Page 70 of Serenity Harbor

“We’re figuring things out, a little at a time.” What else could he do?

“Are you enjoying Haven Point?”

“Is that an official inquiry, Mayor Kilpatrick?”

“No. I’m asking as a friend who genuinely cares about you and wants you to be happy. I know some of the Caine Tech transplants from the city have a hard time adjusting to the quieter pace here in Haven Point.”

“I like the quiet,” he said and was a little surprised to realize it was true.

“Katrina and Milo seem to get along,” McKenzie observed. “She’s great with him. I’ve enjoyed watching them together.”

He didn’t want to talk about Katrina—not when the thought of not having her in their lives left him feeling gutted.

“I don’t know what we would have done without her the last few weeks,” he said. His voice came out a little gruffer than he expected, which earned him an odd, intense look from McKenzie. He had to hope his tangled emotions about her weren’t evident on his features.

Milo chose that moment to run over to Katrina to show her something he must have found by the lake. Bowie couldn’t hear what they said, but he saw Katrina’s smile and the complete trust his brother had in her.

McKenzie must have seen it, too. “What will happen when she goes back to Colombia next week? Are you worried about how your brother will handle it?”

With every single breath. “Yeah,” he said, unable to clear that gruffness away. “That will be one more change we’ll have to deal with, right?”

“With any luck, it won’t take long to wrap up the adoption and she’ll be back in Haven Point before we know it.”

“Right.” He wished he could find the same peace in the thought as McKenzie did.

“I hope the adoption doesn’t take much longer. It’s been such a long, frustrating process. Kat has thrown everything into providing a home for this little girl—all her emotional strength and financial resources. That girl never does things in half measure. I really hope she doesn’t end up getting her heart broken by the whole thing.”

“How would she?”

“If she can’t untangle all the red tape, you know? She loves Gabriela already. It’s obvious in the way she talks about her and how pleased she is to show off Gabi’s pictures. After all her effort, Kat would be devastated if the adoption fell through. She would probably see it as one more failure.”

“A failure of the system, you mean. How could it be hers?”

“She’ll see it that way. Trust me.”

“You’ve been friends a long time.”

McKenzie gazed over at Katrina and Milo, now throwing a ball back and forth while the dogs raced between them in glee.

“I was friends with Wyn first. She has been one of my best friends since I came to Haven Point in grade school. Kat is a few years younger than we are, but she was always skipping after us, wanting to play. She was so cute—small, freckled, with a big gap-toothed smile and blond braids. We were all a little protective of her.”

“Why? Because of her seizures?”

Surprise flashed across her features. “She told you about those? That’s usually a forbidden subject.”

“Yes. She mentioned them.”

“I think she would much rather forget that time in her life ever existed,” McKenzie said, her eyes still wide with surprise. “Having epilepsy always set her a little apart—and being different can be tough when you’re a kid.”

Like Bowie, McKenzie sounded like she had learned that lesson through bitter experience. Bowie could relate.

“Her seizures could be terrifying. They would come out of nowhere and could be violent and intense. She missed a lot of school, so she was always behind, and other kids made fun of her for that. I don’t think some of her teachers were very patient with her either. Kat pretended it didn’t bother her, but of course it must have.”

His heart ached as he imagined her, adorable and sweet and desperate to belong. He could absolutely relate. As they moved from place to place, school to school, he had tried so hard to fit in.

“That’s one of the reasons Wyn always let her hang out with us. Though I’ve never asked her and thus have no proof, I also think it goes a long way toward explaining why Katrina became a teacher. She is passionate about all her students, but especially those with learning challenges. She won’t tolerate a hint of bullying in her classroom, and she always stayed late to tutor anybody who might have trouble with the course work.”

Bo wanted to tell McKenzie to stop talking. He didn’t need more excuses to fall hard for the dedicated, wonderful woman who had seen the possibilities within his brother when everyone else saw only challenges.

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