Page 59 of Refuge for Flora

“Oh, yeah. It was okay.”

“Okay? That wasokay? Hell, woman, what do you want? You almost killed me, and it was just okay? Gah. I need to go to the gym and get my stamina built up. I can hear it now. ‘What happened to BarrettQuarles?’ ‘Oh, he died fucking that beautiful girlfriend of his. Had a heart attack and was just gone.’ That’s what’s going to happen to me.”

Flora’s heart twisted in her chest. “I’m your girlfriend?”

“Uh, do you not want to be my girlfriend?”

“I didn’t know I was.”

“So you don’t want to be?”

She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t say that.”

“Okay. Let’s try this again.” Barrett dropped a light kiss on her lips, then smiled at her again. “Flora, do you want to be my girlfriend?”

She snorted. “I feel like I’m in seventh grade again.”

“Well now, that would make me a perv, wouldn’t it?”

“Stop it!” she growled with a slap on his chest. “Yes. I want to be your girlfriend.”

“Okay. Then it’s official. FloraStevens is my girlfriend. And you’d better be a good one, because I don’t have the strength for more than one at a time.”

Flora giggled. “I’ll do my best!”

“That’s all I ask of you?your best. And now, girlfriend, we need to get some sleep. Tomorrow is another day.”

“That it is.” Snuggling up against him, she waited until he rolled the condom off and threw it in the trash before she rested her arm across his chest and her face on his pec. She breathed out a sigh. “I love being here with you.”

“And I love being here with you. I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be, except maybe in my bed with you. This thing was made for a five-year-old girl.”

“Are we going to be okay? I mean, with all this other stuff?”

“Yep. We’re absolutely gonna be okay, angel. I’ll make sure of it.”

In her eyes, Barrett was Superman. That was a good thing, because she was pretty sure it was going to take Superman to free her of DarrylStevens once and for all. It might actually take even more than that.

She was afraid it was going to take a miracle.

* * *

As he left that morning,Barrett had kissed her goodbye and told her he would be meeting with someone that afternoon about a possible way to check on Darryl’s whereabouts. That scared the shit out of her, but she wanted to make sure he was nowhere around. If Barrett had an idea about how to do that, she was fine with it, as long as he was careful.

A voice broke into her thoughts. “Girl, we got any ‘maters in there?”

“No, Mrs.Murphy. We’re fresh out.”

“You goin’ to the vegetable stand to get more?”

“I can if you want.”

“I want. Get some money outta that sugar bowl and go pick up some. Cukes too.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll go to the bathroom and head on over there.” As she sat there on the toilet, she thought about what Barrett had said, how she shouldn’t go places by herself. But the vegetable stand was just a couple of miles farther out in the county, and it wouldn’t be a big deal. How many people could she run into there?

Sure enough, there was no one there when she rolled up, just the couple who owned the stand, and she was pretty sure that was their front yard it was sitting in. “Hey, young lady! You lookin’ for something in particular today?” the man called out as she climbed out of the Buick.

“Yessir, I need some tomatoes and cucumbers.”

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