Page 24 of Serenity Harbor

Katrina tried not to match Milo’s heavy sigh of a few moments earlier. She had worked in his house for three days and had seen him maybe a total of thirty minutes that entire time, basically five minutes in the morning as he headed out the door, then five minutes in the evening prior to her leaving for home.

Her face still felt hot and her stomach a tangle of nerves whenever she saw him, but she was working on it. Honestly.

Ten minutes a day didn’t give her much time to figure out a guy, which was probably a good thing in this case. She didn’t need to know anything about him, other than that he worked hard and wanted the best for his brother—whatever that might be.

When they reached the door of McKenzie’s store, Milo hung back a little and seemed wary about going inside. He was nervous, she realized. Had she done that to him, with her talk about other children?

“Hey, buddy,” she said softly. “You don’t have to play with the other kids if you don’t want to. It’s just fine if you would rather stay close to me the whole time.”

His shoulders seemed to relax at that, and she gave him a reassuring smile. “Let’s do this,” she said, then pushed open the door.

Inside McKenzie’s store, the scent of cinnamon and vanilla swirled around and a furry greeter instantly padded over to them.

“Hey, Rika,” she said to the elegant cinnamon-colored standard poodle who came to investigate the newcomers to her domain.

Milo, she saw, did not look nervous around the dog. No surprise there. While he might be apprehensive about children and other humans, he had a deep and abiding love for anything furry or feathered.

“Milo, this is my friend, Paprika. She is McKenzie’s dog. Remember McKenzie? You met her the other day over by the lake.”

The boy nodded and reached a hand out to pet the dog. He smiled a little when his fingertips found the texture of her curly, wiry hair.

“She feels funny, doesn’t she? Poodles don’t have hair like other dogs, you know, the long, sheddy sort. They were originally water dogs and the curly hair helps them dry off faster. Just like in people, curly hair has to do with genetics and the shape of the hair shaft opening.”

“Do you really think he understands anything about genetics or hair shafts?”

She glanced over to find Linda Fremont watching her from beside the counter, wearing her usual sour expression. She tried reminding herself to be patient with Linda. The woman had things tough after her husband died young. She had raised Samantha while running a small business by herself.

Despite her gruff exterior, she had also been as kind as her nature would allow toward Katrina at a time when other parents in town hadn’t been nearly as welcoming. Because of that, Kat generally gained a lot of practice biting her tongue around her.

“I don’t know what he understands, so I’ll continue telling him anything I think might be interesting.”

Linda looked as if she wanted to argue with that philosophy, but McKenzie poked her head out of her large workroom and beamed when she spotted them.

“Hey, Katrina! Hi there, Milo. Everybody is back here. Why don’t you bring Rika with you.”

Katrina let Milo pet the dog a moment more, then led them both to join McKenzie. Over the years, the long, open workroom at Point Made Flowers and Gifts had turned into the usual meeting spot of the Haven Point Helping Hands, a loosely organized group that tried to improve the town and the lives of the people who lived there—and had lots of fun doing it.

She was gratified when everyone greeted her with enthusiasm.

“All the kids are busy in the other room, Milo,” McKenzie said. “I’ve got a show playing in there and there’s a fun art project set up, if you want.”

He favored any kind of creative project, from coloring to pipe cleaner sculptures to modeling clay, but right now he simply shook his head, twisting his fingers together and sending a distressed look at Katrina.

“You don’t have to go anywhere if you don’t want,” she assured him, keeping her voice calm. “You can stay right here with me. Is that what you’d like?”

In answer, he moved closer to her side.

She tried another reassuring smile. “Okay,” she said as she found them a couple of empty chairs near one end of the big table. “It might be boring, listening to all of the grown-ups chatter. If you get tired of listening to all of us, you’re always welcome to go find the kids.”

He plopped into the chair beside her and pulled out his ubiquitous purple car. She handed him one of the coloring books she had packed along and the plastic zipper bag full of crayons.

Devin Barrett, McKenzie’s sister, was seated at his other side. She gave him a welcoming smile. “Hi, Milo. Do you remember me? I’m Dr. Barrett. Your brother brought you in to meet me when you first came to Haven Point to live with him.”

He looked nervous for a moment, then pantomimed licking a sucker.

Devin smiled with delight. “That’s exactly right. I gave you a sucker. You have an excellent memory.”

The interaction seemed to ease his tension. When she felt Milo relax a little beside her, Katrina turned to McKenzie.

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