Chapter 1
(Lisa Andrews)
Bent over her laptop, working on America’s next great novel, Lisa ignored the text notification. All her friends knew that when she wasn’t in class, she was writing, or out with Kit. Since he was at work, she was writing for the next several hours.
Determined to get her works of fiction noticed, she toiled over every sentence. Her work had to be better than good, it had to be great, and greatness didn’t come easy. Her major in English helped and her minor in Creative Writing helped more but they weren’t enough to get her noticed in the publishing industry.
Not yet anyway.
The text notification dinged again, and Lisa heaved a sigh. I’m not going to look. I have to be firm with my writing time, it’s not cruel, it’s only logical.
The story would not craft itself, she had to put in the work and the time. If she intended to be successful, she had to have time to do it. If that meant shirking social events and the occasional texts, so be it.
Five minutes later, the notification sounded again and then her phone began to ring. Whoever it was, they were determined to get her attention. Groaning in frustration, Lisa removed her glasses, tossed them to the desk and grabbed her phone, punching the button to answer the call without bothering to see who it was first.
“This better be good. You’re interrupting my writing time.” She clamped her teeth together and waited for a response.
“Lisa, it’s me.” Toni’s voice was strained. “It’s about Kit. I saw him recently.”
“So did I, Toni. Is something wrong?” Lisa’s pulse kicked up a notch as she pondered the possibility that Kit had been in an accident.
“Um, you might say that. Anita said I shouldn’t call you about it, but I can’t do that.” Toni took a deep breath.
“Oh, my God, Toni! What’s happened?” Every horrible scenario in the universe vied for top billing in the horror show playing out in her head.
“He’s down at the club. Like, right now. With Elsie.” Toni’s voice trailed off.
***
That had been months ago. It had also been the first time Lisa had walked in and caught Kit red-handed with another woman. She couldn’t blame women for lusting after him, he was one of the hottest guys in college.
She could, and did blame him for fooling around, though. Teenage hormones were no excuse, in her humble opinion.
After catching him with two other women over the course of six months, she broke it off with Kit Rydell and concentrated on her writing career.
Lisa was a senior in college and had just been published in two different top-ranked magazines that still carried fiction. Her career was finally going in the right direction, and she’d be damned if she would allow a cheating boyfriend derail it.
***
(Kit Rydell)
Lisa was easily the hottest of the hot girls on campus and Kit considered himself lucky that such a smart, sexy, talented woman wanted to be with him exclusively. They lit up any party they attended together, and they heated up the nights with their lovemaking.
He could walk into any room with Lisa on his arm and they were instantly the center of attention. Girls wanted to be Lisa and the guys just wanted Lisa. But she was his. One day, he thought he would make her Mrs. Rydell.
How he had gotten into the cheating game was beyond his reckoning. He hadn’t meant to do it. Hadn’t planned any of it; it just happened. He blamed it on the alcohol and the attention from the other women when Lisa was at home, so determined to have her writing time.
Thinking back on it after they had split up, he thought it might have been a bad idea to lay the blame at her doorstep. After all, it does still take two to tango; always has and always will.
Kit spent the rest of his senior year deciding if owning a business upon graduation was really what he wanted to do. His father expected it of him. His mother beamed with pride when the subject was raised at family functions. They already had him plugged into their idea of how he should spend the rest of his adult life.
The future was an uncertainty for Kit. He didn’t think he wanted to go into the family business. He really wanted to go into publishing. If he could figure out a way to do both, it would be magnificent. If not, he would have to either let his dream fall by the wayside, or he would have to shun his father’s business arrangement.
Either way, it would not be happy times in the ‘burbs for him.