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6
As Katie shopped, Alex fiddled around the register, watching her
from the corner of his eye. He straightened the counter, checked
on Josh, examined Kristen’s picture, and straightened the counter
again, doing his best to seem busy.
She’d changed in recent weeks. She had the beginnings of a
summer tan and her skin had a glowing freshness to it. She was
also growing less skittish around him, today being a prime
example. No, they hadn’t set the world on fire with their
scintillating conversation, but it was a start, right?
But the start of what?
From the very beginning, he’d sensed she was in trouble, and his
instinctive response had been to want to help. And of course she
was pretty, despite the bad haircut and plain-Jane attire. But it
was seeing the way Katie had comforted Kristen after Josh had
fallen in the water that had really moved him. Even more affecting
had been Kristen’s response to Katie. She had reached for Katie
like a child reaching for her mother.
It had made his throat tighten, reminding him that as much as he
missed having a wife, his children missed having a mother. He
knew they were grieving, and he tried to make up for it as best he
could, but it wasn’t until he saw Katie and Kristen together that he
realized that sadness was only part of what they were
experiencing. Their loneliness mirrored his own.
It troubled him that he hadn’t realized it before.
As for Katie, she was something of a mystery to him. There was a
missing element somewhere, something that had been gnawing at
him. He watched her, wondering who she really was and what
had brought her to Southport.