Katherine watched Patrick haul his suitcase out of his room. Her legs are lazily dangling over the side of the sofa. Russell sits beside her with a beer in his hand, and the two pillows between them prop Katherine's head up.

"Need a hand?" Russell asks. 

"Nah, I got it." Patrick looks over his belongings and sighs. "Toothbrush, deodorant...seven pairs of boxers, seven pairs of socks...layers." He points between his suitcase and duffle as he ticks off his mental list. "All right. See you kids in a month. Don't burn the house down."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Katherine hums. Pat levels a gaze at her, and she flashes him a grin before pushing off of the sofa. She corrals Jake outside, gets him loaded into Pat's truck, and they're off. 

"They're starting where, again?"

"The Tetons," Russell replies, adjusting his hat as they watch Pat's truck roll down the black top. "Making their way east." He turns to look at her. "Would you ever go backpacking?"

Katherine shrugs. "Kind of already do. In the hiking sense?" He shrugs. "I dunno, maybe. Charlie wants to go to all of the big national parks." She swallows and looks down at her feet. "Wanted," she corrects in a soft voice. She doesn't know why she was compelled to add on to her sentence anyway.

Before she can get prickly, Russell speaks. "I do that too, still." Katherine looks up and meets his gaze. Eyes squinted, upper lip a little wrinkled. "If I'm ever talking about Heather, it's always in the present-tense."

Katherine's big blue eyes sweep over his face. Hers is always so hard to read, especially with how drunk her eyes always are. She's surprisingly sober so far today...and Russell knows she didn't sleep last night. 

"I didn't know," she finally murmurs.

Russell manages a fleeting smile. "You're always too drunk to know what I do and don't say anyway." He finishes his beer and heads inside. Then he stops and turns to look at her. She's still standing in that spot. "That...that sounded mean. I'm sorry."

"It's the truth." She brushes past him, and Russell knows he's lost her. He sighs, follows her inside, and closes the door.

It's already quiet in the house. That is, until Russell's phone rings from the table.

Katherine heads into Russell's room and closes the door behind her. Russell answers his phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey."

Paula.

Guilt is cold in his stomach. He doesn't know why. Yes, you do. You haven't called her since Katherine showed up.

"Hey!" He makes his voice light and smiles. "I was just thinking about you." Liar, liar, pants on fire.

"Oh?" Paula chuckles. "I was just thinking about you."

"What a coincidence." Russell moves to the refrigerator. "What are you up to?"

"Wondering what you're up to."

"Oh, you know me...lazy bones on Sundays." He grabs a beer and cracks it open. "Actually, Katherine and I literally just sent Pat off on his backpacking trip."

There's a brief silence. "Oh," she hums. "So it's just you two, then?"

"Yeah. The Rockies just started playing, but I think I'm gonna get into the pool here in a minute. You wanna come over?"

He hoped he didn't sound too nonchalant. 

"Yeah. I think I will."

"Cool. Bring some booze, we've only got Coors and, uh..." He frowns at the bottle. "Katherine drinks whiskey."

"She really packs a punch, doesn't she?" Paula tuts.

"Like you wouldn't believe," Russell chuckles. "You heard she broke Trina's nose?"

"Yeah, Russ, but I don't think it's funny." Russell purses his lips. "Trina told me you haven't even been by Frankie's since the incident."

He frowns. "No, I haven't...why is that even a topic of discussion? Trina's a big girl, she ran her mouth, and she got punched with the consequences."

"She's your friend, Russell, and you're siding with some stranger over her?"

"Do you even know what that little boxing match was about, Paula?"

"I got the gist of it."

"Clearly you didn't get the un-Trina-bias gist." Russell takes a long pull of his beer. "Are you angry with me?"

"I'm pretty annoyed, yeah."

Russell nods. "All right. Well, you can come over or not. I'll be in the pool." Russell snaps his phone shut and sets it on the counter.

"I thought you had God-given patience."

"I don't need your snark right now." He turns around to look at Katherine, who seemed to have the same idea he did about the pool. She's in that lavender two-piece again, blonde hair tied up in a bun, sunglasses sitting on the bridge of her nose. 

"I don't think defending me to your girlfriend is the best move," she says, and sashays for the back door.

"I wasn't defending you."

"Then what do you call that?"

"Even if I was, why does that bother you so much?"

"I don't need defending."

"Clearly," Russell scoffs, following her outside. She stops, pauses, and turns right back around, shoulder brushing his t-shirt as she passes back inside. She returns as he's floating around with a drink in her hand. He bites his tongue. 

If he's trying to keep her from drinking, maybe he shouldn't, either. 

She casually wades over to her yellow floatie and hauls herself up. Russell hangs onto the side. The two sit in silence for a few minutes. 

"I'm sorry," she finally murmurs. Russell moves his eyes to her face. Behind her sunglasses, hers are closed, and fingertips tap against her blue plastic cup. "I know I'm not...the easiest person to get along with right now. And you've been nothing but kind to me. And I'm not making your life easy."

"You don't have to apologize," Russell sighs. "I know how hard it can be—"

"Just don't make excuses for me, Russell."

"Ever?"

She lets out a sigh through her nose. "Ever." She takes a sip of her drink and sighs again, but in a different way. The relaxed kind of way. "You're tipping my floatie."

"I don't care."

She hunkers down a little more and lets her head drop back. Russell rests his head on the floatie, and they just spin around in relative silence. After their breathing is filtered out, it's kind of nice. The birds in the trees, the occasional bald eagle, bugling elk.

"It's kind of like a nature documentary," Katherine chuckles. Russell, half-asleep, smiles. 

"I guess it is," he hums. 

But then he hears a car pull into the driveway. Katherine lifts her head, too. He watches her drain her drink, then she looks at him and nods her head to the house.

"Wanna float us over there?" So he does, and the only part of princess that gets wet is her feet as she steps onto the stairs to get a refill. 

"Grab me a beer?" Russell asks, pushing away from the float. She lifts her hand in acknowledgement. 

There's a small seed of anxiety planting in her belly. Why? No idea. Is it because the tension between who might be in the driveway and who's in the pool is because of her? Maybe. Is it because she has no idea what she's doing? Maybe. Is it because she's realizing how genuinely nice Russell is? Maybe. Is it because she hasn't spoken to anyone outside of this little house for a month? Maybe. 

The front door opens, and in walks a brunette with a blue swimsuit. She's carrying a six pack of something. She nudges the door closed with her foot and looks up. Katherine is pouring a drink, but watching Paula.

"Hey," the blonde chirps.

"Hey," Paula replies.

Katherine nods her head to the left. "He's in the pool." Paula nods, setting her bag on the table. She looks over Katherine as she becomes preoccupied with her drink. Tall, thin...drinking...baby-less.

Paula opens her mouth to speak, but closes it again. "How are you?" She finally asks.

Katherine purses her lips, a bit of a smile tugging there. Talking to her like you talk to Russell won't help anything. "I've certainly been better."

"I'm sorry for what happened to you." Paula watches her shoulders go tense. Her jaw looks like it's working against something in her mouth, and then she swallows. "I'm not expecting a response. I just wanted to say that." Katherine nods and sips at her drink.

"Well. Let's go enjoy some sunshine, shall we?" 

Paula follows her outside. Katherine flips a beer to Russell. He catches it, eyeing the woman as they loop around the pool in different directions. Katherine slides onto her floatie and gets comfortable. 

Her mind wanders rather easily...she snapped awake a few times, and wasn't sure where her train of thought ended and her dreams began.

How much lighter would her grief be if Charlie was here? Would it make a difference?

Maybe the answer isn't one that should be said. Maybe not. Is her grief for another dead love, or another dead innocent?

She was able to forget about Naugatuck for the most part...maybe because everything else is just so damn heavy. How much can the human brain bear?

Russell watches her sleep on the sofa between dinner preparations. Paula sits on the counter and watches the TV just over the sofa.

"She seems..."

Russell smirks at Paula's lack of words. "If you call her 'nice,' you're a liar."

Paula smiles a little wryly and shakes her head before sipping her water. "No, I wasn't going to call her that." She thinks about it for a few long moments, staring at her blonde hair falling over the arm of the sofa. "This is going to sound dumb, but sad." She turns her gaze to Russell, who rolls his eyes.

"Of course she's sad."

Paula hums in agreement. "I haven't known people who are sad to get so...angry."

"There's a lot to be angry for, I guess," Russell murmurs. He pulls the broccoli from the oven and slides it up onto the counter. 

"Has she told you anything?"

Russell takes a breath and shakes his head. "No, not really."

Paula chews on her lower lip. "She really did lose that baby then, didn't she? Or..." Russell frowns a little.

"I'm not sure, but she hasn't mentioned it. Maybe let's not discuss it?" Paula nods in agreement. Russell flips the stove off and walks over to the sofa. "Supper's hot, Kat." He rounds the arm.

Only to find her eyes are open, trained on him as he sits on the coffee table. Russell glances up from her face, but Paula isn't looking at him.

"I'm not hungry," Katherine murmurs, pulling herself into a sitting position. "But thanks." She pushes up from the sofa and walks into Russell's bedroom before quietly latching the door.

When Russell turns around, Paula is staring at him with an intensity that makes him feel guilty. Guilty for what?