Page 16 of Refuge for Cherilyn

“It’s not sir. It’s Shaw. And we’ll figure that out together. Come on. Let’s get on it.” He stood and waited while she made her way back to the cave.

In five minutes, everything was picked up and they were on their way to the truck, but as they got close to the lodge, Shaw pointed to his right. “Go to the tree line over there. I’ll pull the truck over and you can get in there. That way the cameras at the lodge won’t catch you.”

“Okay.” She took the younger girl’s hand and the three of them made their way down through the brush as Shaw headed to the parking lot.

Please, god, don’t let them bolt before I can even get them in the truck.He pulled around to the spot he’d pointed out, and for a moment or two, he didn’t see them anywhere. But in seconds, they appeared through the brush, and he ran around to open the truck doors for them.Jesus, my whole truck will have to be fumigated after this, he told himself, but that was something he couldn’t worry about. As soon as the doors closed and their seatbelts were snapped, he took off.

No one spoke as he drove along. An occasional glance told him she was staring out the window and still crying. The older girl seemed extremely nervous, and the younger one was playing with something on the back of his seat?most likely a map. There had to be something he could do to help them relax a little, and then he saw the sign up ahead. “You guys like burgers?”

“Yes!” Maya barked out.

“BURGERS!” Lara screamed.

Cherilyn gave him a soft smile. “Sorry. She doesn’t understand the concept of inside voice.”

“It’s okay. I understand.”

“I’m really kinda afraid you don’t.” Shaw didn’t know what to say about that. Two hours of that yelling was going to be hard to take.

“So let’s pull up. You tell me what you want, and I’ll order, but when we get to the window, I want you to look out the other way so nobody can see your faces, okay? Don’t know who’s inside here.”

Ten minutes later, they had burgers, fries, and soft drinks, and were headed to his house. He had three females coming to his house, three females he didn’t really know. Dear god. He’d completely lost his mind.

He got them inside, got them seated at the table, and set all the food out. It was hard to eat with the stench, but he managed. When they were finished, to his surprise, Cherilyn and Maya cleaned everything up. “Now what?” Cherilyn asked.

“Now you can all shower and we’ll wash your clothes.”

Maya gave him a weird look. “But we don’t have clean ones.”

“I’ve got some tee shirts you can wear, and you can wear some of my old boxers. I don’t wear them anymore, and if they’re too big, we can pin them until your clothes are clean. Then we need to get you some more clothes. Aaron’s wife is a social worker and?”

“No! No social workers! They’ll take them!” Cherilyn cried out.

“No. She won’t. I promise. She’ll just find some clothes and things. Aaron will brief her, and it’ll be okay. So you take a shower first and when you’re done and they’re getting cleaned up, you can make a list and I’ll give her a call.” She didn’t move. “Cherilyn, it’s gonna be okay. We’ll help you. I promise. But we need to get you cleaned up and in some clean clothes, okay? You go on into the bathroom. The towels are behind the door. When you’re done, I’ll have a basket just outside the door with some stuff in it, and you can get dressed. Then you can help the girls.”

He didn’t think he’d ever seen a face so pitiful when she asked, “Why? Why are you helping us? Why do you give a damn? Nobody cares about us.”

“That’s not true. DeputyFriedman and I have been working on ways to help you, but you have to trust us. Can you at least try?”

She nodded slowly. “Yeah. At least for my girls, I’ll try.”

“Good. That’s all I ask. Now scoot. They’ll be fine until you come out.”

“Okay.” Cherilyn glanced at the girls. “Behave.”

“I will. I don’t know about her,” Maya said and pointed to Lara.

“MOM! NOT LEAVE!”

“I’m not leaving. It’ll be okay. Mr.Shaw will take care of you. You’ll be fine and I’ll be done in a hurry.” He watched as she hustled toward the bathroom.

He called out to her, “Toss your clothes out and I’ll put them in the machine.”

“Okay.” The door closed, and in just a minute, it opened a crack and she dropped everything she’d been wearing on the floor.

“Do you have a laundry basket, Mr.Shaw? We can’t mess up your house. I’ll pick everything up and?”

“Relax. My house is lived in. It’s not a museum. You’re fine.”

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