Page 51 of Shelter for Morgan

When they finally broke away, she was trapped in his gaze.

"Wow," she struggled to even out her breathing, "I can't believe this..."

Palmer laughed and she found herself stunned by the happiness in his voice. "I did this all backwards."

She turned her head and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "I think you did it just fine."

"No," he shook his head, "I was planning to ask you out on a date tonight."

"Then you really did do this all backwards." Her hands moved over his forearms and up to his shoulders and back again where his hands caught her hands in his.

"How so?"

"Because..." She couldn't believe how good it felt to have Palmer holding her hands like this. "We're kind of on a date. So you kissed me before you asked me to date you and we're on a date even before that!"

"I hadn't thought about it like that."

She nodded. "Don't worry. I have more than enough thoughts for me, I just forget to keep them in my head."

"I can't wait for you to share them with me, Morgan."

"You'd be hard pressed to stop me."

He brought their joined hands up between them and kissed her knuckles on both hands. "I'm not planning to stop you."

They moved together, crossing the street toward the Market Square.

"Oh," he spoke softly to her, "let me know when you want to go to that artist's gallery."

She stumbled and he easily righted her since he was still holding her hand. "I was just thinking that I didn't get his name."

"I got it."

Morgan looked up at him with a look that combined joy and disbelief. "You did?"

He nodded. "I scanned the QR code off of his sign. We can look at it later."

She shook her head. "You are incredible, Palmer. You... you make me happy."

He looked almost embarrassed as they continued to walk together, but she felt like she'd just found herself in the most amazing place in the world.

With Palmer.

CHAPTER NINE

MORGAN

Several days later when Benji walked back into her classroom, she opened her mouth to welcome him back in front of the class, but the way he was studiously looking down at the ground told her that this wasn't the time.

He looked... grey.

It was something about his complexion that had her worrying about his health.

She knew that when she was younger her parents took a dim view of missing school unless she was near death, or if her dad was home and she had period cramps, he'd excuse it.

She was fairly sure that Jacob understood less than their dad did about women's reproductive mechanics, but she'd always told herself that when she had kids, she would never force her kids to go to school if they were sick.

It wasn't healthy for others, first of all, but there had been times when she felt if she'd stayed home for a day or two when she'd just become sick, she wouldn't have gotten as sick as she did.

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