Page 86 of Stoker's Serenity

Serenity came back my way and we went upstairs, where she sighed and left all of the crazy at her door. It was something else, watching her cross the threshold, and I realized that my girl’s home truly was her sanctuary and that she’d peopled pretty hard over the long weekend and was glad to be home.

“Should I take off and leave you to it?” I asked, and she turned and smiled at me, hanging my rag on her coat rack and shrugging out of her cheap leather jacket, off some bargain rack somewhere.

I needed to get her better protective gear if she was going to keep riding with me. Half-assing it wouldn’t do.

“I wish you didn’t have to,” she told me. “But I know you have work tomorrow. Meanwhile, I get to find out if I even have a job.” She rolled her eyes and the unhappiness was back.

“You trust me?” I asked, going to her, pulling her to me by the belt loops of her jeans. She instinctively leaned away but didn’t resist coming to me too much. I think it was just ingrained habit from her background.

“Of course, I do,” she said, frowning at me like I’d said something stupid, but I had a crazy notion and I wanted that to be in the forefront of her mind when I asked her what I was about to ask her.

“What would you say, if I said, my house was just too fuckin’ big for me? That I’m tired of rattling around in there on my own.”

“I’d ask you, what would make it better?”

“You, moving in with me,” I said, and she gave me a sad sort of little half-smile. I rushed on with, “Ain’t gotta make up your mind right now, but I want you to think about it.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. I think it’d do you a lot of good getting away from this area.”

She was quiet, staring past me, off into space as the cogs and gears of her mind clicked and whirred, running through the possibilities, weighing out the pros and cons.

“I would feel bad leaving Mrs. Sedgwick in a bind,” she murmured and I nodded.

“Is that the only thing holding you here?”

She smoothed her lips together and looked up at me. “Linny.”

“Who is more than welcome to come visit any time she wants. Got a room for your bed, could make it our bed or the guest bed…” I trailed off.

“What about my orchids?” she asked.

“I’m a carpenter, I’ve got a truck. I could disassemble your greenhouse, load it up and take the whole damn thing with us.” She laughed a little and I smiled. “Could even make it bigger. My backyard is pretty sizable. I’d build you whatever you want, Serenity. Work benches, stools, planter boxes.”

“What about a job?” she asked.

“You could call up where you work right now, tell Lydia to fucking shove it, and I could walk you into any place on the boulevard back in Ft. Royal and have you hired on in the first five minutes we were in town.”

She looked wistful. “Just leave all of this behind, just like that?”

“Just like that,” I agreed, and rocked her gently back and forth in my arms. I could see she was sorely tempted.

“God, I want it all so bad,” she murmured.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I really do,” she said softly.

“I can be back here tomorrow with a load of boxes right after work,” I said.

She rolled her eyes. “You’re working closer to Ft. Royal now. Nowhere near here.”

“I’m no fuckin’ stranger to a commute, Little Orchid,” I reminded her with a laugh.

“Can I think about it?” she asked softly.

“You can take as much time as you need, baby.”

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