Feels Like Summertime by Tammy Falkner Read Free Book Online Page A

Katie asks me very quietly as we stack the dishes beside the sink.
    “Sure.” I pull it out of my pocket and hold it out to her.
    “Thanks.” She takes it and steps into the bedroom, closing the door gently behind her.
    I fill the sink with water and bubbles, and wash the few forks and knives that we got dirty, and I clean a few glasses.
    The soft sound of Katie’s voice reaches me in quiet lulls, and I think I hear her giggle. I shut off the water and tiptoe toward the bedroom door. I shouldn’t. I know I shouldn’t. But I can’t help it.
    “Yeah, I love you too. I’ll check in with you in a few days. I promise.” My heart jerks in my chest. Despite the size of her very pregnant belly and the three children she has with her, my heart still can’t rationalize the fact that Katie has a husband somewhere. I don’t know what that says about me.
    I dash back to the sink when I hear Katie’s footsteps walking toward the door.
    She hands my phone back to me and wipes her nose. “Are you all right?” I ask.
    “I’m fine,” she says.
    “Was that your husband?” I’m nosy. I can’t help it. I’m a cop.
    She snorts. “I wish.” She wipes the back of her hand beneath her nose. “That was my dad and Uncle Adam.”
    “How are they doing?” I have such fond memories of them from my childhood. Nights when we played Sorry together or rainy afternoons spent shouting over a game of Monopoly are some of my best memories of all time.
    “They’re fine. They’re very relieved I’m here.” She looks up at me.
    “Why?”
    “Why what?” she asks, as she starts to dry the glasses.
    “Why are they relieved you’re here?”
    “It’s safe here,” she says quietly.
    “What does that mean, Katie?”
    She shakes her head. “It means I’m really happy to see you, Jake,” she says. “Dad and Uncle Adam said hi.”
    I smile. “Next time you talk to them, tell them I said hello, will you? I’d love to see them.”
    “I asked them not to come. Not yet.”
    “What’s going on with you, Katie?” I rush to ask, because she’s really starting to scare me.
    She heaves a sigh. “I just needed a safe place to land, Jake. That’s all.”
    “And you picked here?”
    She nods. “Yeah. I did.”
    Suddenly, she winces and lays a hand on her stomach.
    “You okay?” I ask, reaching for her. She brushes my hand away.
    “I’m okay,” she says. “Just a hard kick. This one’s going to be another football player.”
    “It’s a boy?”
    She nods. “It’s another boy. Two and two. The perfect crew.”
    “You like being a mom, Katie?”
    She laughs. “Well, until one of them pukes or throws a temper tantrum in the middle of the grocery store, I love it. And I can handle the temper tantrum better than the puke. My husband…” She stops and shakes her head. “My husband always handled the puke. It never bothered him. Since he’s not here, Alex is the official pukemaster.”
    “There’s nothing boys like more than gross stuff.”
    “His dad told Alex to take care of me before his last deployment. He took it very seriously.”
    “He’s military?”
    She nods. “He was.”
    “Where is he now?”
    She throws the drying towel into the sink. “I think I’m going to put the kids to bed early and go to bed myself. The drive wore me out.”
    She might as well have told me to scram.
    “I’ll get Pop and head home. Thanks for letting us come for dinner. I think it did Pop good.”
    “You did all the cooking, and the cleaning, and you brought the food. I can’t think of a better evening.” She smiles at me.
    Then her smile slips away. “Stop trying to figure me out, Jake,” she says. “It’s simple. I’m here, in my favorite place in the world. And you’re here too, which makes it extra special. That’s all there is to it.”
    “If you say so.”
    “I say so.”
    Well, then. “I guess we should go.” On impulse, I lean down to kiss her on the cheek. She stiffens for a second, but then she falls