Kat missed Lillian fiercely, but she was also glad that she hadn’t suffered for years. Her dementia had been clouding her mind for many years, and more and more, she’d had difficulty recognizing loved ones. Having her grandmother gaze at her like she was some stranger had broken Kat’s heart.
A computer programmer by trade, Kat had attended UCLA before working at a tech start-up in the Valley. But when she’d gotten a call from a concerned friend who’d told her that Lillian could no longer live on her own and would have to be put in a home, Kat had packed up her things and moved to Missouri. She’d lived in Heron’s Landing briefly as a child, before her mom had passed away from breast cancer when Kat had been fifteen. But it was a distant memory; she was a California girl at heart and missed Los Angeles rather desperately.
But right now, Kat was just getting melancholy over a TV dinner. Would everything make her cry? She suddenly couldn’t eat in the living room: it hurt too much.
Instead, Kat went to her bedroom to eat and to work on her most recent video game she’d been creating. She had started making video games earlier that year, mostly to distract herself from her grandmother’s declining health. Sitting down at her computer, she ate her TV dinner of pasta and broccoli, fiddling with code and making the finishing touches on the game she’d been working on ever since Lillian had passed away.
She pushed her glasses up her nose as she peered at the screen. It wasn’t a complicated game by any means: the entire point was to keep a flying squirrel from hitting any obstacles and falling from the sky. It was a 2D game, reminiscent of the original Mario games. Kat had been working on more levels, enjoying the creative aspect of the game. She’d created levels where it looked like a jungle, another level where it looked like outer space. At the moment, she was testing the game for bugs and would hopefully post the game as a beta version on different forums for people to play around with later tonight.
If she were honest, Kat didn’t expect anyone really to play her game. At most, she thought she might get a few hits here and there, a few comments on possible bugs. She went to bed feeling happy with her finished game while trying to keep her mind from thinking about Gavin Danvers and his daughter being in her class.
When Kat checked her phone the following morning to see if anyone had tried out her game, she was delighted to see tons of comments on one of her forum posts. The delight soon turned to dismay as she began to read them, though.
You copied this game this isn’t even original
y would u think this is a good idea this is the stupidest fucking thing
this is why women should stay in the kitchen lol stop making shit games and go make me a sandwich
PLAGARIST!!!
The comments, often full of misspellings, continued, each just as and derogatory as the last. Kat’s stomach sank to her toes. She’d expected some trolls—it was the Internet, after all—but this bombardment? Over a silly game? She suddenly felt extremely naïve and stupid for posting the game in the first place.
Plus, it was a game about a flying squirrel! How would that be controversial? Her mind boggled. And she most certainly hadn’t copied anyone, although she acknowledged that the idea surrounding it was hardly innovative.
Kat was about to delete the game entirely, but something stopped her. Was she really going to let some online bullies discourage her? She hadn’t done anything wrong. She hadn’t plagiarized anyone, that was for certain. Besides, as far as she knew, you couldn’t literally plagiarize a video game—could you?
She snorted, reported all of the comments as abuse, and got ready for work.
Chapter Two
Gavin Danvers shaded his eyes against the bright September sun. The heat of summer still lingered, and the humidity had crept up since this morning, making the air viscous against his skin. It was better than working inside, though, and after his boss back in Boston had given him an ultimatum—either return or find a new job—he’d decided he’d rather find a new job. He’d worked at a construction company, mostly doing administrative work, but it hadn’t been particularly interesting nor fulfilling. Leaving that job for good hadn’t been much of a sacrifice in the long run.
He wiped his forehead and continued hammering at the fence post. After quitting his job, he’d gone straight to Adam to ask for a job at the family vineyard, River’s Bend. Adam had told him he didn’t have any office jobs, but he could help around the vineyard itself if he wanted. Gavin had agreed without protest.
The labor allowed him to stop thinking for once. To stop thinking about Emma, about Teagan, about Emma’s pretty teacher who had been so soft underneath him that bright afternoon back in the spring…
He wondered sometimes if he should’ve kissed her, just to have a smidgeon of pleasure amidst everything that had happened in the last year. Kat represented everything good and beautiful and peaceful, and he hungered for her like he’d never experienced in his entire life.
He hammered the nail into the post harder than necessary. He did not get to fantasize about Kat Williamson. He didn’t get to imagine how soft her skin was, or how plump her lips were. He didn’t get to imagine how she’d look in his bed, warm and supple and beautiful.
He had to remind himself that his divorce had only been finalized earlier this summer, and the last thing he should do was get into another relationship. Although his mind reasoned that his marriage had been
