Page 68 of Refuge for Flora

“That was her daughter.”

“That’s horrible!”

“Yeah, a very long, sad story, but Martina got caught in the crossfire in a bad situation. She’s lucky to be alive, but she’s doing very well considering how badly she was injured.”

“That’s good. They seem happy.”

“They are.”

Flora kept working, all the while thinking about a question she wanted to ask. When she got to the point that she couldn’t stop herself, she blurted out, “So does this mean you want to keep seeing me?”

Barrett threw down his dish towel, cocked a hip, and rested his hand on it as he leaned against the counter. “I’ll keep seeing you until you don’t want to see me anymore.”

“Well, that’s not gonna happen.”

“Me seeing you?”

“No. Me not wanting to see you anymore.”

“Good. I’d hate to think I’m wasting my time here. I smoked a lot of meat for this little get-together. Glad to know it was worth my time.” He straightened and pressed a finger under her chin to force her head up so he could look into her eyes. “Flora, I want to see you every damn day. I’m falling for you, and I’m not the least bit upset about it.”

She could feel her cheeks blazing, but she didn’t care. Barrett wanted to be with her. That was just about the best news she’d ever had in her life. “I’m falling for you too. Just promise me one thing?”

“I’ll try.”

“Please… Don’t ever hit me.”

The eye roll he turned loose was epic, followed by a huge sigh as he gripped her waist with his big hands. “Baby, I wouldneverhit you. Never. There is never any excuse for hitting a woman unless she’s hitting me, and then I won’t hit her. I’ll just try to stop her.”

“There’s never any excuse for hitting a man either.”

He smiled down into her face. “I agree. And if I do ever hit you, which I won’t, but if I lose my mind and I do, you call my dad and he’ll whup my ass. That right there you can take to the bank.”

“I can tell your parents raised you right.”

“I can tell yours raised you right too, although it seems somebody didn’t do a very good job of raisingthem. They could use a few lessons in loyalty, forgiveness, and love.”

“Speaking of loyalty, I need to get that plate down to Mrs.Murphy. You know how she is. Probably hasn’t eaten anything all day.”

“Yeah. You’re probably right. I can finish this up. Let me take you home and I’ll take care of this later.”

Home. It was the first time Flora had thought of the little house down the road as home, but that was what it had become for her. She hadn’t been there long but for the first time, she felt like she was where she was supposed to be.

Three hours later, as she lay in bed and tinkered around with her new phone, it pinged with a new text message:You still up?

There was no way to keep the smile from her face.Yeah. Thinking about today.

Thinking about me?

Yeah. You too. Ha!

Is Mrs.Murphy asleep?

Flora snickered.Of course. She barely made it through dinner.

Want me to come down and stay?

She had to stifle a laugh.Of course.