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She didn't answer so he went looking for her.
She was standing on the front porch, perched against a corner of the house, looking out over the vast countryside.
"It's pretty out here," she said in a softer tone. She glanced at him, her eyes flashing with surprise at his transformation. "Funny, I didn't expect your place to be pretty."
"No? What did you expect?" He tried ignoring the fact that she looked so fragile.
"Certainly not a beautifully manicured lawn." Her gaze scanned the lawn and fields of fresh plowed dirt.
He shrugged, "I liked this place the moment I saw it. It's a little out of the way sometimes, but it's all mine." Ben said with pride.
"You own it?"
"Yeah, Old man Johnson died a few years back and I bought the place."
"So you've made Junction your home? Where are you from, originally?"
"My second home, Amarillo will always be home to me."
"Amarillo, huh?"
"Yeah." He watched her with renewed interest.
She nodded and stretched, moving away from him. Maybe she was just as nervous about being here with him as he was with her.
"So Sheriff where's your wife and kid
s?" She asked looking about the yards with a slight smile to her lips.
"Don't have any, don't have any use for marriage myself." he said quietly, glancing at the small flower bed and realizing they needed watering. His rose bushes were suffering from the heat. He walked to the side of the house, turned on the hose and began watering the flowers.
She seemed stunned. "Why's that?"
"Lots of reasons, I guess. I don't need to get tied down. The kind of work I do, can be hazardous. Most women don't want to deal with that."
"You mean in a town like Junction, your work could be dangerous?" She mocked.
"Things happen every now and then."
"So you don't intend getting married at all?"
"Hadn't thought about it that much, but I don't see it in my immediate future, if that's what you mean."
"There are a few things you can't do alone, Sheriff ..."
His glance slid up and down her quickly. "Maybe, but you don't have to marry to have that either."
"I see. Maybe you're just gay then?" She blurted out.
He glanced at her and frowned, "I beg your pardon?"
"I said, are you gay? I mean, you don't seem to like women, so I thought maybe you were gay."
"No," his eyes narrowed into a frown. Whatever possessed her to ask that question, he didn't know. Nothing seemed to fit with this gal, she managed to surprise him at every turn. Where had that question come from? "I'm not gay. I'm just a cautious man, and she'd have to be awful special to rope and hog tie me."
"Rope and hog tie you?" Her expressive eyes narrowed on him, like a green laser beaming at its target. "Is that how you see marriage?" She was almost indignant. "But the flowers ..."
When he cocked his head she continued. "It doesn't all fit."
