Safe Haven(19)

"Like with my manipulative friend?"

"Do you really think I'm manipulative?"

Katie thought about it. "Maybe a little."

Jo smiled. "So what's your schedule like this week? Are you working a lot?"

Katie nodded. "Six nights and three days."

Jo made a face. "Yuck."

"It's okay. I need the money and I'm used to it."

"And, of course, you had a great weekend."

Katie paused. "Yeah," she said. "I did."





13





The  next few days passed uneventfully, which only made them feel longer to  Alex. He hadn't spoken to Katie since he'd dropped her off on Sunday  evening. It wasn't completely unexpected, since he knew she was working a  lot this week, but more than once he found himself wandering out of the  store and staring up the road, feeling vaguely disappointed when he  didn't see her.         

     



 

It was enough to squash the illusion that he'd  dazzled her to the point that she couldn't resist stopping by. He was  surprised, though, by the almost teenage-like enthusiasm he felt at the  prospect of seeing her again, even if she didn't feel the same way. He  pictured her on the beach, her chestnut hair fluttering in the breeze,  her delicately boned features, and eyes that seemed to change color  every time he saw them. Little by little, she'd relaxed as the day had  worn on, and he had the sense that going to the beach had softened her  resistance somehow.

He wondered not only about her past, but  about all the other things he still didn't know about her. He tried to  imagine what kind of music she liked, or what she thought about first  thing in the morning, or whether or not she'd ever attended a baseball  game. He wondered whether she slept on her back or on her side and, if  given the choice, whether she preferred a shower to a bath. The more he  wondered, the more curious he became.

He wished she would trust  him with the details of her past, not because he was under the illusion  that he could somehow rescue her or felt that she even needed to be  rescued, but because giving voice to the truth of her past meant opening  the door to the future. It meant they would be able to have a real  conversation.

By Thursday, he was debating whether to drop by her  cottage. He wanted to and had once even reached for his keys, but in  the end he'd stopped because he had no idea what to say once he got  there. Nor could he predict how she might respond. Would she smile? Or  be nervous? Would she invite him inside or ask him to leave? As much as  he tried to imagine what might happen, he couldn't, and he'd ended up  putting the keys aside.


It was complicated. But then again, he reminded himself, she was a mysterious woman.


It  didn't take long before Katie admitted that the bicycle was a godsend.  Not only was she able to come home between her shifts on the days she  pulled doubles, but for the first time, she felt as though she could  really begin to explore the town, which was exactly what she did. On  Tuesday, she visited a couple of antique stores, enjoyed the watercolor  seascapes at a local art gallery, and rode through neighborhoods,  marveling at the broad sweeping porches and porticos adorning the  historic homes near the waterfront. On Wednesday, she visited the  library and spent a couple of hours browsing the shelves and reading the  flaps of books, loading the bicycle baskets with novels that interested  her.

In the evenings, though, as she lay in bed reading the  books she'd checked out, she sometimes found her thoughts drifting to  Alex. Sifting through her memories, those from Altoona, she realized he  reminded her of her friend Callie's father. In her sophomore year in  high school, Callie had lived down the street from her and though they  didn't know each other that well-Callie was a couple of years  younger-Katie could remember sitting on her porch steps every Saturday  morning. Like clockwork, Callie's dad would open the garage, whistling  as he rolled the lawn mower into place. He was proud of his yard-it was  easily the most manicured in the neighborhood-and she'd watch as he  pushed the mower back and forth with military precision. He stopped  every so often to move a fallen branch out of the way, and in those  moments, he would wipe his face with a handkerchief he kept in his back  pocket. When he was finished, he would lean against the hood of the Ford  in his driveway, sipping a glass of lemonade that his wife always  brought to him. Sometimes, she would lean on the car alongside him, and  Katie would smile as she saw him pat his wife's hip whenever he wanted  to get her attention.

There was something contented in the way he  sipped his drink and touched his wife that made her think he was  satisfied with the life he was leading and that all his dreams had  somehow been fulfilled. Often, as Katie studied him, she wondered how  her life would have been had she been born into that family.

Alex  had the same air of contentment about him when his kids were around.  Somehow he not only had been able to move past the tragedy of losing his  wife but had done so with enough strength to help his kids move past  the loss as well. When he'd spoken about his wife, Katie had listened  for bitterness or self-pity, but there hadn't been any. There'd been  sorrow, of course, and a loneliness in his expression as he spoke of  her, but at the same time, he'd told Katie about his wife without making  her feel like he'd been comparing the two of them. He seemed to accept  her, and though she wasn't sure exactly when it had happened, she  realized that she was attracted to him.

Beyond that, her feelings  were complicated. Not since Atlantic City had she lowered her guard  enough to let someone else get so close, and that ended up being a  nightmare. But as hard as she'd tried to remain aloof, it seemed that  every time she saw Alex, something happened to draw them together.  Sometimes by accident, like when Josh fell in the river and she'd stayed  with Kristen, but sometimes it seemed almost preordained. Like the  storm rolling in. Or Kristen wandering out and pleading with her to come  to the beach. To this point, she'd had enough sense to volunteer little  about herself, but that was the thing. The more time she spent with  Alex, the more she had the sense that he knew far more than he was  letting on, and it frightened her. It made her feel naked and vulnerable  and it was part of the reason she'd avoided going to the store at all  this week. She needed time to think, time to decide what, if anything,  she was going to do about it.         

     



 


Unfortunately, she'd spent too  much time dwelling on the way the fine lines at the corners of his eyes  crinkled when he grinned or the graceful way he'd emerged from the surf.  She thought about how Kristen would reach for his hand and the absolute  trust Katie saw in that simple gesture. Early on, Jo had said something  along the lines that Alex was a good man, the kind of man who would do  the right thing, and though Katie couldn't claim to know him well, her  instincts told her he was a man she could trust. That no matter what she  told him, he would support her. That he would guard her secrets and  never use what he knew to hurt her.

It was irrational and  illogical and it went against everything she'd promised herself when  she'd moved here, but she realized that she wanted him to know her. She  wanted him to understand her, if only because she had the strange sense  that he was the kind of man she could fall in love with, even if she  didn't want to.





14





Butterfly hunting.

The  notion had popped into his head soon after waking on Saturday morning,  even before he'd gone downstairs to open the store. Strangely, as he'd  been pondering the possibilities of what to do with the kids that day,  he'd remembered a project he'd done in the sixth grade. The teacher had  asked the students to make an insect collection. He flashed to a memory  of running through a grassy field at recess, chasing after everything  from bumblebees to katydids. He was certain that Josh and Kristen would  enjoy it, and feeling proud of himself for coming up with something  exciting and original to occupy a weekend afternoon, he sifted through  the fishing nets he had in the store, choosing three that were about the  right size.

When he told them at lunch, Josh and Kristen were less than enthusiastic about the idea.

"I don't want to hurt any butterflies," Kristen protested. "I like butterflies."

"We don't have to hurt them. We can let them go."

"Then why catch them in the first place?"

"Because it's fun."

"It doesn't sound fun. It sounds mean."

Alex opened his mouth to respond, but he wasn't sure what to say. Josh took another bite of his grilled cheese sandwich.

"It's pretty hot already, Dad," Josh pointed out, talking as he chewed.

"That's okay. Afterward, we can swim in the creek. And chew with your mouth closed."

Josh swallowed. "Why don't we just swim in the creek now?"

"Because we're going butterfly hunting."