Page 121 of That One Heartbreak

Chapter

Thirty-Two

“What’s he doing?”Shana asked Kate a couple of hours later, as the two of them stared out of the kitchen window at Marley and her kids.

“He just said it was a project,” Kate answered, because she was none the wiser. The three of them had been working out there since they finished dinner. And no, she hadn’t cooked him any, though she’d relented when Addy asked if she could bring him some sweet tea and a cookie.

Kate had tried really hard not to spy on them. She’d folded the huge pile of clean clothes that had built up over the past few days. Rinsed the swimsuits that Ethan and Addy had thrown on the laundry room floor in their excitement for ice cream and Marley.

But she kept getting drawn to the kitchen window. Desperate to see what was going on. She was certain Marley had caught her watching a couple of times.

And yes, every time his eyes met hers, she felt the connection.

“Wait, is that the grill lid out there?” Shana asked.

Yeah, that had been a surprise when he’d carried the charred lid into the yard. Although it wasn’t charred anymore. He’dgotten Addy to power wash it off. Then he’d got to work with a welding iron, while Addy sorted out what looked like little shiny pebbles.

“Oh my God, is he making a sculpture?” Shana asked, her mouth dropping open.

Truth was, Kate still wasn’t sure. All she knew was watching this big, beautiful man interact with her kids was killing her in the best and worst kind of way. “He said he was sorry,” she told Shana.

“Was that it?” Shana wrinkled her nose. “You didn’t accept it, did you? An asshole act like that requires a hell of a lot more than sorry.”

“I didn’t say anything. It was when the kids were changing out of their swimsuits. He talked the whole time. Said he’s sorry, that he’s an idiot.” She let out a breath. “And he said I’m beautiful.”

“Hmph,” Shana said, clearly still not happy with his words.

“He wants to talk later, when we have time alone,” Kate told her, watching as Addy started twirling around the yard, clearly getting bored after all this time helping her brother and Marley. Ethan, on the other hand, was still close to Marley, the two of them talking softly as they worked together, Marley instructing, Ethan following with his good hand.

She felt breathless. And there was something else. Hope. It felt like a warm glow in her heart.

“Will you talk to him?” Shana asked her. “Do you want to hear what he has to say?”

She looked at her friend. “Yeah, I think I do.”

“Mommy, come see!” Addy shouted out an hour later. Shana had left about thirty minutes earlier. She’d only popped by to drop off a cake somebody had left for Kate at the library that day. It was getting late now. The sun was starting to fall behind the trees. The kids needed to take showers and get to bed.

But right now they were waiting breathlessly for her in the yard, huge smiles on their faces. “We made you a gift,” Addy said, running over to her as she stepped out of the kitchen door.

“It’s pretty cool, Mom,” Ethan told her. “But we have to tell you the story behind it first.”

“Where’s Marley?” she asked Ethan.

“He’s packing up the truck. Said we should be the ones to show you our hard work. So, Mom, remember the grill I hurt myself with?” Ethan said, sounding solemn.

Kate felt a twinge in her chest. “Yes, sweetie, I do.”

“Well, I hated it. I really did. But Marley said that we can make good things come from bad. That we can turn things around and make ruined things better. So we made a planter out of it. Come see.” He took her other hand, and the three of them walked over to the corner where the kids had been working.

“I chose the stones,” Addy said, tugging at Kate’s hand.

“And I helped glue them on,” Ethan said proudly. “Marley let me use the hot glue gun.”

The grill lid was transformed. The handle and dial were gone, replaced, she presumed, with some of the metal Marley had carried out of the truck. Then the whole outside had been enlarged into what looked like a six-foot planter. It was covered with a mosaic of glass stones that sparkled in the light of the waning sun.

Inside, they’d planted a cornucopia of pretty flowers. Yellow dahlias and pink coreopsis against the green and purple of Russian sage. You couldn’t look at it and not smile.

“Good things come out of bad,” Ethan repeated. “We can make things better if we just work hard.” He looked at her. “Do you like it?” he asked.

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