RSVP with Love

She sighed. Then inhaled. “Yes, I’m fine.”

After another moment the shower curtain slowly pushed back. She instinctively crossed her arms over her chest and glanced over her shoulder. Kevin stepped in, stark naked behind her, his long, lean body filling the stall and crowding them together.

“Kevin! What are you doing?”

“Whatever I can to conserve natural resources.”

“There’s not enough room for both of us.”

Moving her aside he got under the spray, turning around to get completely wet. Kevin rotated Chloe around so that her back was to him.

“Let me,” he said.

was the first black writer ever to publish with Harlequin Books. She is a recipient of two Lifetime Achievement Awards and the 2002 Service Award from Romance Writers of America. She has also appeared several times on the Essence magazine and Blackboard bestseller lists. Her book Significant Others was named by Amazon.com as one of the top twenty-five romances for the twentieth century.

A onetime graphic designer, she has exhibited across the U.S., designed cards for UNICEF and illustrated two books for the late science writer Isaac Asimov. Sandra is also an adjunct instructor in fiction writing and publishing, and is a frequent guest speaker. She has lectured at New York University, Penn State, Sarah Lawrence College and Columbia University.

Dedicated to everyone who shared all those

fabulous college years with me.

Dear Reader,

I had hoped to attend a college with the traditional, away-from-home residential setting of somewhere like Spelman College. But as with some of you, I’m sure, I did not go away to attend college. Living in a huge urban center like New York City, I had more than a dozen top-tier, nationally known colleges within fifty miles of where I grew up: Columbia, Fordham, NYU, Sarah Lawrence and my alma mater, City College. The best I could do for a real campus experience was move into my own apartment in Manhattan at nineteen, and become very involved in clubs, activities and school government. There was still plenty of young-adult angst (like what my characters in RSVP with Love experienced), first (and second-chance) romances, wonderful opportunities leading to great adventures and the forming of lifelong friendships.

The HOLLINGTON HOMECOMING series reflects what I wanted my college and postgraduate years to be like…and they were! It was great fun revisiting the possibilities, and remembering everything about that transition period which was one of the most important periods of my life. I hope you enjoy RSVP with Love, the first book in the series. And I hope all the stories bring back good memories for you.

Sandra Kitt

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

“Go on. Admit it. The last four years at Hollington have been exciting, enriching and challenging. None of us will ever forget those night-before-exam cram sessions fueled by potato chips, beer and desperation…”

There was a smattering of laughter from the young men and women seated in front of the band shell stage, uniformly dressed in caps and gowns. Chloe Jackson was sure, as she knew the faculty must be, that their four years had been stoked at times with far more than what she’d politely mentioned. But this was neither the time nor the forum for reminding her fellow classmates that they’d arrived at Hollington College, for the most part, as teenagers with a penchant for arrogance, and were leaving as adults who’d learned they still didn’t know everything. There had been a lot of foolish mistakes, unforgivable behavior, triumphs, broken hearts and vendettas but also a unilateral determination to succeed.

Chloe glanced over the gathering of her classmates, detecting the rising hum of restlessness as they waited for the pomp and circumstance to be done, for her valedictorian address to end. The late afternoon sun was already shifting to the west. The next order of business for the graduates and the coming evening…some serious celebration.

“Even those crazy days and nights were part of our education, part of the process by which we learn to manage life, our uncompromising professors and bad diets. So, here we are at the tipping point. The scoreboard shows winning numbers all around. Hollington will soon be behind us and our futures straight ahead. We have been given all the necessary tools to make it bright and rewarding. Congratulations, class of 1999. We did it. Game on!”

Chloe gathered her notes and turned to leave the stage as enthusiastic and sustained applause broke out from the seated students. While she made her way back to her seat, the dean was already making final remarks, bringing the ceremony to a close. Chloe took her seat, and the young man in black-framed glasses sitting next to her leaned close.

“In training to be speaker of the house or a sports announcer?” Micah Ross whispered. “Impressive send-off.”