A hand touched Kate's arm. Surprised, she whirled and fairly bumped into a man
with smiling, brilliant blue eyes. Her head felt suddenly woozy; her knees buzzed. Her knees hadn't buzzed since high school.
All the years melted.
“Hi, Katie Brady,” Peter Clark said.
Carol was beaming. “What a happy coincidence.”
“Well, Miss Brady, what brings you back to our fair city?” the older man with Peter asked.
It took her an instant to place the name with the face. A few years older, but…
“Just business, Mr. Potter. Good to see you, and make it Kate, please.” She
tried not to look at Peter. Okay, just keep it cool. She could kill Carol later in the privacy of her old home. She extended her hand. “Good to see you too, Peter.”
His hand was warm, strong. The breeze shifted. He smelled like, so help her, fresh sunlight. Now her knees were vibrating.
“Isn't this wonderful?” Carol looked like she was going to explode with smugness. “Two old friends reunited after so long.” Then a crafty look crept over
her face. “Lucius? Isn't this dress in Bernadine's lovely? Let me show you.” She
pointed to the mannequin in the window of the store next door.
“Dress?” Lucius was staring back at her blankly. Carol nudged him with her
elbow and comprehension dawned. “Oh. Yes, of course. Is that the dress you were telling me about? The other day? The one you wanted to wear. Wear to church, that is. Once you bought it.”
Carol grabbed his hand and fairly yanked him toward the store's window.
“Wouldn't you like to look at it more closely?” She dragged him inside the store.
“You two go ahead to Ray's without out us.”
With a ding, the door shut.
Kate was alone with Peter.
“Um, nothing against Mrs. Harding,” he finally said, “but I don't think she's
going to be wearing that dress to church.” He nodded at the short, skin-tight black dress the mannequin in the window was barely wearing. “Not unless she buys two and stitches them together.”
Kate turned back around, still not wanting to make eye contact. “Well, Carol
does like to sew.”
An awkward silence followed.
“Look, Katie, I'm sorry. This wasn't my idea.”
She nodded. “I know.” What to say? You made my knees buzz, you jerk.
Goodbye?
She could just feel two pairs of spying geriatric eyes watching them from inside Bernadine's. “They are a pair, aren't they?” She looked at Peter, really for the first time, and smiled.
“They are that.”
Kate was still trying to process it all. This “happenstance” meeting, Peter, his
eyes. His eyes.
“How are you, Katie?”
She winced slightly at hearing him use the old name. “I go by Kate now.”
He nodded. “Right. Got it. Traveling incognito in your old town.”
She scrunched the corner of her mouth. “Kind of.”
He rubbed his wonderfully stubbled chin. “Well, then, we should come up with a good fake last name for you. How about Humperdinck?”
“I believe that was the name of your gerbil. No new last names necessary.
Just trying to remain as anonymous as I can while I'm here.”
“Kate Anonymous—got it.”
