Summer's a Knife

Chapter 3

July 28th, 2029.

After a quiet morning with pancakes, coffee, and an extra person around the kitchen table, you get the kids dressed and into the car, ready for a day at their grandparents' house.

Once the kids are dropped off, you and Karlie stop by her room at the local bed and breakfast in order for her to get some things and a new change of clothes. You park the car outside a quaint yet homely building in the middle of town, and you're just about to unbuckle your seatbelt when Karlie stops you.

"You don't have to come inside," she says, "I'll only be a few minutes."

You turn to look at her, your eyes narrowing in confusion. "Why not? I really don't mind."

"Wouldn't people talk?"

"Why wou... Oh." The revelation hits you like a wet towel to the face: she must be thinking you don't want to be seen because you're famous. The reminder makes you laugh; you haven't worried about being out among people since Eloise was a year old and Joe took you all out for dinner at the local pub, and absolutely no one even looked at you funny.

Grinning, you move her hand away and unbuckle your seatbelt. "I'm not a novelty around here anymore, Karlie. I might still be elsewhere, but here? This is my home, this is my children's home, and here we're just regular people."

Twenty minutes later, after sitting on the bed in Karlie's room trying not to do something you'd possibly regret as she ran around practically naked while getting changed in front of you, the two of you decide to go for a walk. The weather is lovely, just a sunny as the day before, but the wind is cooler which makes the day feel less sweltering.

The two of you walk along the popular main street of your small country town. There's a surprising number of people passing you by today, greeting you happily, but it's summer and people tend to go outside when the weather is nice. You stop by the coffee shop on the corner, where the barista asks you how the kids are enjoying their summer, and you wink at Karlie to emphasize your earlier statement that you're just regular people here in this small town.

You take your iced coffees back outside with you and stop by the small indie store next door. "This place is really nice," Karlie says as she runs her hand through a rack of summer shirts. "Why did you end up here, of all places?"

"It was several things, really," you say, holding up an olive and white dress in front of a mirror, "does this suit me?"

"Yeah, that would be gorgeous on you."

"Then I'll get it. But yeah, back to your question. Convenience was one of the reasons why we ended up here. Joe's parents live close by, as you've seen, so we knew the children would always be able to be with family if anything came up. Connor was also approaching school age and I knew I wanted him to go to school here, as he would have a better chance of just being a normal child here rather than back home."

"And has it been everything you wanted it to be?"

You look up at her with a smile on your face. "It is now."

***

You come home with a car full of groceries that Karlie helps carry inside. You dump the bags in the kitchen, feeling the sweat run down your forehead. You want nothing more than to just leave the bags where they are and jump into the pool, clothes on, just to cool down, but it would be a bad idea.

"Why don't you get ready for a swim while I put the groceries away?" you suggest.

"I can do that."

You hum a reply as you focus on pulling groceries out of one of the large bags, placing each item on the counter. Once the bag is empty you look up, bag in hand ready to be folded, and see Karlie standing in front of you in her bra and panties, smiling at you.