of us would get a job offer when the other was already committed and we both would know it was too good to pass up. And if one of us missed an opportunity and never got another that good, or big, it would have fed resentment.” She shook her head. “We couldn’t have done anything but what we did.”

Guilt twisted inside Jason because he knew he’d had opportunities to put Kat first, to turn down work that in hindsight hadn’t moved his dreams along. Not only had they not been the best career moves, he’d lost the person he wanted to share his dreams with. He’d lost her.

“We did a lot of things wrong, Kat—I did a lot of things wrong—but they molded me, and us, into the people we are now. We can’t change those things but we can use them to make a better future.”

“I don’t want to think about the future. When I do that, I think about a time limit, because we always have one. I want to think about right now. I just want to enjoy what time we have.”

Jason fought the urge to argue, to demand she see his sincerity, his regret, his love. They had years of pain and separation, years of built-up emotions.

“Kat—” he started.

“Jason!” Sheila called. “Your mother wants to talk to you.”

Jason silently cursed the bad timing, needing to tell Kat how much he loved her.

“They’re all excited and that’s because of you,” Kat said, and leaned in to kiss him. “Now is good, Jason. Now is what I want to live.” She got to her feet and pulled him up with her, motioning to the door.

* * *

TWO HOURS LATER, Jason parked Kat’s rental car in his garage and got out. He would have rounded the car to get Kat’s door, but she was out before he could make it. He met her at the hood of the car.

“I should have gone to my place and picked up some clothes.”

Jason kept his expression unchanged and said, “Why would you do that?”

“Well I…I thought I was staying here.”

He shook his head and wrapped her in his arms. “I’m packing a bag to stay with you, if you’ll have me.”