Free Laura Ray (Ray Series) by Kelley Brown

showed up with a bouquet of fresh flowers from Samantha’s Flower Shop. Nobody had brought her flowers since Nora brought her flowers from the yard or flower garden. She gasped at the beautiful spring bouquet. The pleasure showed all over her face as she took them to the kitchen and put them on the table.
    Art thanked his lucky stars that he had followed his sudden impulse yesterday on the way home from work to swing by Samantha’s. Finally he had done something right.
    “Thank you so much,” she turned to him with a smile after she had placed them on the table. “I am so ready for spring, aren’t you? I feel that we have been in a drought this winter.”
    A curious thing to say, Art thought considering it wasn’t Christmas yet.
    “Hi, Danny,” Art said as Danny came into the kitchen, he supposed from his bedroom.
    “Hi, Uncle Art,” Danny chimed ready for dinner. Danny went to the cabinet and began getting the dinnerware for the table.
    “Would you like a glass of tea while I set the table?” Danny asked.
    “No, thank you,” Art responded. “I’ll wait.” Art enjoyed watching Laura and Danny interact as they sat the table and prepared the food. Apparently, they followed a routine that they habitually completed. He appreciated that Danny never complained or asked questions but knew exactly what needed done.
    After the meal, Laura prepared the leftovers for the refrigerator and Danny set the dishes in the sink and asked to be excused from the table to watch TV. “Sure, Laura responded.
    Laura sat back down at the table across from Art and smiled over at him.
    Art said, “I’m curious, Laura. Do you like your job?”
    Laura looked at him strangely, “I’m not sure what you’re asking me. I’m making more now than I ever thought I would. I have been able to build my savings again some since I have been meeting quota. I don’t worry about paying my bills now so yes, I guess I’m satisfied with my job.”
    “What are your hobbies that you do at home that make you happy?”
    “I read books, like novels. Sometimes I crochet but not very often.” Fr owning she asked, “What is this, in inquisition?”
    Art smiled, “I don’t mean to upset you, Laura. I’m just trying to find out what makes you tick, so to speak. What makes you happy ?”
    “Are you happy, Laura?” Art asked again. “It sounds like you are existing, but not living.”
    How dare him come in my house and talk to me like this ! Indignantly she stated, “I am raising my son! That’s the most important thing a mother can do.”
    “I agree,” Art admitted calmly. “But, Laura, what makes you happy?”
    Changing the subject, Laura requested, “Tell me about yourself, Art. What have you done in the last few years?”
    “I was born in Kansas as the fifth child and Mary was the sixth. The older children were considerably older than us, so we were best buddies until we started school. We always tried to have the other ones back. When I graduated High School, I joined the Navy. I learned to fly airplanes and flew some for World War II and some in the Korean War. I’ve traveled to ten countries and all over the United States. I’ve seen lots of the world. After twenty years I yearned to come home and live near Mary and enjoy my nephew Aaron.”
    “Sounds like you’ve done a lot of things and been to a lot of places. What about family? Have you been married?” Laura asked.
    “Yes, I was blessed to enjoy my lovely wife for eleven years before she died of cancer. She’s been gone for eight years now.” Art swallowed and smiled at her. “It can still be raw when I think about it too much.”
    He reached over and touched her hand, “I really do know some of what you have been going through. I reached a bad bout of depression for a while until I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t dead. I still had a life to live and enjoy. That’s when I began to heal.”
    “You never had children?”
    “No, we tried for years but her cancer