Learning Curves

Learning Curves

September, 1973

"Lana Winters. Goddamn." Kit lifted his friend in an embrace. "It's good to fuckin' see ya."

"You, too, Kit," she huffed into his neck. He put her down with an ooph. "I'm sorry I didn't make it to your wedding."

He shrugged. "It's understandable, ya big famous journalist." He cuffed her shoulder. "Allison's really excited to meet ya. Don't get overwhelmed."

Lana laughed, pushing brown locks behind her ear. "If I'm not overwhelmed yet, I won't be anytime soon. The place looks great!"

Kit looked around his property, nodding. "Yeah. We've made some changes since we last saw you."

"I can't wait to catch up."

"Oh my God!" Allison appeared in the doorway, long curls flying. "Lana Winters is at my house!" Kit grinned in a 'told you so' fashion and Lana rolled her eyes at him. "I just watched your special on fraud in the oil industry and it totally blew my mind!"

The petite woman went straight for a warm double handshake. Lana immediately liked her. "Well, I'm glad it made an impact."

"Oh! So impactful! Kit! Why haven't you brought her inside? It's cold out here! Come on, Lana!" She allowed herself to be pulled along by Kit's eager young wife. "The kids and I are makin' homemade pizza."

"And I got beer!" Kit supplied.

Lana looked at him over her shoulder gratefully.

"I can't believe how much Thomas and Julia have grown," Lana murmured quietly. The house was quiet. Kids put to bed. Allison had fallen asleep on the couch. So she and Kit sat at the kitchen table, talking quietly. "And they're really smart, Kit. Really good kids. They're gonna do big things someday."

"Yeah," he agreed. "I'm pretty proud of 'em."

"Allison is wonderful."

"I know." He looked a little sheepish. "She's been amazing, honestly."

"I'm surprised you didn't marry her sooner."

"Eh." He shrugged. "I didn't want to get the kids into anything too soon. You know. Let 'em adjust. They went through a lot pretty young."

"Mmm." She lit a cigarette. Offered Kit one. "True. I forget how close they'd been to Sister Jude."

Kit looked away. "Yeah. It was a loss to adjust to fer all of us."

Lana detected some small lingering pain. She changed the subject. "So. Do I get to see wedding pictures, or what?"

Kit grinned widely. "Come on."

In the guest room - her room for the night - he pulled a big brown box from the top of the closet. A smaller one fell, spilling Polaroids. Kit quickly shoved them into a pile with his foot. He plopped the large box on the bed and flipped the lid off. "They're kinda all over the place. Lots of people took pictures and game 'em to us. Better than any expensive photographer any day." He tugged out a sizable leather bound album. "Here it is. Kit and Allison. And all their drunk friends."

"Yeeesss," Lana hissed, cracking the volume. She was ever the journalist, picking up on the subtleties in each image. "The kids look so happy," she commented. "You do, too."

"I was." He nodded. "I am, actually. Still."

"I'm so happy for you, Kit." She closed the volume, noticed more pictures in the box. "Can I see these?"

"Sure." He smirked. "Ya might see a familiar face."

Lana grabbed a handful. Some Polaroids, some not. "Cutest kids ever," she said, discarding them on the bed one by one. "So lucky, Kit. Oh!" She paused on one picture. "I see what you mean." Surprise widened her eyes and she shook her head in disbelief. "Wow. I can't believe that's Sister Jude."