Page 51 of Refuge for Flora

“Yeah, and you saw how I handled that last night. And that’s how it’s going to stay. You’re right. I need to make a clean break. Now, let’s finish these dishes and I’m going home. After you help her get ready for the day, you can come down and use my computer.”

“Okay. Sounds good.” It seemed as though she wanted to say something else, but she finally just spun in his arms and went back to working on the dishes, so he picked up the plate and towel and kept drying.

An hour later, he rolled up into his driveway and looked at the house. The vinyl siding he’d put on it a few years before had held up well, and it looked good. His own yard could use a little attention, but that was no big deal. He didn’t have a lot of flowers and crap, just shrubs that he could prune. And he’d done a lot of work on the inside when he bought it, so it was in good shape. Would a woman want to live there?

Jessica had. He had a feeling that if he asked, Jesse would move right back in, but that wasn’t happening. That was the instant that he had an idea. There was no way of knowing when he’d get to kick it into gear, but he figured it wouldn’t be long.

It never was.

Chapter 7

The list was short,and it wouldn’t take her long to get everything. Mrs.Murphy had also asked for cigarettes, which Flora had flatly refused to buy. For her age, she was in reasonably good health, and Flora saw no sense in changing that. Mrs.Murphy, however, had decided that she wasn’t going to live a lot longer anyway, so she might as well do whatever she wanted.

All the things on the list were in the cart and she was headed to the checkout when an unusual number popped up on her phone. It was an area code she’d never seen before.Probably a telemarketer for the person who had this number before, she reasoned, but she went ahead and answered it. “Hello?”

“Is this FloraStevens?”

Yep. Telemarketer.Then she realized she hadn’t had the phone long enough for anyone to know she had it, plus it was a burner phone, and suspicion took over. “Yes?”

“Hi. My name is MistyFogherty. I’m MarilynMurphy’s daughter.”

She knew the first name had sounded familiar. “Oh! Yes! I’m sleeping in your room!”

“Yes. That’s what my mother said. Is she doing okay?”

“As okay as she can be at her age, I suppose.” There were a million questions Flora wanted to ask, but she didn’t want to alienate the woman. Misty might be her only source of information.

“You know she won’t have anything to do with me, right?”

“I know she doesn’t talk about you, but I don’t know anything else. She hasn’t said anything.”

“She’s angry because I remarried after my divorce and Paul needed to work on the west coast, so we moved here. It really frosted her, and she’s refused to have anything to do with me.”

“How did you get my number?”

“I called and she said, ‘Girl, if you want anything, you’ll have to ask my personal assistant, ‘cause you ain’t getting’ nothin’ from me.’ Sounds like her, right?” Misty asked with a laugh.

Flora was chuckling. “Yeah. It sure does!”

“Yep. That’s my mother. So now you’ve got my number. Feel free to call me if you need to. And if I were you, I wouldn’t say anything about us talking. She might tell you to pack your bags and get out.”

“I’m afraid you’re right, so I’ll say nothing. You can call me anytime and I’ll tell you anything I think you need to know, and probably some things you don’t. Like I’m at the store and she wanted me to buy cigarettes for her.”

“She doesn’t smoke.”

Flora snickered. “Yeah. I know. She said she’s not going to live much longer, so she wanted to try it.”

“Are you buying the?”

“God, no! I’m not buying her cigarettes! Good lord, she wants that mess, she’ll have to get somebody else to buy them because I’m sure as hell not!”

“Thank you. So I’ll let you finish your shopping, but call if you need me. Please.”

“Will do. And you do the same. It was good to talk to you.”

“You too. Take care. Bye.”

Flora stood there and stared at the phone. So Misty wasn’t a five-headed monster after all, just pissed her mom off by living her life. Yeah, she knew what that was like.

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