Deer Park
Chapter 8
In Detroit, while Hannah and Christine looked through clothes and argued; Mike offered to accompany Katie to a nearby bookstore. It shocked him how quiet she could be. She picked out two books and put back a third, which he grabbed and bought. He would have bought her more but she just shook her head when asked.
"Would you like to grab some coffee or something? I'm sure your mom isn't done yet." Mike asked.
"I'm okay." Katie said.
"Would you like to visit one of these other stores? Maybe you need something?" Mike asked.
"Some new shoes?" Katie asked, pointing down at her very worn out tennis shoes.
"Of course." Mike answered. He led her into a shoe store and quickly helped her find a pair of tennis shoes and also talked her into a pair of slip-on type shoes. On the way back into the store to find Christine and Hannah, she also voiced liking a sweatshirt that Mike picked up, knowing she wasn't going to voice wanting anything else. As soon as they rejoined Christine and Hannah, she nodded at the bags.
"Good. She needed shoes. Katie, was there anything else you wanted? You could probably use some new clothes too." Christine asked.
"Dad got me that sweatshirt too, two pairs of shoes and three books." Katie said.
"You can't wear your books." Mike remarked.
"That is true. Do you want me to help you?" Christine asked. Katie nodded and Christine turned to Mike.
"I'll keep Hannah occupied." Mike said. Christine nodded and she and Katie walked away.
It turned into a fairly expensive day for Mike, but he didn't care. As soon as they got back to the hotel, Katie settled on the couch, while Christine helped Hannah with her clothes. Katie was reading her book and Mike tried to figure out a way to talk to her.
"Mom wants Chinese food tonight but she wants take-out. Do you want anything special or to go with me?" Mike asked.
"I'll stay here but I would like some egg rolls." Katie answered.
"You always did like those." Mike remarked. Katie only blinked in response.
"What are we doing tomorrow?" Katie asked.
"Your mom wanted to go to a proper grocery store before leaving to go back to Deer Park." Mike answered. He had already sent in the email and gotten a response back regarding his retirement, called his friends and began making arrangements to clean his apartment out.
"Okay." Katie said.
"Did you want to do something before we went back?" Mike asked. He had sat a little closer to Katie and put an arm around her shoulders.
"No." Katie said. Mike had noticed her stiffen very slightly. Instead of dropping his arm, he smoothed her hair a bit. Christine and Hannah were in the room the girls were sleeping, so Mike decided to just bring up what was on his mind.
"So…I haven't had much of an opportunity to visit with you a lot. Hardly at all, honestly." Mike remarked.
"That's not my fault." Katie replied.
"No, its not. I didn't realize until your mom told me, you were also at that camp that Lucas was at. It must have been horrible." Mike pressed gently.
"I don't want to talk about it." Katie said, very defensively.
"Okay. That's fine. I won't push. But, I will say; your mom and I love you very much, regardless of whatever did happen at that camp and we also know, until you talk about it; it will be like a weight on your chest." Mike said.
"You wouldn't." Katie answered.
"I went through a lot on the James. Saw a lot and not being able to find your mom and you girls really messed me up. It helped to talk about it." Mike explained, completely miscalculating Katie's statement.
"Not that." Katie replied.
"Honey, nothing you could ever do would ever stop your mom or I from loving you. If you don't want to talk about it right now; fine, but think about it. When you're ready, come to your mom or I. Or your grandparents. We all love you and that is not going to change." Mike said. Katie nodded at him but got up and left, going into the room Christine and Hannah were in. Mike rested against the back of the couch, absolutely exhausted by the conversation.