Page 24 of Refuge for Flora

“I dunno. I’ve gotta use most of it to pay for the tires.”

“My checkbook’s over there in my bag. Get it for me, wouldja?” Flora just picked up the bag and handed it to Mrs.Murphy. She felt a little weird about rummaging through someone else’s bag. The woman took out the checkbook and handed it to Flora. “Okay, how much do you need?”

“I dunno. A hundred dollars?”

“Okay. Write the check to you. And make it for five hundred dollars.”

Flora’s eyebrows disappeared into her hairline. “What? Five hundred dollars?”

“Yeah. Five hundred. You’ve earned it. This house looks better than it has in years, and the yard looks good too.”

“You’ve seen the yard?” Flora hadn’t known her to go any farther than her recliner?ever.

“Yeah. I look out there every morning to see if anybody’s around. Them flower beds look amazing. You done a good job, girl.”

“Thank you.” Flora wrote the check and handed it to Mrs.Murphy to sign, which she did. “I appreciate it. I could use a few things.”

“Yeah. Them what’s on the run travel light.”

Flora didn’t comment. It was only a matter of time before Mrs.Murphy cornered her and asked her more than she really wanted to talk about, but until then, she wasn’t sharing, and she never would if she could manage it. She was about to find a way around that conversation when she heard a horn honk. “Oh! That must be Barrett. I’d better go.”

“You make that young man walk up to the door when he picks you up. That’s so fuckin’ rude,” Mrs.Murphy snapped, and Flora started to laugh. “What?”

“He’s not taking me on a date, Mrs.Murphy! He’s just taking me to pick up the car!”

“It could be a date if’n you wanted it to be!” the old woman crowed as Flora headed to the door.

“I’ll be back in a little while. Behave yourself while I’m gone,” Flora ordered.

“Yes, ma’am. I will, I promise.” Mrs.Murphy was laughing when she answered, and it made Flora laugh again.

“I was afraid you didn’t hear me out here,” Barrett said when she opened the door and found him standing there.

“Yeah, I was just arguing with Mrs.Murphy.”

“She giving you trouble?”

“Nah. We were just sparring. We do that. It’s kinda fun,” Flora said with a chuckle as she made her way out to the truck. She was reaching for the door handle when Barrett’s hand shot out and grabbed it, and she bumped her fingers right into it. “Oh! Sorry! I wasn’t expecting?”

His grin was a mile wide. “I open doors for ladies if they’ll let me.”

“Oh, well, thank you.” As soon as she climbed in, he closed the door and left her sitting there with a smile on her face. He was so polite, and she really liked that. It beat the shit out of hanging with dumbass Darryl. He’d never opened a door for her in all the time she’d known him unless it was to shove her out onto the lawn after he’d beaten the daylights out of her.

Barrett climbed in on the other side, closed his door, and turned to her. “Have you eaten?”

“What?”

“I said, have you eaten? As in lunch?”

“Uh, no, unless you count dry cereal as a meal.”

“Want something? I’m starving and I’m buying.”

She couldn’t believe it. “Sure!”

“What? A burger? Steak? Barbecue?”

“Steak?”