Safe Haven

Over the next few weeks, Alex and Katie spend as much time together as possible. Katie refuses to go to bed with Alex, however, because of her marriage vows to Kevin. Alex understands and tries not to push. He doesn’t ask her about Kevin anymore, but he feels an intense hatred for the man based on Katie’s stories. Alex’s growing relationship with Katie causes him to reflect on the final weeks of Carly’s life. Shortly before her death, Carly told Alex, “I want you to meet someone new” (165). As trust grows between Katie and Alex, she tells him more of her story.

Two days before she left, Katie woke early and made breakfast for Kevin. As they ate, Kevin gave Katie a few chores he wanted her to do. He discussed a trip he would be making in two days to testify in a case. After Kevin left, Katie completed her chores and thought about the only friends she had in Dorchester, the Feldmans. They were an older couple who lived across the street. Kevin hated them, but Katie adored them and often snuck across the street to visit them.

That Monday morning began much the same as the day before. However, after Kevin left for work, Katie called the phone company and ordered call forwarding to be placed on her line. Afterward, she activated the cell phone she purchased on Saturday to test the call forwarding feature. She also called a shuttle service to arrange for a ride to the bus station for the next day. As Katie did these things, she had to stop every few minutes to answer a call from Kevin.

On Tuesday, Katie was affectionate with Kevin as he prepared to go on his brief trip. The moment he was gone, she rushed up to the bathroom where she cut and dyed her hair. When she finished, she packed a bag and put on a big jacket so that she could hide the bag underneath to make her appear pregnant. She left the house by a side gate, feeling safe in the knowledge that no one would see her and that her footsteps in the snow would be gone by the following night. She walked to a diner where the shuttle would pick her up, but as it came around the corner, Kevin called. She retreated into the diner to speak to him, terrified he would hear the street noises and figure out what she’d done. However, except for noting a different sound quality, he didn’t suspect anything.

Katie was nervous the whole time on the bus to Philadelphia. Even if she wanted to turn back, she knew she couldn’t because of her haircut. In Philadelphia, she walked to Chinatown and got a room in a cheap hotel. She spoke to Kevin multiple times that night and into the following evening, doing all she could to keep him from figuring out she was gone until he arrived home. Katie was already running out of money, so she had to look for a job. She got one as a waitress in a diner and worked the job for two weeks, only taking her tips. She found a series of other jobs after that, constantly moving from motel to motel.

Unfortunately, Kevin found her one morning, but she spotted him in a rental car outside her latest waitressing job. She ran, catching the first bus out of town. It took her to New York where she caught another bus to Omaha. She got off the bus in Ohio and took a ride from a delivery driver to Wilmington, North Carolina. After selling her jewelry, Kate arrived in Southport. She used the last of her money on the cottage, leaving her with nothing to purchase food.

On an evening in mid-June, Katie finds Jo waiting for her outside Ivan’s after her dinner shift. They go to a bar to talk. Jo surprises Katie by demanding she break up with Alex if she doesn’t believe she can commit to him. Jo explains that Alex is the kind who commits for a lifetime and Katie needs to be willing to do the same. Jo then leaves, and Katie notices “Jo hadn’t touched her wine” (192).

Kevin thinks back to his attempt to find Erin in Philadelphia. On the night he returned, he realized she’d run away, but it took him a while to grasp that she wouldn’t be coming back as quickly as she had the first time she left. He knew he would have to go find her, as he did the second time she disappeared. At first, Kevin believed she left on Wednesday just before he got home, but when he discovered the call forwarding feature on the phone, he knew she left Tuesday.

Kevin went to the bus station and found the man who sold Erin a bus ticket. He learned that she cut her hair and dyed it and that she traveled to Philadelphia. For weeks, he went to Philadelphia to look for her, but he did not know where to start. He eventually found the diner where she was working. He waited in his rental car for her to arrive for her shift, but she never did. He found the hotel where she was staying and learned she left in a hurry that same morning. He went to the bus station but was unable to find which bus she took.

Kevin thinks about their marriage and wonders why Erin left. He recalls the night they met and how he saved her from her attackers. He also remembers how quickly she agreed to marry him and how she expressed the way he made her feel: “Safe. That was the word she used. Safe” (200).