waste of time and money. Or that they’d kicked her out of the house on the day she graduated from high school.
Maybe, she thought, she’d tell Jo about those things. Or maybe she wouldn’t. It wasn’t all that important. So what if she hadn’t had the best childhood? Yes, her parents were alcoholics and often unemployed, but aside from the snow-globe incident, they’d never hurt her. No, she didn’t get a car or have birthday parties, but she’d never gone to bed hungry, either, and in the fall, no matter how tight things were, she always got new clothes for school. Her dad might not have been the greatest, but he hadn’t snuck into her bedroom at night to do awful things, things she knew had happened to her friends. At eighteen, she didn’t consider herself scarred. A bit disappointed about college, maybe, and nervous about having to make her own way in the world, but not damaged beyond repair. And she’d made it. Atlantic City hadn’t been all bad. She’d met a couple of nice guys, and she could remember more than one evening she spent laughing and talking with friends from work until the early hours of the morning.
No, she reminded herself, her childhood hadn’t defined her, or had anything to do with the real reason she’d come to Southport. Even though Jo was the closest thing to a friend that she had in Southport, Jo knew absolutely nothing about her. No one did.
“Hi, Miss Katie,” Kristen piped up from her little table. No dolls today. Instead, she was bent over a coloring book, holding crayons and working on a picture of unicorns and rainbows.
“Hi, Kristen. How are you?”
“I’m good.” She looked up from her coloring book. “Why do you always walk here?”
Katie paused, then came around the corner of the counter and squatted down to Kristen’s level. “Because I don’t have a car.”
“Why not?”
Because I don’t have a license, Katie thought. And even if I did, I can’t afford a car. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll think about getting one, okay?”
“Okay,” she said. She held up the coloring book. “What do you think of my picture?”
“It’s pretty. You’re doing a great job.”
“Thanks,” she said. “I’ll give it to you when I’m finished.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I know,” she said with charming self-assurance. “But I want to. You can hang it on your refrigerator.”
Katie smiled and stood up. “That’s just what I was thinking.”
“Do you need help shopping?”
“I think I can handle it today. And that way, you can finish coloring.”
“Okay,” she agreed.
Retrieving a basket, she saw Alex approaching. He waved at her, and though it made no sense she had the feeling that she was really seeing him for the first time. Though his hair was gray, there were only a few lines around the corners of his eyes, but they added to, rather than detracted from, an overall sense of vitality. His shoulders tapered to a trim waist, and she had the impression that he was a man who neither ate nor drank to excess.
“Hey, Katie. How are you?”
“I’m fine. And yourself?”
“Can’t complain.” He grinned. “I’m glad you came in. I wanted to show you something.” He pointed toward the monitor and she saw Josh sitting on the dock holding his fishing pole.
“You let him go back out there?” she asked.
“See the vest he’s wearing?”
She leaned closer, squinting. “A life jacket?”
“It took me awhile to find one that wasn’t too bulky, or too hot. But this one is perfect. And really, I had no choice. You have no idea how miserable he was, not being able to fish. I can’t tell you how many times he begged me to change my mind. I couldn’t take it anymore, and I thought this was a solution.”
“He’s okay with wearing it?”
“New rule—it’s either wear it, or don’t fish. But I don’t think he minds.”
“Does he ever catch any fish?”
“Not as many as he’d like, but, yes, he does.”
“Do you eat them?”
“Sometimes.” He nodded. “But Josh usually throws them back. He doesn’t mind catching the same fish over and over.”
“I’m glad you found a solution.”
“A better father probably would have figured it out beforehand.”
For the first time, she looked up at him. “I get the sense you’re a pretty good father.”
Their eyes held for a moment before she forced herself to turn away. Alex, sensing her discomfort, began rummaging around behind the counter.
“I have something for you,” he said, pulling out a bag and placing it on the counter.