Page 92 of Serenity Harbor

With that long statement, he turned around and returned to his cars on the floor. Well, she thought, at least one of them wouldn’t be heartbroken when she left.

“I’ll walk you out,” Bowie said.

“I’d rather you didn’t,” she said.

“Too bad,” he answered, his expression grim.

She didn’t have the strength to argue, so she turned back to Debra Peters. “It was a pleasure meeting you. Best of luck to you. He’s a...a good boy.”

She smiled, then turned for the door quickly. Before she reached it, though, Milo intercepted her. He had his purple car in his hand, and he held it out to her.

“Kat.”

Oh, she couldn’t do this.

“I can’t play right now, Milo. I’m sorry. I have to go.”

She tried to hand it back, but he shook his head and pointed to her. “Kat.”

She didn’t know what he meant, and then suddenly those stupid tears welled up. “You want me to take your car?” she asked, hardly believing he would ever part with his beloved purple race car.

He nodded and waved, then returned to his toys under the watchful eye of Debra Peters.

It was all too much, more than her fragile heart could bear. A sob burst out, and she gripped the toy in her fist and pushed her way past Bowie and outside to his front porch, where heavy rain was falling, drumming on the roof.

How fitting. They had enjoyed near-perfect weather the four weeks she had been back in Haven Point with only a few little cloudbursts here and there, but now the clouds appeared to have unleashed.

“Katrina. Stop.”

She tried to rush down the steps to her waiting car, but Bowie grabbed her arm. “What’s wrong? Something happened in your phone call. What is it?”

She couldn’t talk about this now. Shecouldn’t. Not when Milo had just broken what was left of her heart. “It doesn’t matter. I have to go. Goodbye, Bowie.”

“Just like that? After everything we’ve shared, you’re just going to walk away? What happened?”

“I...can’t.”

Another sob broke through her control, and it was like the time the Hell’s Fury flooded a few summers earlier. A second sob burst through, then another until she could no longer hold them back. He grabbed her and pulled her into his arms, and she wept and wept, loud, horrible, noisy sounds she hated but couldn’t stop.

“Don’t cry, babe. Don’t cry.”

Just as she couldn’t stop her tears, she also couldn’t prevent herself from drawing comfort from his heat and his strength, as if those floodwaters were carrying her along and he was the only solid thing in the world she could hold on to right then.

* * *

THATFEELINGOFhelplessness came back stronger than ever. This was pain, raw and savage, and he didn’t know how to fix it for her, any more than he knew how to convince her to stay.

“What’s wrong? This isn’t only about Milo. Something else happened in that phone call. What is it? Please don’t shut me out, Kat.”

She shuddered, her breathing coming in ragged gasps as she tried to calm down. The sobs slowed and then stopped completely.

“There. Now tell me what happened.”

“I’m an idiot. That’s what,” she mumbled. “StupidKat. I’m no different from the girl who had to repeat the second grade and went to remedial math class until middle school.”

“Knock it off,” he said sternly. “Why do you say that? You’re a gifted teacher who has made an incredible difference in my brother’s life and in the lives of dozens of other children.”

“Not my daughter’s life. Not Gabi’s.” She said the last word on a sob. Ah. He had suspected this had to do with Gabriela. What else would have set her off?

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