in here.” He gestured her inside.
She walked into a small but homey living area. To the right was the refrigerator and stove and cabinets that comprised a small kitchen. A table for two divided the kitchen area from the main living space.
A brown sofa and recliner sat in front of a stone fireplace. To the left of the fireplace a television was mounted on the wall. A bright blue crocheted afghan hung over the back of the sofa, adding a pop of color. There was a cozy warmth to the space with its rich wooden walls and lamps shaped like kerosene lanterns on the end tables.
It was definitely a male space. Other than the afghan, there were no decorative accents suggesting any feminine touches at all, but she admired the natural beauty of the space.
“This is so nice,” she finally said as grateful tears welled up in her eyes. “Are you sure it’s okay for me to stay here for a day or two?”
He looked away from her and cleared his throat. “I’m positive. I’ll just go and turn on the air-conditioner. It’s definitely warm in here.” He disappeared through one of the doorways off the main room.
Suddenly, Madison was exhausted. After her car had broken down, she’d walked from her car to the Holiday barn. Then she’d gotten settled in the hay in the barn and had spent most of the night sobbing.
She sank down on the sofa as Flint came back into the room. “The door on the right goes to my bedroom. The door in the middle is the bathroom and the door on the left is a guest room. I’ll just put your suitcase in there.”
He grabbed the suitcase and once again disappeared. All she wanted now was to sleep, hopefully without dreams. If she just took a nap then surely she’d be able to think more clearly and figure out a real plan for what needed to happen next in her life.
When he returned to the main room, he stuffed his hands in his jeans pockets, jiggled keys and frowned. “Maddy, are you sure there’s nothing else you want to tell me?”
“No, but I’d like to ask you for another favor. I hate to ask because you’re already doing so much in letting me stay here.”
“What is it?”
“I was wondering if you could call the garage and have my car towed in. I don’t have a cell phone.”
“It wouldn’t do you much good out here. The reception is definitely spotty. There’s a landline phone on the nightstand next to my bed. But if you want I can make the call to the garage for you.”
“Yes, if you don’t mind.”
He moved toward the front door. “I don’t mind.” She gave him the specifics of where the car was located and that she’d left the keys under the driver floor mat.
“I should give you my cell phone number in case you think of something else you need. There’s a pad and pens in the drawer in the end table.”
He pulled out the items and handed them to her. He gave her his cell phone number and she wrote it down. “There are a couple of cold drinks in the fridge, but other than that it’s pretty empty. I’ll go pick up some supplies for you and bring them back here.”
“I can pay you for whatever you spend on me,” she replied. She did have some money...all of her life savings was tucked into a bra in her suitcase. Sadly, it wasn’t much to start fresh in another town, but she had to make it work. She’d never expected to have to leave Bitterroot behind, but now she had no choice. She had to escape.
“We’ll worry about that later. I’ll see you in about an hour or so.” And with that he went out the door.
She immediately got up and locked the door behind him. She then went to the room where he intended for her to stay. The room was just large enough to hold a queen-size bed and a dresser.
The bed was covered with a white-and-yellow spread, a pleasing complement to the gleaming wooden walls. She stared at her suitcase at the foot of the bed and decided she’d unpack a few things later.
She peeked into his bedroom, where the bed was king-size and covered with an attractive black-and-gray spread. There was also a dresser in this room, but there was nothing on top of it to indicate anyone lived here.
Finally, with her exhaustion tugging heavily on her, she went back into the bedroom where her suitcase sat at the foot of the bed. She tugged it up to the bed and opened it. She wasn’t going to completely unpack, but she grabbed clean clothes and then went into the bathroom.
After spending the night in the hay in the hot barn, she desperately needed a shower. She felt dirty and itchy and intended to take advantage of the fact that Flint was gone to take the opportunity of the much-needed shower.
She found a stack of neatly folded towels beneath the sink and a bar of minty fresh-smelling soap already in the shower. There was also a bottle of shampoo on the floor inside the stall.
She took a glorious shower and shampooed her long hair three times. Then, once clad in a clean summer dress, she beelined for the sofa.
Pulling the blue afghan around her, she marveled that she was in this cabin where for the moment she felt comfortable and safe.
For the moment...
She couldn’t know what might happen when Flint returned. Would he expect payment for his kindness? And would he want a different kind of payment other than money? Would he take what he thought she owed him by force?
No...that couldn’t happen. She couldn’t let that happen. She got up from the sofa and went to the kitchen area. It took her three tries to find the drawer that held a variety of sharp knives. She grabbed the biggest, the meanest-looking one in the drawer and then returned to the sofa.
As she got comfortable once again she squeezed her eyes closed against the heart and soul weariness that had battered her for the past couple of months. She’d never believed there would come a time when she would be so much at the mercy of someone else.
In another lifetime she would have chosen to be with a cowboy like Flint. She’d always assumed that one day she’d marry a cowboy and live happily-ever-after on a ranch. He’d ride the range during the days while she stayed at home and raised babies. She moved her hand to rest on her lower belly.
Those dreams...all her dreams for herself and for her future had been shattered on a night a little over three months ago. Now the thing that frightened her most was she couldn’t see a future for herself. She didn’t know where she was going to go or how she was going to survive.
She touched the hilt of the knife, its presence next to her reassuring as she drifted off to sleep.
Before Flint got out of his car at the grocery store, he made the call to Larry Wright’s car dealership and garage to get Maddy’s car towed in. Then as he went up and down the grocery store aisles he filled his basket with the kinds of foods he thought a woman would like to eat.
He remembered when he’d taken Jenny Oldham out to dinner she’d ordered a big salad. So he picked up a head of lettuce, a handful of tomatoes and several other fresh vegetables and then added a bottle
