Lewis’s lips quirked upward in a wry smile. “You think I’d have a problem with our friends staying in the best possible shelter? We built that place to be comfortable through the winter but we weren’t there to use it ourselves. I’m actually happy you guys moved in instead of someone else because I can trust you took better care of it.”
“We did,” Matt promised. “But now that you guys are coming back to Aspen Hill do you want us to move out?”
“And go where?” his cousin asked wryly. “You said refugees are living in your house now.” He shrugged. “Anyway there’s enough room in there for 10 people, and more people means it’ll be easier to protect.”
“Right. Only with me and Sam married over the winter that means three couples in there. And kids. I hope that won’t be too much of a bother for you…” Matt trailed off sheepishly.
Lewis dropped his face into his hands with an annoyed sound. “You know, Matt, a good friendship is built on giving as well as receiving.”
“Oh I know. Believe me, you guys are first on my list of people I’d donate a kidney to.” Their friend shifted uncomfortably. “Look, Mayor Tillman was talking about construction projects once it looks like we’ve got a long streak of good weather ahead of us. We’ll build ourselves some houses and get out of your hair.”
His cousin slowly raised his head to reveal a relaxed smile. “I’m just giving you a hard time. Why do you think the shelter has so many cots in it?”
Matt gave him a relieved look. “So getting back to the subject of food for sale, how much do you guys have?”
“We left about a year’s worth in the cache.”
Their friend’s smile slipped as he did the math. “For two people?”
“For one person.” Lewis shook his head. “Believe me, I wish it was more too.”
“Well we knew however much it was, it wouldn’t be enough,” Matt said heavily. “It’ll still help. My family’s got some seeds to plant once it warms up, including heirlooms from my mom’s garden, and others in the town are also waiting to plant. This might help us survive long enough to get to our first harvest.”
A somewhat heavy silence fell as they all contemplated insufficient food and starving people. Trev shook the grim thoughts aside. “You’re welcome to sleep in here. It’d give us a chance to swap tales: you can tell us about what’s been going on down in town and what you’ve heard of the outside world, and go on and on about the the bliss of marriage like I’m sure you’re eager to do, and we can tell you about trees and snow and the occasional rabbit and deer. Play your cards right and we might even bust out our recorder and harmonica and play you a duet.”
Matt snorted. “Does this place have room for three people?”
“Sure, we can push the chairs over by the door and tip the table on end and fold the legs. No cot, unfortunately, but we’ve got good sleeping pads and you’ll have the best spot in front of the stove.”
Their friend reluctantly shook his head and stood. “Thanks, but I already feel bad about ditching Jane and Tom to come talk to you. I should probably go camp down with them. You’re welcome to sit with us around the fire until it’s time to turn in, though.”
Trev shared a look with his cousin. “Well, I was just planning on hanging out here bored out of my skull like I’ve done every night for the last few months, but if you insist I suppose I can come hang out for a while.”
Lewis snorted. “For news of the outside world I’d sit in a stand of dead thistle.”
They banked the stove and closed and locked the hideout, then Lewis led the way back down towards the overhang. As they went Trev fell into step beside his friend. “So what’s the story with Jane?” he asked, trying to act casual but probably not doing a good job.
Matt grinned. “Sounds like she made an impression right off the bat.” Trev shrugged. “Well I think Chauncey said it best. Plenty of people have an engaging personality, but according to him Jane has a disengaging personality.”
That made Trev laugh in spite of himself. “Hey, he said that exact same thing about Lewis when we took his class!”
His friend smiled slightly, then got serious again. “I suppose you’ve got some similar personality traits, Lewis. But from what I’ve seen even though you’ve got no problems being alone you also don’t have too many problems being around other people.”
He waved towards the overhang. “On the other hand Jane is polite, professional, and definitely competent, but it’s obvious when she’s around other people that the only thing she really wants out of a social interaction is for it to end. She’ll answer any question or comment you might have, in as few words as possible, but she literally offers nothing to the conversation, and doesn’t seem to notice or care if the silence gets awkward. And the moment she can get away with it it’s back to solitude. Disengaging.”
“Okay,” Trev said. “Only she wasn’t very polite with us.”
“Really? That’s unusual.” Matt grinned at him. “Maybe it’s her way of saying she likes you.”
Trev tried to laugh that off, but even though he knew it was a joke he was still secretly pleased at the thought. Maybe it was the winter of forced isolation with only his cousin for company talking, but even if Jane had been a bit, um, curt with them earlier he was willing to entertain a glimmer of hope.
She was cute.
Chapter Fourteen
Homecoming
The evening around the campfire didn’t turn out to be quite the wellspring of news about the outside world that Lewis had hoped for. Matt mainly wanted to talk about Sam and the wedding, while Tom was mostly interested in talking about the hardships the town had gone through.
It was from the older man that they learned about the attack on the shelter just before Catherine had sent Matt looking for them. Lewis wasn’t pleased about that at all, and after that mostly grumbled about the damage to his door and whether the wind turbines on the vents and the hat on the stovepipe could be cleared to working condition again, if they hadn’t been already.
His cousin was also more than a little irked that the attackers had used some of his gasoline, and was less than pleased when Matt couldn’t tell him that the shed had been locked tight once again. Even Matt’s assurances that the family was guarding the shelter and nobody would mess with the stuff in the shipping container didn’t completely mollify him.
For Trev’s part he tried a couple times to strike up a conversation with Jane, only to have Matt’s assessment of her confirmed by her terse answers as she stared into the flames. He didn’t think she said more than half a dozen words the entire time, and on his third attempt to tease some sort of discussion out of her the redheaded woman abruptly stood and walked to her tent, disappearing inside without a word. Trev worried that he’d said the wrong thing until Tom assured him that it wasn’t unusual for her to just leave without excusing herself.
A bit later Tom also called it a night, looking more than ready to sleep. That left the three of them sitting quietly around the fire, playing chicken on which of them would be the first to break up the party. Trev was almost surprised when Lewis spoke up.
“I’m glad you managed to make things work with the refugees, but should you be letting them guard the town?”
Matt shot him an annoyed look. “There’s no “them” anymore,” he corrected sharply. “It’s all “us”, residents of Aspen Hill. We buried the hatchet last fall and pulled together to survive the winter. I’d especially avoid calling Jane or anyone from her group a refugee. She doesn’t see herself as one.”
“I suppose you’re right. As long as the town survives everyone who lives there has a home.” Lewis abruptly stood. “Speaking of which we should probably get an early start tomorrow.” They said their goodnights and Trev and Lewis made their way back to the hideout. They’d have to be up even earlier than the others to pack up everything they planned to take with them.