Page 29 of Refuge for Flora

He just turned to her and grinned. “I know what I like!”

“Oh, well, then, I guess I’m all set, huh?” she answered, laughing. There was a really good possibility that she just might have fun shopping with him, and that would be great.

She could use a little fun.

Chapter 4

She’d founda few pairs of shoes, some jeans, socks, tees, two pairs of shorts, and a couple of decent tops. Most of it had come from clearance racks, and Barrett hated that, but at least she was frugal. There were a lot of things he was sure Flora was, but wasteful wasn’t one of them.

“Is there anything you needed to get?” she asked as they rounded the end of an aisle, her cart littered with odds and ends.

“Nah. I don’t think so.”

“Nothing? I mean, don’t you need to go get, um, something from health and beauty? Or, I dunno, something for the truck, or?”

Barrett squinted one eye at her. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”

“Um, I’ve just gotta, uh… Bras and panties.”

“Oh! I’m not sure what you’re so embarrassed about. First, I know you wear them. Second, I’m going to see them in the checkout anyway. Third…” He watched as she jacked up one eyebrow. “Uh, okay. Yeah. There are a couple of things I need to get, I guess.”

The muscles in her face relaxed and he almost laughed. “Okay. Please.”

“Sure. Sorry. I can be kinda insensitive sometimes.”

“Nah. It’s okay. It just feels, I dunno, weird?”

That did make him chuckle aloud. “I get it. I’ll be back in a little bit. Take your time.” But before he turned away, he took one last look at her cart and started thinking.

By the time he got to the front of the store, he had the colors memorized. Did she have pierced ears? He was pretty sure she did. There was a whole rack of all kinds of earrings, and one card had gold hoops and silver hoops, smaller ones, so he got those. Then he looked for some with colors of some of the things in her cart. There were a lot of earrings with tassel stuff on them, and he figured those must be popular, although he couldn’t imagine why. Then he found some that had turquoise crystals on them, and he remembered that color from her cart. A little farther down was a whole set?earrings, bracelet, and necklace?with stones that sparkled and were a sort of rusty color. “What the hell is druzy?” he whispered to himself as he picked up the little presentation box they were nestled in. The price was on the bottom of the box, and when he held it up to look, he was surprised?it was a really good price for the entire set. He kept going and found a couple of nice-looking rings that seemed like something she’d wear, just decorative bands, nothing flashy.

Then he came to what he was really looking for. He picked out a cheap sports watch and then another watch that was a bit nicer and looked like something she could wear if she was just going somewhere to shop. There was a lady behind the jewelry counter, and when he stepped up, she turned toward him. “Do you have a few watches that are a little better quality?”

“Yeah, over here in this case. I think the cheapest one is about fifty dollars and the most expensive is about two hundred. If you see something you like, I can get it out for you.”

“That one right there.” He’d spotted it as soon as he stepped up to the case, and it was beautiful. Tastefully elegant was probably a better term. There were no flashy stones or weird designs, just something simple and a little more delicate. “Do you think she’d like this?”

“I dunno. Does she like a lot of makeup and dressing up, or is she kinda a country girl who likes the natural look and would rather have jeans than a dress?”

“Oh, definitely the no makeup, country, no dress kinda girl.”

“Then yeah. That one is really nice, but it doesn’t scream ‘cocktail party.’ It’s more like ‘Valentine’s Day dinner at a fancy restaurant once a year’ pretty.”

“Exactly. Yeah. I want that one.”

“You’ll have to pay for it here,” the woman announced as she locked the cabinet.

“That’s fine. Can I pay for these other things too?”

“Sure! No problem.”

When he’d finished, he took the bag to the truck, then headed back into the store and shot off a quick text:Where are you?

Flora replied almost immediately:Health and beauty.

She’d added shaving cream, razors, some shower gel, a bottle each of shampoo and conditioner, and a toothbrush and toothpaste to the cart, along with a tube of deodorant. It was quite the array of items. “Looks like you’ve got pretty much everything.”

“I think so. Thought I’d go back to the garden center and see what they’ve got in the way of bedding plants.”

---