to the public areas. If she starts asking questions, don’t divulge what we know about the preppers, the ongoing federal investigation into Luther Renninger, or the eyes we have on the mines.”
“None of us would do that,” Sam said firmly, settling back in between her husband’s legs. “We protect our own. Now, are we going to watch the rest of the movie or not?”
Sam’s question was met by murmurs and grunts of agreement. But as the lights went down and the movie resumed, Doc couldn’t help thinking about Tina Obermacher and her upcoming visit.
Chapter Five
Tina
Tina felt a tingle of anticipation as she laced up her walking boots.
It had been a hell of a week. An unpredicted ice storm had done some damage, particularly in the cherry grove. One of the guys on her team got hurt and would probably be out for a month at least. Some kids broke into an equipment sheds and vandalized the place. And Eddie was being more irascible than ever. All attempts to pin Rick down and talk to him about it had been unsuccessful.
So, yeah, she was looking forward to getting away for the day to visit Sanctuary, see Kate, and check out what they were doing with the place. From what she remembered, the Winston resort was a gorgeous place with plenty of scenic vistas.
And maybe, just maybe, she’d catch a glimpse of the mysterious men—one hazel-eyed Good Samaritan in particular—who had chosen to make the place their new home.
It was important to keep her expectations realistic, however. A lot had happened since she’d last been there. She’d been in high school then, the summer before a horrific fire claimed the lives of the entire Winston family—except for Matt, who’d been serving in the military at the time.
Her stomach tightened at the thought of it. The tragedy had gutted their small, tight-knit community. Like the Obermachers, the Winstons were an old, established family, and in the blink of an eye, they were no more.
For a long time afterward, Tina had had nightmares about the same thing happening to her family. Of coming home to find everyone she loved just ... gone.
Thankfully, that hadn’t happened, but the last decade hadn’t been without loss. Tina’s grandfather was the first to go. Then, her father had a sudden and massive heart attack while harvesting feed corn one day. Not long after, her mother took an accidental overdose—at least, that was the official story—and was gone too. That had left just the Obermacher matriarch—Tina’s grandmother—and her siblings to carry on.
The family business had been divided evenly between Tina and her brothers. Gunther, who didn’t like getting his hands dirty, handled the business end of things. Kiefer took over the vegetable crops, Rick handled grains, and Tina did fruits.
They didn’t always agree. Rick and Gunther could be pigheaded and often shared the same mind. Kiefer could be reasonable at times, but he was more likely to go along with whatever Rick and Gunther wanted.
There was no doubt in her mind that they would be opposed to her decision to go to Sanctuary alone, which was exactly why she hadn’t told anyone about her plans.
She’d heard the same rumors everyone else had, of course. If Rick and some of his drinking buddies were to be believed, Matt Winston was turning his family legacy into a veritable fortress, amassing guns and weapons and building a small army of mentally unstable former servicepeople.
Tina didn’t believe that for a minute. For one thing, she knew Matt Winston—or at least, the man he used to be. Sure, serving in the military could change a lot of things about a person but not who they were at their core, and Matt Winston was good people.
Nor did she believe that Matt’s purpose in restoring the old place was a dark one. Both he and his family had always been very community-minded. Why people tended to forget that was beyond her. Either they had short memories or they were allowing Daryl Freed and his ilk to rewrite local history.
Dressed in layers, Tina locked up the small caretaker’s cottage she called home and set off. The Winston place wasn’t far as the crow flies, but there was no road that led directly there from where she was, which meant she had to go down toward the town to get to the road that led back up.
Thirty minutes later, she reached her destination. The long driveway with its overarching branches brought back pleasant memories. Soon, those trees and