Page 22 of Serenity Harbor

“It was finethis time,” she said. “We had fun, didn’t we, Milo?”

The boy ignored both of them, busy lining up all his cars again in the same carefully ordered row.

“How did it go?” Bowie asked.

With a careful look to make sure Milo was still occupied, she rose and walked out into the hallway, out of earshot.

“Fine, for the most part. He seemed happy to have me there for the first few minutes and then ignored me most of the afternoon. We had one meltdown when I tried to have him leave his car out with the other toys when he had to use the bathroom, but we made it through.”

“He doesn’t do anything without that stupid, manky purple car. I tried to give him a bunch of new cars with no luck. That’s still his favorite. I don’t have actual proof of this, but I’m guessing he loves it because Stella gave it to him.”

“Stella. Is that your mother?”

“Yeah. That’s Mom.”

A hundred questions flashed through her mind at his sudden hard tone. Why did merely the mention of his mother’s name upset him? And why hadn’t he known about his brother until the last few weeks?

“I’m puzzled about why he doesn’t speak,” she said slowly. “Do you know what sort of speech therapy he’s had in the past?”

Bowie shook his head. “That seems to be the big mystery to the specialists we’ve seen. To be honest, I’m not sure whether he’s hadanytherapy. Knowing Stella, I highly doubt it.”

Katrina frowned at the bitterness in his tone. What sort of history did those seemingly casual words conceal?

“What about since you became his guardian?”

“I have an appointment next week with one in Shelter Springs but was thinking about postponing it. I’m thinking maybe we should wait until the autism specialist arrives before we start any intensive therapy, so she can be involved at the outset.”

The frustration and weariness in his voice pulled at her. She could only imagine how difficult it must have been for him to take over guardianship of a child with Milo’s kind of developmental challenges.

“It makes sense from an outsider’s perspective,” she assured him.

“Thanks. I appreciate that.” He smiled, and she was vaguely aware of her toes curling again.

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.”

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