Redwood Bend

them ‘hi’?”
Again there was a pause. “Listen, I know you’ll understand this, or will at least try, but they don’t know about movies and aviation companies and all that and…I don’t want them to fix their hopes on you, Dylan. They’re just little boys. They aren’t going to get it the way I do—that you don’t know when you’ll see us again. Or if…”
“Can you believe this, Katie—that I want to see you again?”
Very quietly she said, “I can, but they might not. They’re very impatient. They have trouble waiting for things like Christmas and birthdays. When you get down to it, I have trouble with that, too. Waiting. Wondering if it’ll ever come.” Then there was a moment of quiet before she said, “But you enjoy yourself—I’m sure all your fans will be so glad to have you back! Listen, I hate to cut this off, but—”
“Katie, write down this number, in case you want to tell me something.” Then he reeled it off. “Call me if you want to talk. Anytime.”
“What if I interrupt something important?” she asked.
“Then I’ll call you back. But don’t worry about that, just call if you want to.”
“All right, then. I’m glad you called. I’d better—”
“I miss you, Katie,” he said again.
In the quiet that followed, he wondered if she was thinking about what to say next. But…
“Be safe, Dylan,” she said.
When they disconnected, he closed his eyes for a moment and took a breath. She wouldn’t say it; she was afraid to say it. He could hardly blame her. Why would she pour more emotion into a situation that had no clear resolution?
He would think about that. Where he was going. And with whom.
Katie looked at the number she’d scribbled down. She could hear his voice in her head. I miss you, Katie. She lifted the folded tabloids from the kitchen counter and opened the one with Dylan kissing some blonde’s neck.
“You’ll be fine,” she said. And then with sarcasm she thought, Be brave.
Conner couldn’t count the number of days he felt grateful for finding Leslie. Their lives had converged at probably the most challenging of times for both of them—he was in hiding and she was escaping from a painful divorce. Yet now, just a few months later, they were living together in this little town, at peace in their relationship, their complicated lives settled. He even had his sister and nephews close by, which gave him no small amount of comfort.
But all wasn’t cheery. Katie had grown quiet and distant. Well, he supposed that was to be expected—she’d had a fling with a guy who was just passing through and, unsurprisingly, he actually passed through. He was gone and she was left lonely. Again.
“Should I be worried about Katie?” he asked Les.
“Why? Because Dylan went to work?”
“Well…yeah, that. She seemed to be hanging tough for a while, but he’s been gone a couple of weeks and it’s like he took her sparkle with him.”
She grinned at him. “How many women did you have short relationships with over the years, Conner?”
“But this is Katie,” he said. “Unless she never mentioned it to me, I don’t think she’s had a guy she…” slept with, laughed with a lot and who put a shine in her eyes… “…liked a lot. Since Charlie. You know?”
“Why don’t you give her a call?” Leslie suggested. “See how she’s doing. Ask her if she wants to come over for ice cream. Or maybe we could bring the ice cream to her.”
So he did that, he called her. And then he went back to Leslie, a pained expression on his face, and said, “I’m going out to check on her. Andy said she’s in the bathtub. Crying. In the tub crying.”
Leslie shot to her feet. “Wait! Just wait. Grab the ice cream. We’ll both go. You can keep the boys busy and please, let me talk to Katie. I don’t think this is a job for a big brother.”
“Why not?” he asked indignantly. “I could hunt down the son of a bitch and beat the shit outta him.”
She stared at him coolly, her hands on her hips. “There you go—reason number one.”
Conner, not usually inclined to take orders from people, played it Leslie’s way. He grabbed the ice cream from the freezer and then drove a little too fast to his sister’s cabin. When they walked in and he went right to the kitchen to spoon up giant bowls for his nephews and himself, he was stopped short. “Les,” he said, pointing to some newspapers on the kitchen counter. “Isn’t this him? This is him!”
Leslie glanced at the