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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 selfpity,
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