Serenity Harbor

by RaeAnne Thayne

  “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.”

  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.

  “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.

  “Put me to work. You know I’m lacking in the craftiness department, but I’ll do what I can.”

  “There’s not much to it,” McKenzie said. “Given that Cade loves gardening, we’ve got all these herb starts. We just need to tie some pastel raffia around each pot, and then half the crew is making these little garden markers with Cade’s and Wyn’s names and the date.”

  “Cute. I think I can tie a bow.” She looked around. “Where’s the bride?”

  “Running late,” Andie Montgomery said. “She had a meeting that went long but should be here soon. Didn’t she text you?”

  “Maybe. My, uh, phone accidentally fell into a sink full of dishwater this morning and is currently drying out in a bag of rice.”

  “Oh no!”

  As the others commiserated with her, she didn’t tell them it hadn’t really been an accident. Milo had been mad at her when she made him pick up his toys and had picked up her phone from the counter and thrown it into the dishwater on purpose.

  Though he could hear their conversation perfectly well, Milo didn’t look up from coloring.

  “It was old, anyway, and I was due for something new. I’m going to give it a day or two to dry out. If the rice bag doesn’t work, I’ll run into Shelter Springs and pick up another one.”

  She didn’t really want to take on another expense like a new phone right now when her budget was already cut to the bone. Thanks to Bowie’s check, though, she had a little more cushion than she had a few days earlier.

  “Still. It’s never fun when accidents like that happen,” Devin said. “Doesn’t it make you wish you could go back and replay those five seconds?”

  Yes. The very next time Milo was mad at her for making him pick up his toys or not allowing him to have ice cream for breakfast or making him take a bath after he jumped in mud puddles outside, she planned to leave her phone safely in her pocket.

  Not that there would be too many chances for next time. She would be with him for only a few more weeks. The reminder made her a little sad. Milo was a complicated, sometimes frustrating little creature. He could be ferociously stubborn and the smallest thing could set him off. She couldn’t always tell how much of what she said might be getting through to him.

  He could also be sweet and surprisingly insightful for someone who didn’t communicate with words.

  She would miss him.

  Despite her best efforts to keep a safe distance, after only a few days she could tell she was already falling for this solemn little boy with the
big blue eyes and the freckles across his nose and the rare half smile that came out of nowhere and stole her heart every time.

  So much for protecting herself. She sighed. This was her whole problem, encapsulated in one little boy. She gave her heart too easily. In a few weeks, she would have to say goodbye to him, and she was already worried about the emotional fallout.

  She would simply have to remind herself that sometimes a person had to give up one important thing in order to gain something else.

  CHAPTER SIX

  ALL IN ALL, she considered it a highly successful afternoon. Milo had no meltdowns, much to her relief. She had become pretty good at coping with them, but that certainly didn’t mean she relished them.

  While she’d worked on the wedding favors, Milo had colored at her side for about half an hour—mostly scribbles on the page—then eventually wandered over to watch the other children from the doorway of the workroom. He didn’t really interact with them in a conventional way but seemed to be interested in their interactions. She thought she had even seen him smile at something Ty Barrett said, but she couldn’t be sure.

  Eventually he had sat on the floor and pulled out his purple car and seemed content to drive it in circles until she finished.

  She studied him walking beside her now as they headed back to her vehicle. “That was fun, wasn’t it?”

  He didn’t say anything, just continued humming to himself, a song with no recognizable melody. The kid was an enigma. Sometimes he wanted her to chat with him, other days he pretended she didn’t exist.

  “Did you have enough to eat?” she pressed.

  He still didn’t answer her, which she was going to assume meant yes. If he was hungry, he usually figured out a way to get that point across. She helped him into his booster seat, then climbed behind the wheel. She would have walked to McKenzie’s, as the downtown business district wasn’t that far from Serenity Harbor, but she hadn’t wanted to lug the salad all that way, then the empty bowl home.

  She was glad for the decision now when a light rain began to fall as she took off toward Bowie’s house. She turned on the stereo to listen to Milo’s favorite tape, an old Sesame Street collection she remembered listening to when she was young.