Page 10 of Shelter for Morgan

She caught up to him at the bottom of the stairs and waited a step back as he pushed on the long bar to open the outer door. "Is it a sticker?"

He wasn't sure what she was worried about, but he stopped when she headed straight for the camo-painted car that he'd seen driving into the parking lot.

"You worried about the sticker peeling off the paint?"

She looked at him with a smiling wince. "Yeah... I don't allow any stickers on Claude, here."

"Claude?"

She popped open the back of the Kia and he had to round the back bumper to see her.

"When I got him, there was a dent in the back bumper and instead of getting a new one, I took it off and pounded it back into shape, but Jacob told me it looked like shit, and I should get it refinished."

Rhett had to smile at that. "I can hear your brother in that."

She beamed at him. "Right? He's... um... certainly hardheaded and stubborn, so I have to remind him that I didn't fall far from him on the tree."

He couldn't argue with that.

Morgan pulled out a bag and he took it from her hand, earning himself a curious look before she reached in for another bag that she had set down on the other side of her body from him.

"I decided to listen to my big bro for a change." She gave him a look that dared him to say something.

He remained quiet.

Morgan's smile twisted a little at the corner. "And I went down to the hardware store and bought about six colors of spray paint and got to work in the driveway."

She set down another bag on the far side of her body, so he moved closer and reached into the car and took out a suitcase, setting it on the ground by his leg and extending the handle so he could add another bag on top of it.

When she turned back to the car, she did a quick take and looked around her legs. Morgan saw the suitcase he'd set down. "I can get my stuff."

"Sure you can," he shrugged, "but I can help."

"So is this a man thing? A first responder thing?"

"How about a nice thing?"

Morgan gave him a look, but he couldn't quite identify it. She was a mystery to him.

Then again, he hadn't remembered that she was a girl, so his observation skills might be a little lacking.

"Okay. So we're sharing tasks?"

He shrugged. "Of course. We do it at the fire house all the time."

"But you've been living alone up until now."

"Yes. So I take myself to task and share the work around the apartment." He was pretty sure he was smiling at her, but she looked at him as if he was mocking her.

"Right. Ohhhhkay."

He gestured with his hand for another, but she shook her head, making him reach in to grab a big duffle decorated with painted flowers and looped the handles over the suitcase handle.

She gave him a look that threatened mutiny before she shut the door and locked it with the fob on her key chain. She hefted everything in her hands and the bag she wore as a backpack, walking beside him toward the front doors of the complex.

"So what happened?"

Startled, she looked over at him. "When?"

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