King of the Mountain by Fran Baker Page A

next county, so emotions ran high. Jessie was fouled twice but made only one of her free throws, and Jamie never even came close to stealing the ball. By the time the buzzer sounded, the score was tied and the mood in the stands had reached fever pitch.
    “Mmmm,” Ben sniffed the air hungrily as the teams left the court and went to their respective locker rooms. “Is that popcorn I smell?”
    “The Booster Club sells in at halftime to raise money for the sport of the season.” Kitty saw Carol doling out change so her boys could buy snacks.
    “I’m starved.”
    “Didn’t you eat dinner on the plane?”
    He made a face that she laughed at. “Would you eat mystery meat smothered in canned mushrooms?”
    She remembered those times in the past when she’d fed Jessie the last piece of cheese sandwiched between the last two slices of bread, and sighed, “I would if I were hungry enough.”
    He watched the change that came over her face with something close to self-loathing. The thoughtof her going without the basics—of her going to bed on an empty stomach, for cryin’ out loud!—twisted his gut into knots.
    Ben slid his arm around her shoulders and gave her a hug that was part apology for the past and part promise for the future. “Let’s get some popcorn and support our local team.”
    Kitty received his message loud and clear, but she really wanted to talk to Carol. “There’s something I have to do, so you go on without me.”
    His stomach growled. “Are you sure?”
    She grinned. “I’m positive.”
    Carol was sitting to the right and down two rows. Kitty waited until Ben had left the stands before she went to sit with her friend.
    When she got there, she took Carol’s hand in her own and squeezed it gently. They sat that way for a meaningful moment before Kitty asked, “Are you going to be all right?”
    Carol nodded mutely as a grateful tear seeped from beneath the sunglasses she wore. She let it river down her cheek unchecked. “I am now.”
    “If you don’t feel up to having Jessie spend the night, just say so and I’ll take her home with me.”
    “Jamie’s cried herself to sleep two nights running. It’s time she had something to smile about.”
    On the sidelines, a gaggle of seventh-grade cheerleaders made cow eyes at a passel of eighth-grade boys.
    “I’m going to get a restraining order so he can’t come back.” A dry sob shook Carol’s shoulders. “Ilove him, but I just can’t live like this anymore. And I’m scared to death that he’s going to hurt one of the kids.”
    All Kitty could do right now was lend her moral support. “If you need anything—help with the kids, a shoulder to cry on,
anything
—give me a call.”
    “That’s really nice of you.”
    “That’s what friends are for.”
    Carol freed her hand and reached into her coat pocket for a tissue. She wiped her face as best she could without removing her sunglasses, then turned her head in the direction of the gym door. “Jamie thinks the sun rises and sets in him.”
    Kitty knew before she even looked that Carol was referring to Ben. Her heart did a handstand when he came through the door, but she kept her tone deliberately casual. “So does Jessie.”
    “He sure gives the lie to that old adage, Shirtsleeves to shirt-sleeves in three generations. And he’s easy on the eyes too.”
    Kitty agreed on both counts, though she addressed only the first. “That power plant he wants to build would certainly guarantee our jobs for a long time to come.”
    But Carol wasn’t so easily dissuaded. “Wouldn’t your daddy and grandpa spin in their graves if they knew you were seeing the coal baron?”
    “It’s just a basketball game.”
    “Plus a picnic, and dinner afterwards.”
    “A couple of dates, and you make it sound likewe’ve posted bans or something,” Kitty said defensively.
    Carol shrugged. “Stranger things have been known to happen.”
    “Don’t read more into this than there is.” If it were any