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He was quiet as he thought about her answer. “Thanks for helping
me with my kite,” he said.
“You two seemed to be having a good time,” Alex observed.
After Kristen had changed, Alex helped her get her kite in the air
and then went to stand with Katie on the compact sand near the
water’s edge. Katie could feel her hair moving slightly in the
breeze.
“He’s sweet. And more talkative than I thought he’d be.”
As Alex watched his kids managing their kites, she had the sense
that his eyes missed nothing.
“So this is what you do on weekends after you leave the store.
You spend time with the kids?”
“Always,” he said. “I think it’s important.”
“Even though it sounds like your parents felt differently?”
He hesitated. “That would be the easy answer, right? I felt
slighted somehow and made a promise to myself to be different?
It sounds good, but I don’t know if it’s totally accurate. The truth
is that I spend time with them because I enjoy it. I enjoy them. I
like watching them grow up and I want to be part of that.”
As he answered, Katie found herself remembering her own
childhood, trying and failing to imagine either of her parents
echoing Alex’s sentiments.
“Why did you join the army after you got out of school?”
“At the time, I thought it was the right thing to do. I was up for a
new challenge, I wanted to try something 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… ?”