“A chastity belt might keep her from grabbing your goodies.” She smiled, because she loved Carol’s boisterous personality. There was no telling what name she’d come up with for Ben today, but he hadn’t blinked at Stud Muffin so she thought he could handle any other name thrown his way.
“I’ll keep you between us. You can be my guard.” He patted her butt as they went up the steps to her deck, and the familiar gesture didn’t just warm her heart, it melted her insides.
Surprisingly, Carol was on good behavior. She beamed at them. Barb told them about Meredith Parsons being a PTA, and helping Carol with some exercises. Carol also winked at Ben and gave him two thumbs-up, and left them to wonder exactly what she was approving of: the physical therapy, his buns, or the fact that he was with Sela.
Ben’s big pickup handled the narrow mountain road without any problem, and the high suspension allowed him to drive right over the big rock in the middle of the driveway that stopped most people. She was astonished that it had been just two days since she’d walked up this steep drive, both terrified and determined.
The house was cold when they went in, but of course he hadn’t been here in about thirty-six hours so the fire had gone out. He stopped just inside the door and looked around; intuitively she knew he was thinking about the dog, missing its presence. He’d done a good thing for the Livingstons, giving the dog to them, but at a cost to himself. He didn’t say anything about it, though, just efficiently got a fire going in the woodstove. His house wasn’t as cold as hers would have been after that length of time without a fire, making her think he’d added to the insulation.
There was a small fireplace in his bedroom, and she wouldn’t be surprised if the other bedrooms also had fireplaces. If she remembered correctly, Carol had once mentioned that this house had been a small bed-and-breakfast, which meant bedroom fireplaces were likely. He lit the fire in his bedroom, and also lit a kerosene heater to help warm the house faster.
He didn’t wait until the house was warm, though, to start stripping off his clothes. “I need a shower.” He looked at her and one of those slow smiles curved his mouth. “Want to help?”
She did, and half an hour later he had just three condoms left.
Of course the bandage on his shoulder got wet so she rebandaged that, this time with more of the butterfly bandages though the wound was closing nicely. She brushed her hair dry, bent over in front of the fireplace, and had just finished when the ham radio set in the bedroom crackled to life and a man’s voice recited a series of letters and numbers.
Ben was at the radio almost before she had isolated the direction of the sound, sitting down and grabbing a microphone, reciting his own series of letters and numbers. Then he said, “Good to hear from you, bro.”
“You too. How are things there in the wilderness?”
“Stable. People are coping. We’ve had some trouble, but it’s being handled. How about you?”
“We’re safe. We settled near a military base. Gen had to stop and go to ground, wait for me to catch up to her, but I managed to get to her before the grid went down. Travel was a clusterfuck. Some bad actors were already doing shit.”
Sela moved closer, fascinated by news from the outside. Since the last radio station in Knoxville had stopped transmitting, she had felt isolated here in the valley. Ben reached out an arm and pulled her down onto his knee, and she leaned against him.
“Any good news, or is it all bad?”
“The military is good. They had hardened security, and SMRs. The government is functioning on a very limited basis, and only because the Pentagon was smarter than the bureaucracy assholes. Nothing is online, but the military bases are starting points and work is being done.”
“How about Europe? The Far East?”
“Europe is a shit can. Their politicians were worse than ours. Japan, Korea, China—they’re getting it together, but it’s a long, slow haul. Russia is back in medieval times, and may stay there for a hundred years. There are a few very small electrical companies here in the States that had good foresight and they’re functioning, but the people who live in those areas are having to fight for their lives because