Guarding His Heart

Kevin didn’t want to think about the reports his grandmother had seen. He was considered a wild child in the league. The media liked to document his dating life as evidence of his carefree lifestyle. They assumed he dated different women because he liked the playboy lifestyle, not because he refused to get serious and disappoint another woman.

“Can we talk about something else besides women?”

Charlotte leaned back in her seat. The humor didn’t leave her expression. “Fine, just don’t run off and marry her before I get to meet her.”

The idea was so ludicrous Kevin laughed hard enough to bring a tear to his eye. “I am never getting married again.”

“That’s what you think. He—” she pointed to the sky “—may think differently.”

Kevin nodded and looked over the spacious, manicured backyard instead of arguing. He doubted the Big Guy upstairs had a personal interest in his abysmal love life. If that were the case, his marriage would have worked out, or at least his relationship with Hanna.

His mother had prayed hard enough for both. She’d be giving him a lecture about finding love and happiness right now if she hadn’t gone to the West Coast to visit the twins.

Kevin preferred to focus on quick flings. No feelings to attach. No expectations of more. He was old enough to admit the marriage to Sabrina hadn’t been wise. They’d been young and in love but hadn’t really gotten out of their small town to see the world. Things with Hanna had been good, but he hadn’t loved her. He didn’t think long-term relationships were in the cards for him and he’d accepted that. He didn’t have to play baseball to recognize that he’d had two strikes in the relationship department. He wasn’t playing to lose.

“I spoke with Robert Taylor yesterday at the grocery store.” His grandmother changed the subject. “He says work is almost complete on the new community center. That’s going to be great when it opens. Exactly what the town needs. He told me to thank you for the donation.”

“Mayor Taylor doesn’t have to thank me. This is my hometown. I’m happy to help.” Forgetting where he came from, where his mother and grandmother still lived, wasn’t an option. He’d grown up here, therefore he’d always be invested.

“I know. Still, I want you to know people around here appreciate what you do.”

“It’s what anyone would do.”

“Not everyone. You should go down there and see the work before you leave town.”

Kevin didn’t go into the small town much when he visited, if at all. He came home to visit family, not to sign autographs and take selfies with fans. But he was curious to see some of the changes that had taken place over the past year or so. “I will.”

He’d donated a hundred thousand toward the renovations of the old community center. That’s where he’d learned to play basketball and found sanctuary after school until his mother or grandmother got off work. In the years since he’d gone to the league, the town had started to dwindle. He’d given money where he could to support the opening of new businesses and renovate downtown. His donations had paid off. The town was experiencing a surge in regrowth.

Charlotte nodded, obviously pleased with his decision. “Good. Also, before you go, take a look at the old farm across town. I’ve got a guy interested in buying it. Says he wants to put a drive-in theater over there.”

Kevin raised a brow. He shifted sideways on the porch step to look at his grandmother. “A drive-in?”

She nodded. “Yep. Apparently, people like that sort of thing again. The land is just sitting there. Might as well make some money off it.”

A thought hit him. Kevin sat up straight. “Grandma C, is the old house still on that land?”

“Not unless it sprouted feet and walked off. Why? That house ain’t nothing but ruins now.”

Ruins or not, the house might fit a certain sexy photographer’s project standards. “Still, if you’re selling, we might want to find a way to save it for future generations.”

“Boy, you’re crazy. How we gonna save my granddaddy’s old cabin?”

With pictures taken by a woman he couldn’t wait to see again. He could slap himself for not thinking of this before. He hadn’t been to the old farm in years. Had forgotten about the place mostly because Grandma C never mentioned it. Now the old forgotten farm was just what he needed to see Jasmine.

“Don’t worry, Grandma C. I know exactly how we’re going to save it.”

Chapter 5 (#uaaee1d1d-9f66-529d-a955-ac55901217d5)

“Dad says Kathy wants to see us.”

Jasmine froze while putting clothes into her suitcase. She jerked her head toward her sister.

Jada sat on the floor with her back against Jasmine’s bed. She tossed the yellow stuffed elephant Jasmine had owned since she was five up into the air and caught it on the way down. Her natural hair was pulled up into a curly puff at the top of her head and she had the nerve to look better in the off-white sundress Jasmine had purchased for herself a month ago.

“What? Why would Kathy want to see us now?” Their stepmother hadn’t reached out to them in years. After divorcing their father when Jasmine was sixteen, Kathy had moved across country and remarried a year later. She’d had a new life and a new family.

“I don’t know. She’s divorced again,” Jada said flippantly.

The announcement should have elicited some emotion from Jasmine, but the only one that clicked was irritation. Twelve years postdivorce did not endear her to Kathy. “Getting another divorce shouldn’t be the reason she suddenly decided to reach out to us. I haven’t seen her since I was sixteen. I’ve moved on.”

Jasmine went back to folding clothes to be packed. She would be spending most of the summer down south, documenting homes. Common sense said to travel light because she’d be moving around a lot, but ten years in the fashion industry also meant an extensive wardrobe. Jada was supposed to be helping her separate essentials from nonessentials, not getting her blood pressure up with a conversation about their former stepmother.

Jada spun around on the floor until she faced Jasmine. She held up her hands in a don’t-shoot-the-messenger fashion. “Hey, I’m just telling you what Dad said. It’s up to you if you see her or not.”

“Then the answer is not. I don’t need to see Kathy and I don’t want to.” Jasmine held up a bright multicolored skirt she’d picked up in LA last year. The waistband was fitted, accenting her curves, and the hem brushed the floor. “Take or leave?”

“Take,” Jada said with a thumbs-up. “You may go to a cookout.”

Jasmine raised a brow. “A cookout?”

“It’s the South in the summer. If you don’t go to someone’s cookout, I’m going to be mad at you.”

Jasmine laughed, folded the skirt and put it in her bag.

Jada’s laughter faded. They were quiet for a few seconds. She stopped tossing the bear. “I’m going to see her.”

Jasmine spun around and crossed her arms. “Why?”

“Because she helped raise us. I don’t remember Mom, but I remember Kathy. I want to see her.”

Jasmine barely remembered their mom. She’d died when Jasmine was five and Jada was two. All she really had were memories of Kathy, too. Followed by the pain of her walking away after the divorce. Kathy made her choice. They weren’t her family. Regardless of the memories, Jasmine never had to see her again. “Well, I don’t. She’s not our mom and she made that perfectly clear.”

“Okay, obviously you have some things related to Kathy that you need to work out,” Jada said with a hint of attitude. “Talking to her might help.”

“Talking to her won’t help.” She tossed a shirt at Jada. “And I don’t have things to work out.”

Jada caught the shirt before it hit her in the face. “Sure.” She examined the shirt and shrugged. “I’m keeping this now. That’s what you get for throwing clothes.”

“As if you need a reason to steal my clothes,” Jasmine said without heat. Jada had been “borrowing” her clothes for years.

“True. So are you excited about the trip?” Jada rolled up the shirt and put it in her purse sitting next to her on the floor.

“I am. I’m also nervous about what’ll happen when I finish. Who really wants to see a bunch of old houses?”

“You’re acting as if your pictures won’t be beautiful,” Jada said, as if people loving Jasmine’s work was inevitable. “Or that you won’t include the stories of these families. People are going to love it.”

Jasmine walked over and sat on the floor next to Jada. “Spoken like my true number one fan.”