different, and joining gave me an excuse to leave Washington. With the exception of a couple of swim meets here and there, I’d never even left the state.”
“Did you ever see… ?”
When she trailed off, he finished her sentence. “Combat? No, I wasn’t that kind of army. I was a criminal justice major in college and I ended up in CID.”
“What’s that?”
When he told her, she turned toward him. “Like the police?”
He nodded. “I was a detective,” he said.
Katie said nothing. Instead, she turned away abruptly, her face closing down like a gate slamming shut.
“Did I say something wrong?” he asked.
She shook her head without answering. Alex stared at her, wondering what was going on. His suspicions about her past surfaced almost immediately.
“What’s going on, Katie?”
“Nothing,” she insisted, but as soon as the word came out, he knew she wasn’t telling the truth. In another place and time, he would have followed up with another question, but instead, he let it drop.
“We don’t have to talk about it,” he said quietly. “And besides, it’s not who I am anymore. Believe me when I say I’m a lot happier running a general store.”
She nodded, but he sensed a trace of lingering anxiety. He could tell she needed space, even if he wasn’t sure why. He motioned over his shoulder with his thumb. “Listen, I forgot to add more briquettes to the grill. If the kids don’t get their s’mores, I’ll never hear the end of it. I’ll be right back, okay?”
“Sure,” she answered, feigning nonchalance. When he jogged off, Katie exhaled, feeling like she’d somehow escaped. He used to be a police officer, she thought to herself, and she tried to tell herself that it didn’t matter. Even so, it took almost a minute of steady breathing before she felt somewhat in control again. Kristen and Josh were in the same places, though Kristen had bent over to examine another seashell, ignoring her soaring kite.
She heard Alex approaching behind her.
“Told you it wouldn’t take long,” he said easily. “After we eat the s’mores, I was thinking about calling it a day. I’d love to stay out until the sun sets, but Josh has school tomorrow.”
“Whenever you want to go is fine with me,” she said, crossing her arms.
Noting her rigid shoulders and the tight way she’d spoken the words, he furrowed his brow. “I’m not sure what I said that bothered you, but I’m sorry, okay?” he finally said. “Just know that I’m here if you want to talk about it.”
She nodded without answering, and though Alex waited for more, there was nothing. “Is this the way it’s going to be with us?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I feel like I’m suddenly walking on eggshells around you, but I don’t know why.”
“I’d tell you but I can’t,” she said. Her voice was almost inaudible over the sound of the waves.
“Can you at least tell me what I said? Or what I did?”
She turned toward him. “You didn’t say or do anything wrong. But right now, I can’t say any more than that, okay?”
He studied her. “Okay,” he said. “As long as you’re still having a good time.”
It took some effort, but she finally managed a smile. “This is the best day I’ve spent in a long time. Best weekend in fact.”
“You’re still mad about the bike, aren’t you?” he said, narrowing his eyes in mock suspicion. Despite the tension she felt, she laughed.
“Of course. It’s going to take a long time for me to recover from that,” she said, pretending to pout.
Turning his gaze to the horizon, he seemed relieved.
“Can I ask you something?” Katie asked, turning serious again. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
“Anything,” he said.
“What happened to your wife? You said she had a seizure, but you haven’t told me why she was sick.”
He sighed, as if he’d known all along she was going to ask but still had to steel himself to answer. “She had a brain tumor,” he began slowly. “Or, more accurately, she had three different types of brain tumors. I didn’t know it then, but I learned that’s fairly common. The one that was slow-growing was just what you’d think; it was about the size of an egg and the surgeons were able to take most of it out. But the other tumors weren’t so simple. They were the kind of tumors that spread like spider legs, and there was no way to remove them without removing part of her brain.