Katherine laid down in the crab grass and itched her back, she felt the fatigue in her legs and wondered how Jack lived through his whole life like this.
"What did you want to be when to be when you were growing up?" Kathy broke the painful silence. The question had been burning in her mind all morning.
"This." Jack responded shortly. Katherine could see that he didn't want to talk. But her journalistic instincts kicked in before she could stop herself.
"Here?" she asked quietly, with a trace of disbelief in her voice. Jack didn't seem to be in a joking mood, but she knew he was lying.
"Didn't you ever want to leave and do something different? Go somewhere else?"
Jack turned and looked into Katherine's eyes and she saw a sadness she'd never noticed before. A kind of wise sadness you don't see in seventeen year olds.
"Yeah."
"So why didn't you?" tears build up in her eyes. After this morning's work, she had a new set of feelings for him. Almost pity. Pity for him because he'd never know love, or the feeling of safety. She brushed a strand of hair from his forehead.
"Kath. Don't cry." he reached up and wiped a tear from her face.
"I'm not!" Katherine slapped his cheek and he rolled over laughing. She inched back toward him laughing and tackle him in a bear hug.
"Rawr!" She grabbed his shirt collar and gave Jack a butterfly kiss. They laughed together and got quiet for a moment.
"Thanks for showing me around your pape selling route today. I enjoyed it," she whispered in his ear. Jack smiled and held her waist.
"I'm glad. It's been lonely since Les got his own route with Davey!" he replied.
Katherine paused and glanced into Jack's green-gray eyes. The weary look was still there, but she could tell that he was happy in her company.
She rolled off him. Her throat stung and she felt like with a breath, she might pop. Tears were burning her eyes. Katherine longed to tell him how she felt.
She grasped tuffs of the prickly grass as if to keep her locked to the ground so that the words would not leave the safety of her head. She would go home and write about it later.
"What are you hiding?" asked Jack, frowning. He knew her too well.
"Nothing."