Page 72 of Shelter for Morgan

“Milo!” Sage sounded mortified.

Morgan laughed softly waving at Viviana and Sage so they could go to the trucks and get something to eat while she negotiated with the little boy. “I was a little kid a long, long-”

“Loooong,” added Milo.

Morgan laughed out loud. “Yes. Very long ago. Someday you’re going to be my age.”

Milo looked horrified.

“Okay, I’ll make you a deal.”

Milo’s head tilted to the side and he gave her a look that said he wasn’t all that sure he should make the deal.

“Your Mommy Sage,” she picked up on the way he spoke about Sage, with love, but likely a nod to how Sage and Fish were helping to keep Milo’s birth mother in the present for her son, “is getting food for you. I’m guessing that you don’t want to get your toys dirty.”

Milo shrugged, but he gave a longing look at the bag of toys.

She could see how much those toys meant to him.

“So, I’m thinking we find a toy that has a smooth feeling to it. That’s probably made of plastic and won’t get too dirty.”

Milo leaned closer and craned his neck to see into the bag. “I don’t want to get any of them dirty.”

Morgan nodded thoughtfully even though she was grinning on the inside. “That sounds like a great idea, but if you want to play with one while we wait, it’ll have to be something that we can wipe clean and take home.”

He thought about it for a moment and nodded. “I have a horse!”

“In that bag?” Morgan gave the bag a look that said she doubted his words. “That bag is too small for a horse.”

He giggled. “It’s not a real horse, silly.”

“Oh!” Morgan nodded. “I see. It’s a toy!”

“That’s right.” He looked at her and shook his head. “You didn’t really think the horse was real.”

She shook her head. “Nope. But I like to play along with people.”

He grinned. “Well, I’ve got two horses if you want to play.”

“Oh! Deal!”

Milo got down on his knees and reached for the toy bag.

By the time the others came back with food, Milo was good and hungry and Morgan? Well, she found herself taken in by this amazing group of people.

She couldn’t believe that in such a short time that she’d become a part of a community that she didn’t have up in Center City.

When the food truck area dimmed their lights and the projector turned on for the movie, Morgan had a full stomach and a full heart.

Being with Palmer was making her life better by the minute.

RHETT

Rhett looked at his phone and saw the photograph that Sage had sent him.

Morgan, sitting cross-legged on a blanket at the Drive in Theater with Milo sitting on her lap. The two of them were engrossed in the movie, so much that they probably didn’t even notice when their picture had been taken.

“What’s that, Rhett?”

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