Sometimes people say, “If you love someone, you should let them go”, but this wasn’t the case for Kevin. He wanted nothing more than to attain love from his wife, Katie. A small town in North Carolina is home to Alex, his two children, and Jo. This town seems like the perfect place for Katie to expunge her past and restart her life away from the psychotic alcoholic she married. Things are going great for “Erin”, aka: Katie, until an unwanted familiar face shows up. Three symbols that help pave the future path for Katie are a bike, a fire, and a safe haven. As Katie looses herself, she finds other people in her new town that show her what it is like to really love someone. New friendships that will help Katie keep moving forward with her life are offered by a general store owner, Alex. The longer Katie sticks around, the more she starts to see that accepting one’s trust can be a positive change. Back home she was in a world with a dearth of love, trust and partnership. When Alex gave Katie the bicycle, it showed …show more content…
The house cannot be saved, but safety is most important at this point: “Alex skidded to a stop in front of the house and both of them jumped out simultaneously, running for the door, calling the kids’ names. Katie still held the gun. They reached the door just as Josh opened it, and as soon as he saw his son, Alex swept him up in his arms. Kristen came out from behind the couch and rushed toward them. Alex opened his arms to her as well, catching her easily as she jumped” (Sparks 323). As the house burned, it was a feeling of forgetting about the past and a knowing that the only option was to just move on with life. Alex’s wife, Jo, died and the only memories he had of her were in the house. Kevin was shot and killed during the fire scene in the book, and Katie needs to move on with having a new happy life with Alex and the children in Southport, North