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last thing I want for them is to become attached to someone who
has no intention of staying in Southport. Maybe I’m worried that
the past is never really in the past and that you might decide to
leave, no matter how much sadness you leave in your wake.”
Katie was speechless. This conversation was so unexpected, so
uncomfortable, and Jo’s words had definitely thrown her
emotions into turmoil.
If Jo sensed Katie’s discomfort, she pressed on anyway.
“Love doesn’t mean anything if you’re not willing to make a
commitment,” she said, “and you have to think not only about
what you want, but about what he wants. Not just now, but in the
future.” She continued to stare at Katie across the table, her brown
eyes unwavering. “Are you ready to be a wife to Alex and a
mother to his kids? Because that’s what Alex wants. Maybe not
right now, but he will in the future. And if you’re not willing to
make a commitment, if you’re only going to toy with his feelings
and those of his children, then you’re not the person he needs in
his life.”
Before Katie could say anything, Jo got up from the table as she
went on. “It might have been wrong of me to say all this, and
maybe we won’t be friends any longer, but I wouldn’t feel right
about myself if I didn’t speak plainly. As I’ve said from the very
beginning, he’s a good man—a rare man. He loves deeply and
never stops loving.” She let those words sink in before her
expression suddenly softened. “I think you’re the same way, but I
wanted to remind you that if you care about him, then you have to
be willing to commit to him. No matter what the future might
bring. No matter how scared you might be.”
With that, she turned and left the bar, leaving Katie sitting at the
table in stunned silence. It was only as she got up to leave that she
noticed that Jo hadn’t touched her wine.