“One drink,” Katie agreed.
A few minutes later, they stepped inside the pub, a local favorite paneled in dark wood scarred with decades of use, with a long mirror behind the bar. It was quiet tonight; only a few tables were occupied and the two women took a seat at a corner table in the back. Since there didn’t seem to be table service, Katie ordered two glasses of wine at the bar and brought them back to the table.
“Thanks,” Jo said, taking her glass. “Next time, it’s on me.” She leaned back. “So you and Alex, huh?”
“Is that really what you wanted to talk to me about?” Katie asked.
“Well, since my own love life is in the dumps, I have to live vicariously through you. It seems to be going well, though. He was over there… what? Two or three times last week? And the same thing the week before that?”
Actually more, Katie thought. “Something like that.”
Jo twisted the stem of her wineglass. “Uh-oh.”
“Uh-oh what?”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think it was getting serious.” She raised an eyebrow.
“We’re still getting to know each other,” Katie offered, not sure where Jo was going with this line of questioning.
“That’s how every relationship starts. He likes you, you like him. Then you both go from there.”
“Is this why you came down?” Katie tried not to sound exasperated. “To hear all the details?”
“Not all of them. Just the juicy ones.”
Katie rolled her eyes. “How about we talk about your love life instead?”
“Why? Are you in the mood to be depressed?”
“When was the last time you went on a date?”
“A good date? Or just a date-date?”
“A good date.”
Jo hesitated. “I’d have to say that it’s been at least a couple of years.”
“What happened?”
Jo dipped a finger in her wine, then ran it around the rim of her glass, making it hum. Finally, she looked up. “A good man is hard to find,” she said wistfully. “Not everyone is as lucky as you are.”
Katie didn’t know quite how to respond to that, so instead she touched Jo’s hand. “What’s really going on?” she asked gently. “Why did you want to talk to me?”
Jo looked around the empty bar as if trying to draw inspiration from her surroundings. “Do you ever sit back and wonder what it all means? Whether this is it or if there’s something greater out there? Or if you were meant for something better?”
“I think everyone does,” Katie answered, her curiosity growing.
“When I was a girl, I used to make believe that I was a princess. One of the good ones, I mean. Someone who always does the right thing and has the power to make people’s lives better so that, in the end, they live happily ever after.”
Katie nodded. She could remember doing the same thing, but she still wasn’t sure where Jo was going so she stayed quiet.
“I think that’s why I do what I do now. When I started, I just wanted to help. I’d see people who were struggling with the loss of someone they loved—a parent, a child, a friend—and my heart just overflowed with sympathy. I tried to do everything in my power to make things better for them. But as time passed, I came to realize that there was only so much I could do myself. That in the end, people who are grieving have to want to move on—that first step, that motivating spark, has to come from within them. And when it does, it opens the door to the unexpected.”
Katie took a deep breath, trying to make sense of Jo’s rambling. “I don’t know what you’re trying to tell me.”
Jo swirled her wine, studying the little whirlpool in her glass. For the first time, her tone became utterly serious. “I’m talking about you and Alex.”
Katie couldn’t hide her surprise. “Me and Alex?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “He’s told you about losing his wife, right? About how hard it was for him—for the whole family—to get past it?”
Katie stared across the table, suddenly uncomfortable. “Yes…” she began.
“Then be careful with them,” Jo said, her tone serious. “All of them. Don’t break their hearts.”
In the awkward silence that followed, Katie found herself recalling their first conversation about Alex.
Did you two ever see each other? she remembered asking Jo.
Yes, but maybe not in the way you’re thinking, Jo had answered. And just so we’re clear: it was a long time ago and everyone has moved on.
At the time, she’d assumed that it meant that Jo and Alex had dated in the past, but now…