“This time.” Lillian stood slowly, painfully. “Katherine, he needs professional care. This isn't about money or pride anymore. It's about keeping him alive.”
“She's right,” Tom said, putting down his phone. “I just spoke to a friend who specializes in elder law. After tonight, if something happens, we could be held liable for negligence.”
“Negligence?” Kate's voice rose. “This is my father. I've taken care of him for years!”
“And you've done amazingly,” James said. “But Katie, he almost jumped in the harbor. He thought he saw Mom drowning.”
“The facility in Wells has an opening,” Lillian said. “I called while you were gone. They can take him as soon as tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Kate felt the world tilting. “No. That's too fast.”
“It's not safe to wait,” Tom said in his lawyer voice. “What if he gets out again? What if Ben's not there to grab him?”
Kate looked around at her family, all of them aligned against her. Even Dani looked convinced.
“I need air,” Kate said.
She went out to the porch, still in Marcy's borrowed coat, still in the green dress that now seemed to mock her attempt at normalcy. Ben found her there a few minutes later.
“They're right,” she said before he could speak. “I know they're right. But it feels like betrayal.”
“It's not. It's love.”
“How is locking him up with strangers love?”
“It's keeping him safe. It's accepting that love isn't always enough, that sometimes expertise matters more than devotion.”
Kate turned to look at him. “Is that what you'd do? If it was your father?”
“I don't know. I'd probably fight it just like you are. But then I'd remember that what I want and what he needs might not be the same thing.”
“I hate this.”
“I know.”
She let him pull her against him, let herself be held. He was solid and warm and real, an anchor in a world that kept shifting.
“I'm sorry about dinner,” she said into his shirt.
“We finished dinner. We even had dessert.”
“But the evening...”
“The evening showed me exactly who you are. Someone who drops everything for family. Someone who runs toward crisis instead of away.” He pulled back to look at her. “Someone I'm falling for despite trying very hard to take things slow.”
Kate's breath caught. “Ben...”
“I know it's too soon. I know everything's chaos. But Kate, when I saw you in that green dress tonight, when I watched you run toward your father, when I saw you trying so hard to save everyone... I realized slow isn't working for me anymore.”
Before she could respond, the door opened and Tom appeared.
“Kate, we need to decide. Amy can't watch Pop alone anymore, not after tonight. We can’t lock down the inn. He needs to be protected in a facility.”
“I know,” Kate admitted.
She looked at Ben, then at her brother. “Give me tonight. Let me say goodbye properly. We'll take him in the morning.”
Tom nodded and went back inside. Kate stood with Ben on the porch, looking out at the harbor where they'd almost lost Pop, where everything had changed in an instant.
