After he left, Marcy chuckled. “That man notices everything about you.”
“He's just observant.”
“Uh-huh. Observant about you specifically. Maybe you should wear that lipstick more often.”
Kate's hand went automatically to her pocket. “Is it too much?”
“Honey, it looks lovely.”
Kate pulled out the lipstick, looked at it again. Such a small thing to feel so momentous.
“Fourteen dollars,” she said. “For lipstick.”
“Your mother spent twenty on her rose perfume every month, even when money was tight.” Marcy smiled at the memory. “Said it made her feel like herself. Some things are worth more than their price.”
Amy's car pulled up outside. Through the window, Kate could see Pop in the passenger seat, looking calmer but still confused. Amy was talking to him patiently, her face kind.
They all went out to help. Pop got out of the car slowly, looking at the inn like he was seeing it for the first time.
“This is my house,” he said, looking at Amy.
“Yes, Daniel. This is home.”
He studied the building, then his children gathered on the porch. His gaze stopped on Kate, and something shifted in his expression.
“I know you,” he said, but it sounded uncertain. “You're... you're...”
“I'm Katie, Pop. Your daughter.”
“Katie.” He tested the name, then frowned. “No. Katie’s in New York.”
The words hit her hard.
Amy guided him inside, but Kate remained on the porch, Pop's words bringing tears to her eyes.
That evening, after Pop was settled, Kate found herself alone in her room. She pulled out the lipstick again, opened it, twisted up the coral color. Her mother had taught her how to apply lipstick before her first high school dance, both of them laughing in this same mirror.
The color was subtle but immediately made her look more alive, less exhausted. She stared at her reflection, this small change that somehow made her look more like the Katie she used to be.
A knock at her door. “Kate?” Ben's voice. “You've got a phone call downstairs. It’s Lillian.”
She opened the door, forgetting about the lipstick. Ben's eyes went to her mouth, lingered for a heartbeat, then met hers. Still he said nothing about it, but something warm flickered in his expression. The fact that he noticed but didn't comment, didn't make it a big deal, made her relax.
“Thanks,” she said. “I'll be right down.”
He nodded, started to turn, then stopped. “Kate?”
“Yeah?”
“Have dinner with me tomorrow. A real date. Not friends, not casual. A date.”
The invitation hung between them in the dim hallway. Kate thought about Pop calling her someone who'd given up, about Lillian dying, about the lipstick that had cost fourteen dollars she couldn't spare.
“Okay,” she heard herself say.
Ben's smile was slow and genuine. “Seven o'clock. I'll pick you up.”
He left before she could change her mind, and Kate stood in her doorway, wearing coral lipstick and feeling like, maybe, she hadn't given up after all.
