Page 31 of Refuge for Flora

He let out a laugh. “You’re quite the shopper, FloraStevens!”

“I’m used to trying to make very little go a long way. I’m pretty much a pro at that.”

“Well, it paid off today.” As soon as they were finished, she was in the truck, and he’d returned the cart to a cart corral, he climbed into the front seat and reached into the back until he found the bag he’d put in earlier. “Here. This is for you.”

“What is it?”

“Open it up.”

She opened the bag and pulled out the card of hoops. “Oh! These are nice! I can wear them with a lot of stuff. What is… Oh! These match one of the tops I bought! What’s… Oooo, so pretty!” The sparkly druzy jewelry glittered. “That matches some of my stuff too! Oh, and a sports watch. And a casual watch! Oh, these are nice! I love this ring, and this one too. And this set is so pretty! And…” She stopped. “Oh, god, Barrett, this is… I can’t accept this,” she said as she turned to him, tears in her eyes as she held the box with the nice watch in it.

“Why can’t you?”

“Because. Because it’s not right for you to spend money on me. I don’t… I can’t…”

“You deserve to have some things that make you smile, Flora. You’re a good person.”

“I stood there while he… with the chainsaw…”

Without thinking twice, Barrett grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “Stop it. You didn’t have anything to do with that.”

“I did! I could’ve?”

“You could’ve died, that’s what you could’ve done, but you didn’t. You did what you had to do to stay alive. Stop beating yourself up for that.” The horrors she’d had to live through were unimaginable, and she probably had nightmares about it. She’d be odd if she didn’t, he supposed. “You should celebrate the fact that you survived all of that every damn day.”

“Yeah, and it could come crashing down around me any day.”

“No. It won’t. I’ll see to it. So put those things on. Wear them with a smile. You, FloraStevens, are a survivor. You shouldn’t feel ashamed that you survived and someone else didn’t. You should just be thankful you made it.I’mthankful you made it.”

“Why? What do you care?”

“I care. I really do care. You’re my friend.” She started to say something when he added, “I wouldn’t mind if you were a good bit more than just a friend.”

“I’m married.”

“I know, and I know why. And that doesn’t bother me. Do you want to go back to him?”

“Hell no!”

“Then it doesn’t bother me at all. Now, let’s go around the side so you can pick up the car, and I’ll follow you back and help you get all of this in the house.”

She sat there for a few seconds, seemingly stunned, before she said, “So you like me?”

“Yes. I like you very much. Do you hate me?”

Her face wrinkled up and she scoffed, “Well, no! I like you!”

“Good. Something to work with. Now, let’s go.”

The whole time he followed her as she drove the car, he thought about the words that had just been said. Flora was hung up on the fact that she was still married, but to him, it hardly seemed like a marriage. From what she’d said, it was more like servitude, like she’d been held a slave. That was the moment he decided he needed to have a talk with Mrs.Murphy, not to scold, but to help her understand where Flora was coming from. It would be in Mrs.Murphy’s best interest to know what was going on, especially if the asshole showed up.

And he’d realized something in that simple conversation. FloraStevens was the type of woman he wanted to find. It wasn’t that he was looking for someone who’d be beholden to him for lifting her from the dregs of her life. No, it seemed more like having someone he could respect, knowing where she’d been and how far she’d come. He could see Flora as a starry-eyed teenager, blown away and attracted to DarrylStevens’ bad boy image, but two years later finding herself at the bottom of the food chain, unable to find a way to be anything other than prey. It sounded like her parents had been solidly middle class. How horrifying had it been to her when they’d written her off because of him? What had caused them to do that? He had a lot of questions and no one to ask, but he certainly intended to do some asking.

Flora wheeled the big car into the driveway and, to his surprise, Mrs.Murphy was sitting out on the porch in a lawn chair. He’d never seen her outside the house. Instead of putting the car back in the garage, she stopped in the drive, opened the door, and climbed up on the rocker panel, her arms folded on the car’s roof. “Well? Whaddya think?”

Mrs.Murphy was laughing loudly. “I think it needs a bath!”

“Yeah, well, that’s comin’. But I think Barrett back there didn’t think it would ever run again,” Flora yelled back, laughing and pointing.

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