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And that was one huge difference between them. In her book, the more you could plan for the future, the better. Too bad her biggest and best plan, the business with Dominic, had blown up in her face.
But none of that mattered when it came to her and Jason. This was nothing but a…”rebound,” she said out loud.
“Excuse me?”
Welp, she sure had blurted that out of nowhere.
“Just wondering if it’s the only relationship terminology that’s also in basketball. You know, just randomly. Apropos of nothing.”
He scanned her face in the darkness. She lifted her chin to hide her unaccustomed embarrassment.
“It’s not.”
“Huh?”
“It’s not the only one. There’s also ‘slam dunk.’”
Nine
Jason watched that sassy smile spread across Kendra’s face. The moon had risen enough so that he could see her more clearly. Her eyes were still full of fire, but it was a softer glow than usual, banked embers instead of a brilliant flame.
“Are you saying you’re a slam dunk?”
“Nothing but net, baby.”
Holly would be furious with him, but he didn’t care. She was only seventeen, she didn’t know everything. If there was any chance of something with Kendra, he was going for it.
“Okay, but we should talk about it first.”
“We’ve done a lot of talking already,” he pointed out. They’d covered a lot of ground, too, topics he didn’t usually discuss. He was starting to get cold on the dock out here after midnight.
“I mean about, you know, being on the same page. Our situations aren’t so different. We both recently broke with someone we were serious about. Neither of us is recovered. I know I’m not. Do you know I looked up the definition of a ‘rebound?’”
“Why does that not surprise me?” he murmured.
She made a face at him. “It means getting into a new relationship before you’ve totally recovered from your last breakup. In other words, it’s doomed to failure because you’re still all messed up. But at least it’s something.”
“Wow. And you thought of me. I’m so flattered.” His dry tone didn’t quite hide his hurt.
“Boy, don’t act all wounded. We both deserve love and a solid, long-term relationship. But are you ready for that right now? Aren’t you still mourning over what happened with Gretchen?”
“Yeah. I saw her the other day with her husband and had actual fantasies about how I could sabotage their fancy-ass boat. It got quite specific. Rope in the engine prop, that kind of thing.”
“There you go. I have the same thing. Except in my case, it’s more like I schedule a meeting with his new bosses and present them with a PowerPoint of all the reasons they shouldn’t trust him.”
“I bet it’s very comprehensive.”
Her lips quirked in amusement. “You know it.”
“Okay, so, revenge fantasies. Check. What’s your point?”
“That we’re not fully recovered. Either of us. We’re both in a rebound-prone phase. But maybe that works out better. If we’re both on the rebound, then neither of us can really get hurt.”
“How do you figure?” He couldn’t wait to hear her explanation for that theory. The way her mind worked, it was really something. Those wheels were always turning.
“It’s like this.” She sat up, and he instantly missed the warmth from where she’d propped herself against his hip. “In a rebound, part of your heart is still with the previous relationship. Therefore it can’t get as hurt if the new one goes wrong.” She brushed her hands together briskly. “And I know neither of us is trying to get hurt again.”
Fair enough. Jason had no idea if her theory was correct or not. But he wasn’t going to argue. Kendra was the kind of person who wanted lots of logical reasons for anything she did. Him, not so much. He didn’t analyze things the way she did. Of course, that probably meant they weren’t a good match, but for the purposes of a rebound, did it matter?
