Page 9 of Shelter for Martina

MartinaAnderson laughed out loud and it made BudGriffin smile. He got the feeling that a laugh coming from her lips was a rare occasion in the current day. “You’re the first person I’ve found in a long time who gets a reference like that.”

“I remembered that story from my English lit class. I thought I’d hate that class, but I actually liked it.” He toyed with his spoon, although he had no idea why he had one. He drank his coffee black.

“That was hard reading, but the story was interesting.” She fiddled with her own spoon, which she’d used to stir in her sugar. No creamer. That seemed important to him for some reason. “I suppose I should go. Your family’s going to be expecting you.”

Bud shook his head. “No family. Kids live away and wife is dead.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry! Was this recent?”

“About three years ago. Cancer.”

“That’s horrible. At least Tommy didn’t suffer. Wire snapped, came back and hit him in the side of the head, and knocked him overboard. But they said he died the minute the wire hit him. Took out the whole side of his head,” she said and grimaced.

“That’s rough.”

“Funeral was rougher, but the roughest part was having to identify the body. That’s a picture I’ve never been able to get out of my head.”

“I bet.” After a minute or two, he realized he should get up and go, but he didn’t want to. Something about the woman made him want to sit there with her, talk to her, listen to her. He thought about her little house, so neat and tidy and cozy. What would it be like to be there for more than just a question and answer session? And what about his house, with its big great room and master suite? What would a woman like her make of that? Before he could stop himself, he asked, “What did your dad do for a living?”

“What?”

“Your father. What did he do for a living?”

“He’s a farmer. Still farms almost three thousand acres out in OhioCounty, out near the DaviessCounty line.”

He smiled. “Tough life.”

“Yeah, but we were lucky. My grandpa helped him and didn’t take any pay. Made his money from the railroad, selling land to them, so Daddy always had free help. Then a few years back, he started doing soybeans, and then moved into cattle. They have a comfortable lifestyle.”

“Must’ve been hard to raise two girls alone and on almost nothing after your husband passed.”

“My parents helped out, but yeah. It was a struggle. Still is. It’s hard to keep a roof over your head when you can’t get a good job.”

“Why don’t you go back to teaching?”

She frowned and her eyes reddened. “Because I can’t take enough time off work to get my recert to go back to work. I mean, how would I survive? I barely make ends meet as it is. I can’t just quit work and go back to school, even temporarily.”

He nodded. “Yeah. That makes it almost impossible, doesn’t it?”

“No. It makes it completely impossible.”

“Would you let me take you to dinner sometime?” The minute the words came out of his mouth, Bud wanted to beat his head on the table.WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING?his brain screamed.

“You mean, like a… date?” the woman asked, her eyes wide.

Boy, you’ve stepped in it now, you idiot, he chided himself. “Yeah. Like a date.”

“Is that ethical? I mean, with you working on my daughter’s case?”

“I don’t know what difference that would make. I’m not going to give it more or less time than I would otherwise. I’m going to follow leads just like I would with anybody else’s case.” It was a mystery to him why he was asking this woman out. He didn’t date. He didn’t think about dating. And yet, there was something about her that had captured his thoughts and held them hostage. Even though his brain told him it was wrong for him to go in that direction, his heart wanted to see those blue eyes smile. He’d managed it once that afternoon. Could he do it again? There was only one way to find out. “So, are you interested?”

“Um, yes. Yes! Okay. Sure. Yeah. So, when?”

“How about Thursday night? I’ll come and pick you up, and we’ll drive into Owensboro. I think that would be best. Keeps us both out of OhioCounty, you know.”

“Yes. Good plan. Okay. So Thursday night. I get off at three, so—”

“Right. I’ll be there at five thirty. How’s that?”

---