Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,27

for whether or not they would do what you have in mind.”

“Of course. I welcome your input. I will locate someone with a vehicle to drive us.”

“Tobias can drive us. He was going to take a look at the saloon, so we could meet him there.” And she’d like to take a look at the madam running the place.

* * *

* * *

Kelley didn’t want a house, was adamant about not wanting the work of taking care of a house and whatever yard was attached to it. Abigail didn’t want an apartment, was certain being in an apartment complex would expose her to danger and leave her vulnerable in a way that living in a house wouldn’t.

A month ago, Kelley would have given in. But a month ago he’d still believed the story she had spun about her life before meeting him, had still believed she was the sweet woman he’d loved and married. Now they were two people who were living in the same room at the hotel but not even sharing a bed while they wrangled about where to live.

She had a feeling the wrangling wasn’t going to go on much longer. Couldn’t go on much longer. Her new neighbors had to see her as sweetly odd Abigail Burch who had sold soaps and candles when she’d lived in Prairie Gold.

Maybe it would be better to arrange things so that Kelley would leave and she could be the sad, brave wife he’d walked out on. That could work—as long as she chose the right kind of neighbors.

Abigail wandered one of the residential streets, making sure she looked adrift, homeless.

In order to eat free food and have a free place to stay, everyone coming into Bennett was expected to put in forty hours a week in some kind of work—and part of that work included helping to sort and clear out houses and businesses. She had tried to help sort and clear out the clothing, but she couldn’t stand being in the bedrooms, especially the ones that had belonged to the children. So she volunteered to clean the offices, scrubbing windows and floors, dusting furniture, cleaning the bathrooms. Even that work wasn’t without its unpleasant surprises. One person had kept a small bowl of tumbled stones on a desk, and those stones created another dissonance, another tear in the protections she had created around herself with her own collection of stones.

Abigail closed her eyes. She needed … She needed …

“Hey!”

A hand grabbed her arm. She gasped, pulled away, staggered. The hand grabbed her arm again.

“Easy. Wow. Have you been out in the sun too long? I live across the street. Come over. I’ll give you some water.”

Abigail looked at the young woman—at the gullible mark—with the blue eyes and freckles sprinkled across her nose and cheeks. Perfect. “Thank you.”

“I’m Barb. I’m just moving in over there.” She pointed to a house. “You’re pretty wobbly. I’d say you should see a doctor, but we don’t have one yet. I’m what Mr. Sanguinati calls an almost-vet since I’ve been taking care of all the pets who were left behind when … they were left behind.”

She wasn’t really listening. She was staring at the house next to Barb’s. “Who lives there?”

“It’s currently unoccupied.” Barb hesitated. “It hasn’t been cleared out. I’ve heard they aren’t going to do that anymore. If you want a place that hasn’t been cleared and is in one of the approved zones, you have to pack up all the stuff you don’t want—and pack up the things that are on the list of items that have to be turned in. Do you want to see inside? I was given the keys to the houses on either side of mine so that I could show them if anyone was interested. The house on the other side of mine was cleared out, so you’d have to go around to the storage areas and select furniture and all the other things you’ll need. That might be easier if you’re on your own. But some people think just removing what they don’t want is easier than lugging out furniture in order to lug in different furniture that does the same thing.”

Abigail barely glanced at the empty house to the left of Barb’s. The places that still held the footprint of the people who had lived there were hard to endure, but somehow that empty house felt worse.

“I’d like to take a look at that one.” She pointed to the house on the