“It’s my farm.”
“It was your farm. You’re dead,” Mia said. “It’s mine now.”
Murphy advanced fast on Mia with his axe raised. She drew her sword. “Just try it and you’re finished,” she said, her eyes streaming with tears.
Murphy dropped to his knees. “What am I doing?”
“It looked like a frontal attack to me,” Mia said. “But you left your midsection vulnerable.”
“It was so easy to click off the pain in the GSD,” Murphy confessed.
“But then the love left too,” Mia said. “I don’t want you to leave. I know things can’t be the same. Frankly, we were headed for crazy town. Can’t we start over? Be colleagues if friendship is too painful?” she pleaded. “The man I know is still in there. You can take away his axe, but he still is an axeman. You can put him on a ship, but he still yearns for the trees that supplied the masts.”
“How well you know me,” Murphy said softly.
“You’re still a mystery, but I listen when you talk.”
“You don’t do as I say.”
“No, it goes against my character to do so.”
“You’re a royal pain in the backside.”
“You’re no treat either.”
Murphy smiled.
Mia smiled back at him. She extended her hand.
“A gloved hand?”
“You have to earn the bare skin,” Mia said simply.
Murphy laughed. “I’ve walked your mind, been inside your body, and yet you won’t touch me with your bare skin.”
“Nope,” Mia said, still holding out her hand.
He took it and shook it. “Let’s not be colleagues, friends are better,” he said.
“Friends,” Mia said and released his hand.
“Mia, I’m sorry for how I spoke to you on the ship.”
“Your dad made you apologize, didn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“He’s a good man,” Mia said, turning to leave.
“Mia, did I break your heart?”
“If anyone comes around asking, the answer is yes.”
“But did I?” Murphy asked.
Mia turned back and studied him a moment. “The honest answer is complicated, but the short answer is no.”
Murphy frowned.
Mia didn’t want to hurt him, but she didn’t want things to return to how they were. She felt she could move on if she didn’t have to be wary of the pull of his steely eyes. Michael and Raphael had given her a chance to pull away from Murphy by ridding him from the very cells of her heart. How could Murphy be imbedded so deeply in her that every breath she took after his rejection seemed a wasted effort?
She smiled to herself as she remembered opening her eyes and seeing Ted gazing down at her. His love filled her, sustained her, and drove away her personal demons. She wanted to be the superhero he thought she was. She wanted to raise her boys with him, and laugh when they found themselves in over their heads. It was these thoughts that had her take wing and fly as fast as she could away from Murphy.
~
Cid walked into the kitchen. “What’s that god-awful smell?”
“I’m frying sausage,” Mia said.
“You’re not frying. You’re… How can it be burnt on the outside and raw inside?” he asked.
“I got to thinking, maybe, when it was too dry, I was flipping them too soon,” Mia said.
“No, you were spearing them, letting out all the juices.”
“Oh, yeah,” Mia said.
“Why are you cooking?” he asked.
“Because I was hungry and tired of waiting for you to see me leave the house in order to come in and use the kitchen. If it helps, I talked with Murphy and we have an understanding.”
Cid didn’t say anything.
“Evidently, Ted knows all about the Captain Crocker stuff, as do Mason, Fergus, and Kevin. So, I’m not hiding anything. I can’t. With your big ears and…”
“Mia, I’m sorry,” Cid said.
Hope filled Mia’s face.
Cid continued, “I can’t save these sausages.” He dumped them in the trash.
“There will be other meats,” Mia said and walked out of the kitchen.
Cid stared down at the trash and then at the empty space where Mia had been standing. “I’m such a fool.” He went in search of her. She was pulling weeds out of the flower bed, and a few flowers too.
“Stop! You’re going to hate yourself later,” he said. He sat down beside her. “I see you as the classic heroine, strong and determined to do things right.”
“Classic heroines don’t bounce back this fast, have wings, lusty husbands, an obnoxious toddler, a pining ghost, and a friend who never knows when to shut up.”
“True. So, I’ve decided that you weren’t wrong at all. It’s how I was seeing you. You don’t need rescuing.”
“For the record, I have needed rescuing at least twenty times.”
“Shut up.”
“Yes, Cid.”
“May I continue?”
Mia nodded.
“Correction, you don’t need me rescuing you, coddling you, defending you when Ted’s an ass.”
“I do appreciate you doing it though.”
“Yes, I guess you do. You were numb after Murphy wouldn’t come back. I mistook it for not caring. I didn’t know who you were. Lazar did. Mike was just doing what I asked him to do,” Cid explained.
“Shit, so I have to apologize to Mike now?”
“No. He’ll just take advantage.”
“Damn straight.”
“Mason has this game…”
“No, not the Kill, Marry, Make Love To. I always end up killed,” Mia said. “He never put your name in the game.”
“I know. Why not?”
“Because we’re already sorta married,” Mia suggested.
Cid laughed. “I’m more married to Ted than you,” he
