Page 16 of Shielding Aubree

"Then in what way?"

"I..." Aubree hesitated before she spoke again, "I guess I never really thought about it."

Henley sat there quietly, waiting for something.

"I guess I didn't want to know what they felt about it. Really felt about it. It's easier to just ignore the thought than find out the answer isn't something I wanted to know." Aubree exhaled in a sigh. "I want my family to believe in me, but I'm not sure that I believed in them not to hurt me in return."

Aubree felt a kind of gnawing in her stomach and lifted a hand to cover her belly. Almost the very moment that she set her palm down on her middle, her stomach growled.

Loudly.

Aubree and Henley looked at each other for a long moment before they both laughed.

"Well," Henley managed to say when she was able to breathe through her laughter, "let's go get you something to eat."

Henley got on her feet first but waited for Aubree to ask for help if she needed it.

Aubree didn't, but she used the counter to steady herself when she was almost to her feet. "Lunch sounds great," she admitted. "Especially since I missed breakfast."

"Sometimes schedules around here will change. We can adapt things to cover your needs if we need to."

Aubree nodded. "I don't want to miss my chance to get to the pool today. I have a feeling that it's going to be another game changer."

Ruben foundhimself pacing the pool deck, waiting for Aubree to arrive. He'd been thinking about her since they'd met and wanted to learn more about her.

In just the few minutes that they'd interacted he'd found a deep respect for her.

It was something inherent in meeting their clients. There was something inspiring in meeting people who had gone through terrible things and found the courage not just to live but to want to make things better. To strive for more than just putting one figurative foot in front of the other.

They were always a constant source of inspiration for him, even though he'd gone through similar challenges.

Actually, they were an inspiration because he'd gone through things.

It made every day extra special for him, but there was something he felt welling up inside of him from the moment he woke up that morning.

He'd even made the effort to go to breakfast to catch a glimpse of her.

And didn't. Finn and Henley invited him to sit with them as they went over the schedules for the day, and he'd joined them and managed to avoid Henley's pointed questions.

It was Finn who'd gotten him to talk.

"I heard you met Aubree yesterday."

"Mmmhmm." He'd taken a sip of coffee and set the cup down on the tabletop but didn't let go of the handle just yet in case he needed a shield.

"Did you know about her before she came to The Refuge?"

Ruben's hand flexed around the handle of the mug. "The situation. Sure. Her name? No. The story around the crash was pretty mysterious."

Finn moved his gaze to his wife before returning it to Ruben. "I think it's almost a... a-"

"Crazy, random, happenstance?"

Robert, the chef at the facility sat down at the table and set a basket of piping hot English Muffins down in the middle.Individual pats of butter and small packets of jelly were also in the cloth lined wicker baskets. "Sorry to butt in. I heard what you folks were talking about."

Finn nodded and nudged the basket closer to his wife. "Honey?"

Henley picked one out and put it on her plate, taking a packet of strawberry jam before giving her husband a sweet smile.

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