Page 16 of Refuge for Flora

“No.”

“Where are you from?”

She hesitated, and he wondered why until she said, “Pikeville.”

“So you’ve got family here?”

“No.”

That struck him as odd. “What the hell are you doing here?”

She shrugged. “Why not here?”

“Butwhyhere?”

“How much farther could I get from Pikeville and still be in the same state?”

“I dunno. Why not just leave Kentucky?”

She shook her head. “Can’t do that.”

Okay. This is weird, Barrett told himself. There was obviously something he was missing, and he couldn’t figure out what. “Is there a reason you left Pikeville?”

“Yes. There is.” And she said nothing else.

Whatever that reason was, she didn’t want to talk about it. Barrett couldn’t imagine what it could be unless it was a man. That was understandable. He’d sure as hell thought about leaving Paducah a few million times since… Revisiting that was something he didn’t want to get mired down in at that very moment. “Have you seen all of town?”

“No.”

“I should take you around to see stuff. You know, the things that make it home.”

“That would be nice. I’d like to do that sometime.”

“What do you know about it already?”

“Well, I know there are rivers and lakes here. And a lot of churches?I mean, alot. And the bus station is a joke.”

So she came into town on the bus, he told himself. “Yeah. Used to be a gas station.”

“I figured that out. And apparently everybody really likes quilts.”

“That too. The National Quilt Museum is here.”

“Oh. That explains it. And so far, almost everybody I’ve met has been very nice.”

“They usually are. You said almost everybody.”

“Yeah. The guy at the Irvin Cobb Apartments was kinda rude, but I had been there all night, sleeping in a chair in the lobby, and I guess he thought I was a vagrant or something.” She chuckled. “Technically, I suppose I was.”

“Where did you stay until you found the job with Mrs.Murphy?”

“At the women’s shelter.”

Wow. He hadn’t seenthatone coming. There was more of a story there than he’d ever imagined. “Do you think this is going to be a better place for you?”

“I think so. I hope I can keep it that way.”

What the hell doesthatmean?he wondered. “I hope you can too.”