The Widow Soldier

Chapter 3

We looked at each other and a look of remembrance passed along her face. Then she said,

"Oh hey, it's Ruby right?"

I looked at her trying to remember where we knew each other from. Then it hit me, the cafe.

"Oh yeah, hey Laura."

"You're in Iowa." she says excitedly.

"I am." I try my best to match her excitement but it's difficult, me not really knowing how. Whilst I'm handing her some of the groceries that fell out of the bag I'm looking around for the man with the gun, who had crashed into my car, or the one I hot-wired. I didn't see anything so I turned my attention back to Laura who was just looking up from the bag.
After a brief moment of silence, she speaks up,

"You should come have dinner at our place!" She said excitedly, "The kids will be happy to see you!"

"Oh no I couldn't intrude like that, I'll be on my way, maybe we'll bump into each other again." I say quickly trying to cut this short as I still needed to get out of the open.

"Oh nonsense, you wouldn't be intruding, you'd be our guest, you can also help me with these groceries."

I thought for a short moment, realizing I didn't know how to get myself out of this situation whilst being polite, I agreed.

When we arrived at their farmhouse. I must admit it's kind of nice here away from the city where we just were. I could hear the wind blowing through the branches of the leafless trees. It was a frigid day but there was no snow on the ground considering it was still too warm to snow. We walked up to the house and entered being greeted by Clint who was already reaching out to grab the grocery bags from us, behind him were two kids I didn't know the names of.

"This is Cooper, and this here is Lila." Clint said.

"Nice to meet you guys, I'm Ruby."

"Nice to meet you too!" they chorused together.

I smiled at the kids and then offered to help with the groceries, and with dinner. Which Laura, who was cooking that day, politely accepted.

———Time Skip———

"That was wonderful thank you, Laura." I said. I then went to clean up my dishes and put them away.

"Thank you, and you don't have to do that, you're our guest please let us."

"Oh it's fine really, it's the least I could do after you invited me to dinner."

She let me help with cleaning up the table and putting the dishes away. After that we went to watch the kids play in the living area.

After a while, I was about to leave when Laura's voice stopped me.

"You should stay the night Ruby, it's already quite late and I wouldn't want you to walk around at night." She said.

"Oh I couldn't, I've already overstayed my welcome."

Just as I was about to say something else, her voice cut me off.

"Ruby it's really not a big deal, we have the extra space and we would love for you to stay, even if it's just til morning."

Her soft voice and the look in her eyes made it impossible for me to say no, so I hesitantly accepted.

———Time Skip———

The next morning I woke up in a panic until I remembered where I was, and why. I had stayed at the Barton's farmhouse and was completely safe, for now.

I got up from bed to see the doors to Cooper and Lila's rooms still closed. I went over to the kitchen and found Clint Barton and his wife Laura both talking to each other. I leaned up against the door to see if they realized I was there. After a few moments, Clint turned to face me.

"Hey Ruby, didn't realize you were up. Did we wake you?" Clint said.

"No, I woke up a while ago"

"Well if you want to, you can get a shower before the youngsters wake up." Laura chimes in, looking up from the scrambled eggs she is currently cooking.

After I took a shower I made my way back over to the kitchen. The two kids were already up and in the kitchen eating the breakfast Laura had made for them.

I took a seat on the couch just a few feet from the kitchen when Clint walked over.

"Hey Clint, I know I've overstayed my welcome and I'm planning on leaving in the next hour, I just wanted to tell Laura before I disappeared. Don't want to freak her out."

"Ok, we'll if you need anything before you go let me know." Clint said.

"Will do." I said

Laura walked over to me as I walked out of my room with my getaway bag in hand ready to leave.

"Hey, I heard you were leaving."

"I am. I would like to thank you for letting me stay here, you didn't have to, I am a complete stranger." I said the last part with a light, breathy chuckle.

"It's fine, really, if you ever need a place to stay, you're always welcome here. The kids really like you too."

I suddenly felt a twinge of sadness find its way into my heart. I've never felt like this before and it was confusing, to say the least. The emotion I usually showed was fake, and I was confused as to why this family had grown so familiar, and close to me within the small amount of time I had known them. I didn't want to stay any longer knowing I could still be being followed.

"I had a wonderful time staying here, but I do need to go. I have things to do." I said.

She leaned over to hug me. I was taken aback for a few moments, then I hugged her back. Ending the hug was the horn of the taxi I had called.

By the time I was out of sight of the farmhouse I told the taxi to stop on the side of the road, and gave him a twenty-dollar tip, as I felt bad he had driven all the way out here for me to ask him to drop me off on the side of the road.

Once the taxi was out of sight I began my trek towards the city. Where I didn't know it yet, but disaster would meet me.

Authors note

Hey peeps, I know I'm super late to updating and if you are still here reading thank you. I will try to do better and put multiple chapters out at a time as I know they aren't the longest. I do hope you are enjoying the storyline so far.

If you have anything you would like to suggest feel free to, I'll do my best to read the comments for things like that. Also, feel free to comment on spelling/grammar mistakes as I know there has to be some.

If you are ever confused please comment and I will do my best to clear up any uncertainty and answer any questions you have.

I would like to know if you like the memes thingies at the top and I will continue if you do but if you would rather me not I will refrain from doing so. ( I know this A/N was long and I apologize)

See ya, later my peeps. 👋🏻

Word count-1081
Word count does not include A/N at the end of the story.