Serenity Harbor

Oh, good grief. She had to get out of there.

She looked through the doorway at Milo, who was now jumping his purple car over all the others like Evel Knievel was behind the wheel.

“What time do you want me here in the morning?”

“I have a staff meeting first thing. Would eight work?”

She mentally scanned her calendar, which took all of about half a second. “That should work great.”

“Thank you.” He smiled again. This time she forced her toes to stay firmly planted inside her shoes. “You can’t imagine the weight you’ve lifted from my shoulders.”

She thought of Gabi, fragile and needy—and now a few steps closer to their new life together. “This is a mutually beneficial arrangement,” she said.

“I hope we can continue to keep it that way.”

They could, as long as she managed to hold on to her perspective. She was doing a job here, that was all. She didn’t want to become embroiled in their lives, to let herself care for the troubled Callahan brothers.

Keeping both Milo and Bowie at arm’s length over the next few weeks just might be the hardest thing she’d ever done.

She made her way past him, back into the boy’s bedroom. “I’ll see you in the morning, Milo. I have to go home now.”

That seemed to catch the boy’s attention. He looked up from his cars and she saw confusion flash in his eyes for a moment, followed quickly by disappointment and frustration and what looked like the genesis of a meltdown.

“I’ll be back tomorrow to play with you all day,” she said quickly in an effort to check the tantrum before it could begin. “I have a job for you while I’m gone. See if you can pick out all the vehicles that are the same color as your favorite.”

He looked stymied for a moment, then picked up another purple car and a third one.

“That’s an excellent start,” she said, pleased. “Good job.”

“We’ll look for more purple cars in a moment,” Bowie told him. “We can come back later, but first we have to walk Katrina out to her car and say goodbye to her. That’s the polite thing to do when you have a lady over. Come on, Milo.”

She thought the boy would ignore him, but after a moment Milo climbed to his feet, tucked his favorite car in the pocket of his cargo shorts and hurried over to them.

When they were nearly to the door, Bowie made a low exclamation. “I totally forgot. You walked over here earlier. We’ll give you a ride. Or, as I said earlier, you’re more than welcome to use something out of the garage.”

“Not necessary,” she assured him. “I left my car over at McKenzie’s house in Redemption Bay, which is only a five-minute walk from here along the lake trail.”

“We really wouldn’t mind driving you.”

“I’d rather walk. It’s a lovely evening and I need to stretch my legs a little.”

That answer didn’t appear to his liking. To his credit, Bowie didn’t argue. “Your choice, I suppose. Have a good evening, then.”

“Thank you. I’ll see you in the morning. Bye again, Milo.”

The boy didn’t wave but did appear to nod his head. She decided she would take it. Water lapped against the shore and birds twittered through the branches above her as she hurried along the path that wound through sweet-smelling pine trees. She hadn’t lied to him. She did like to walk and she adored these beautiful summer evenings along the lake—with the sun beginning to sink beneath the Redemption Mountain Range, casting long shadows.

Mostly, though, she needed a little distance from the entirely too-attractive Bowie Callahan and his brother.

* * *

KATRINA PARALLEL-PARKED about a block away from Point Made Flowers and Gifts—never an easy task, but made much more challenging because the somewhat battered sedan she was borrowing from her stepfather during her stay had a loosey-goosey power steering system that swam a little more than she liked.

“Here we are. Are you excited?”

Milo, fiddling with the strap on his booster seat in the back, didn’t answer. Not that she expected him to. Katrina was quickly discovering it was one thing to understand the challenges of autism in academic terms and something else entirely when dealing with it for hours at a time.

She and Milo had been together nonstop for the last three days and had finally settled into a routine of sorts. In the morning, she fixed him breakfast, they did a few basic chores around the house like washing the dishes or emptying the trash, then they took a long walk, either around the lake or along one of her favorite easy trails along the Hell’s Fury River.

After lunchtime, she would read to him while he played cars—though she wasn’t entirely certain if he truly enjoyed the stories or merely tuned her out to do his own thing. She insisted he rest in his room for a little quiet time, then they would take another walk or go to a nearby park or merely sit on the patio overlooking the lake and throw pebble after pebble.

He seemed comfortable with their routine, and she was leery about messing it up. This was the first time she had brought him along to a gathering like this, but McKenzie had scheduled a meeting of the Haven Point Helping Hands to finish Wyn’s wedding favors, and Katrina didn’t know how she could avoid it. She was the maid of honor, after all.

“Don’t worry. It’s going to be fun, especially since there will be other kids your age there.”

She crossed her fingers on the steering wheel. She’d yet to see Milo truly interact with others his age. Twice when they had gone to the city park, other children had been playing there, but they seemed much younger than Milo. He had largely ignored them all while he made a road in the sand for his purple car.

As was typical, he didn’t respond to her assertion and she couldn’t tell how much he understood. She had adopted the philosophy the first day that his level of understanding didn’t really matter. She would simply talk to him all the time about everything: her thoughts, concerns, Gabi, the awkward situation at her mom’s house. He didn’t appear to be bored, and she had to think that exposure to words and more words had to be beneficial.

“I need your help carrying some things in,” she told him after she unhooked his booster. It wasn’t really true, since she had only one salad and a few stray supplies Kenzie had asked her to grab, but she also had learned early that Milo seemed to like being helpful.

She handed him the small bag of craft supplies, picked up the salad, then took off for McKenzie’s store, Point Made Flowers and Gifts.

Downtown Haven Point seemed busier than Katrina had seen it in a while, bustling with tourists and locals alike. Since Ben and Aidan had moved a new Caine Tech facility to town, new stores and restaurants had begun to open up in the previously shuttered businesses in town.

It still wasn’t as busy as nearby Shelter Springs, which suited her just fine.

Before they crossed the street, she reached down to take Milo’s hand. He tried to wriggle his hand free, but she held fast. “You have to hold my hand while we cross,” she told him, her voice firm. “Then you can let go.”

He gave a heavy sigh but kept his hand in hers until the moment they reached the sidewalk on the other side, then he yanked it free, though he stayed close to her side.

Despite Bowie’s warning that first day, Milo hadn’t yet tried to wander away from her.

Bowie.

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.