AllFreeNovel
Share Us
John clicked to Boss, then tossed a tennis ball for him to chase. “Isn’t providing housing to your clients going above and beyond?”
“They aren’t my clients. Just women who needed a safe place to stay. My friend, Jillian—”
“The police officer?”
“Yes. She told me about a domestic abuse call she responded to. It wasn’t the first time she’d been to that house. She and her partner tried to get the woman to leave previously, but she didn’t have any family and wouldn’t go to a shelter. There aren’t a lot of resources in rural areas for single women in need of shelter, so she’d stayed with her abusive spouse. Only this time things had escalated. It sounded a lot like my mother and father’s relationship.”
“Oh.” His pitch dropped, and he dragged the two-letter word out.
“Yeah.” She wasn’t going into her dysfunctional family story now. “Anyway, a short while later, I heard a coworker talking about her parents wanting to sell their tiny home. I made a kind of impulsive decision and bought it.”
“Was the woman Jillian told you about the first one to stay?”
“No.” She’d first tried her damnedest to get her mother to leave her dad and come stay with her, but Mom had insisted he’d mellowed with age and things were better. That remained to be seen, not that she visited. “It was a later call that Jillian responded to that resulted in my first tenant, Mable. A sweet woman in her sixties who’d seen her share of abuse over the years. Different men, same story.” She’d finally found the courage to leave, unlike Elizabeth’s mother. “This was the first place she felt safe. I got her into counseling, hoping to prevent her from getting into another abusive relationship.”
“And it worked?” John asked.
“Yes. Though it was tough. There’s a difference between being independent and being lonely. I ended up hiring a builder for Sanctuary Lodge, thinking the emotional support and inspiration of seeing someone with a similar situation move forward would be beneficial.”
“How long after did you add the third home?”
“Only about six months after the second. The owner of the company that built Sanctuary Lodge had a model he wanted to sell and offered me a great deal to support what I was doing. It was clear that having a community helped both Mabel and Rhonda, so I added Haven House.”
“Nice. You going to clear land and build more?”
“I’m sure there’d be enough women in need to fill two dozen homes if I advertised to social services or law enforcement, but I’m not looking to start a non-profit. Just helping a little where I can.”
“I understand. You’re doing way more than most people to address the problem.”
“It’s not that much.”
“Don’t be modest. How many women have come through here?”
She understood his interest due to staying here. For safety and to protect the women’s dignity, she didn’t talk about The Oasis to many people. His compliment was an unexpected affirmation of what she did. “Not counting the ones who only stayed a week or two, seventeen. And now one man.”
John chuckled. “I figured I’m not your typical rescue.” He took a few seconds to rub Boss’s head before tossing the ball again.
“There are abused men too, but I focus on the women.”And typically steer clear of most men. She tried to relax. They were having a conversation about her work, but she didn’t have to sound so clinical and formal.
“How long do they stay?”
“It varies. Sometimes only a couple of weeks.”
“That’s quick.”
“Those are usually the ones who go back to a bad situation.”
“They bounce back here?”
“Not anymore. I tried that a few times before I implemented the rule that you can remain here as long as needed, but after leaving, you can’t come back to stay. It makes them think hard about going back to a bad situation if they know they don’t have a fallback.”
“But you’d take them back if you had a spot.” He winked and tossed the ball again.
“Yes, but don’t advertise that.” She wasn’t sure if it was the way he winked or how his shirt stretched across his broad shoulders when he effortlessly threw the ball nearly to the fence that stirred something nearly forgotten in her. “Most women are here four to six months. Wren’s been here the longest. She got COVID shortly after she moved in. She was out of work for nearly two months. Then she had a relapse after about six weeks and missed another month of work.”
“That’s gotta suck.”
“Her luck always seems to run bad. She’s been through a lot.”
