Page 67 of Daddy's Little Farmer

“I have some calls to make. May I use your phone?”

“Of course. Are you ready to tell me your name?”

She bit her lip and shook her head. “I’m afraid.”

“Of what, honey?”

She shrugged.

“Can you talk about why you ran last night?” he asked.

She thought about it for a moment and then nodded. “I’m ina—or Iwas—in a relationship with someone. I lived far away, and he brought me here but then started ignoring me. Last night I had some friends help me dress up to look like a sophisticated lady and go to this business thing he had to go to.”

She wiped the tear away. “W-when I got there, he was with another woman.”

“Jesus.”

“He saw me, got furious, and pulled me out of the room. He yelled at me and told me to go back down and Jor … his driver, would take me home. He told me we’d talk about it when he got home.”

“I told him to let me go and return to his girlfriend, which made him angrier. I ran. I didn’t want to go to his home and couldn’t think of where else to go.”

“Why did you run into my building?”

“It was the first one unlocked.”

“What were you going to do?” Alex asked.

She looked down in embarrassment. “Find a quiet place to hide. You must think I’m a big baby.”

Alex cupped her chin in his hand. “Not at all. What happened to you was horrible, and I’d probably do the same thing.”

“Really?”

“Yes, honey. May I ask where you’re from?”

“Iowa.”

He nodded. “Do you have family there?”

She shook her head. “No, just my father’s best friend who looked after me before I moved.”

“Would he take you in if I get you there?”

“Maybe, but I still have a farm there.”

“That’s good, right?”

“It’s just when he moved me here, he moved my animals, too.”

“Do you want to take them back home?”

“I don’t see how. It took four large trailers and ten guys to move them.” She swallowed several times to keep from crying. “So, my dilemma is if I leave, I leave my animals. I don’t know what to do.”

“I’m going to ask you something, but wait until I’m finished to say no. How about you talk to the man? Maybe there are things you don’t know.”

She shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know.”

“Think about it.”

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