Sun Still Shining (Rain Must Fall #2)

by Deb Rotuno

  “Now, buddy,” I urged him.

  “Dad…he… He said mean things to us when you were gone. He tried to hurt you and Mom…”

  “Well, now you’re square, son,” I soothed him, getting up from the floor, but I looked to Brody with a raised eyebrow. “I think Brody knows where he stands, since you just saved his life and all.” When Brody nodded and slowly stood up, I pushed the barrel of Freddie’s gun down to the floor, kneeling in front of him. “Look at me, son…” When eyes that matched my own looked down at me, I said, “I’m okay. It was just a disagreement.”

  “I couldn’t let him… I just got you back!” he yelled, glaring up at Brody. “You leave him and my mom alone.” As if to add her opinion, Sasha snapped two barks at Brody.

  “You, hush,” I told her. “Sit, big girl.”

  She plopped down onto her haunches but never took her eyes off the tall man behind me.

  I looked to Freddie, whose brow was wrinkled. “He doesn’t like us. Why is he with us if he doesn’t like us?”

  “I asked that very question, but I know the answer,” I stated firmly, facing Brody. “He has nowhere else to go. And he knows it.” I heard voices calling for us, so I turned to Freddie. “Go tell them we’re okay, Freddie.”

  Freddie’s eyes narrowed shrewdly like his mother. “Sasha, stay!” he ordered, spinning on his heel to walk out the kitchen.

  I rounded on Brody. “You owe him your life. I should’ve let them have you. Am I clear?” I sneered in his face, pointing toward the pantry.

  He nodded, sighing deeply. “I got it, Chambers.”

  “I don’t care that you don’t like me, and you can blame us all for the bullshit you’ve brought on yourself. I don’t give a fuck if you’re happy or not. Eventually, everyone will tire of your fucking attitude—even Hank, who’s only trying to do right by you for your dad’s sake. But you will get your head straight if the lives of these people are in your hands. This isn’t an idle threat, Matthews. I won’t beat your ass next time; I’ll kill you.”

  Hank burst through the door, eyeing the both of us. “Jesus, Jack…” he groaned, grabbing my face and looking me over. “What the hell happened?”

  “Just clearing up a few misunderstandings, Hank,” I said, wincing when he poked at my sore fucking face.

  Hank snorted, letting me go and looking to Brody. “Are they clear now, Brody?” When he nodded, Hank smiled. “Excellent, because I had that boy Quinn go ahead and empty every bottle of liquor he could find out there in the bar. Hope that’s okay with you. Can’t bring the little ones here with it all just…you know…sitting around.”

  I smirked and stepped back to take in Brody’s emotionless face, but I looked at Hank again. “You want to move us all here?”

  “It’s safer, bigger, and it’ll be warmer come winter, son,” he said, shaking his head. “And…if Derek can get some sort of power going, that combined with the fence makes this the safest place I can imagine.”

  “Then we have work to do,” I told him.

  “We do,” he agreed, looking to Brody, “but I’m going to offer anyone who doesn’t want to come, doesn’t want to share in the work… They can stay behind at Clear Lake. Though, I don’t advise it, since there are people wanting to take it.”

  Brody nodded that the message was received, but before either of us could move, Hank stopped us again. “Clean up. Both of you. I will not be held responsible for the explosion that comes from my daughter at the sight of you, nor will I hold her back. It would be most entertaining.”

  Laughing, I grabbed two rags from the closest shelf, tossing one Brody’s way. I pressed it to my forehead, wincing at the sting. Brody wiped his bleeding lip as I dabbed at my bleeding knuckles, but there wasn’t much Sara would miss. She’d know it instantly, if our son hadn’t told her already.

  “And Brody,” Hank started, shaking his head slowly. “I’m done, son. I’ve got too much to deal with to keep your ass out of trouble. I don’t have the time, and my patience is running thin. Your dad would be disappointed in you, Brody, but even more? Your mother would be ashamed. You could be a beneficial part of this group, but you choose to be a liability. That being said, if something happens to my family—or any of these people—because you’re drunk or pissed off at someone, then we’ll part ways now. You can take your chances alone. And I do mean now. Choose, son, because I simply won’t have it.” Hank waited, his face fierce and firm, showing he meant every damn word he’d just said.

  Brody gazed at the floor, licking his split lip and wiping his face again with the rag. “Sorry, Hank,” he said softly. And for the first time in a very long time, he sounded sincere. “It won’t happen again.”

  Hank led us back through the kitchen and bar, and I smirked at all the empty bottles lined up from one end of it to the other. We found everyone in front of the large fireplace in the lobby. Sara’s eyes were blazing when she glanced between us.

  When I sat down beside her, she tilted my head, checked my knuckles, and sighed deeply. “How drunk was he?” she whispered just to me.

  “Found three bottles in that bag of his.”

  Her lip twitched as she glanced over at him. “Well, at least he looks worse off than you.”

  Grinning, I kissed her temple, but we all turned our attention to Hank as Freddie settled between us.

  “If we do this, it won’t be easy. And I’d really like to get us in here before the first snow falls,” Hank stated. “But I don’t want to leave this place…unattended in the meantime, so how do we do both?”

  Several points were brought up, staying versus going. However, everyone agreed that the lodge was damn well perfect for not only the coming winter but for as many people as we needed to keep safe. We talked about clean up, moving, and leaving people behind, because now that we’d found the place and somewhat cleared out the main building, we felt possessive over it.

  “I’ll stay,” Derek volunteered but looked to me. “You pack for me, Jack. There’s not much…”

  “Okay,” I agreed, looking to Lexie when she volunteered as well. “I’ll tell Ruby to get your things too, Lexie.”

  “Me too,” Brody piped up from behind us all. “Hank, just bring my stuff with you.”

  “Perfect. We’ll leave you guys with ammo, rations, and one truck…just in case. We’ll be back in a few days.”

  We all started to stand, but Quinn made his way to me. “Jack, you want me to stay?” His eyes flickered around the room. “I don’t mind, and an extra set of hands can clean up quicker…not to mention it means an extra lookout.”

  “Fine,” I finally agreed, gripping his shoulder. “I’ll make sure to grab your stuff.”

  “I have most of it,” he said, pointing to his backpack and guitar. “But Abe’s got some of my gear in his RV.”

  “Roger that,” I sighed. “You be careful, kid. We’ll be back in a few days.”

  Chapter 4

  SARA

  Clear Lake, Oregon

  6 months & 2 weeks after Hurricane Beatrice

  I SET A BOX DOWN on the porch of the cabin, glancing around at the entire camp. It was moving day. We’d been at Clear Lake for a little over four months. It felt like home, but with the cold air that was blowing through, we knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to stay.

  There was plenty of activity. Most of us didn’t want to leave Lexie, Derek, Quinn, and Brody alone at the lodge for too long. The possibilities of something happening to them were endless. From a large pack coming through, to survivors looking for someplace safe—anything could overrun them.

  RVs, trucks, and the Hummer were all being loaded. Joel was using one of the four-wheelers with its trailer to move supplies and people’s things to the vehicles. The bunker inside Rich and Dottie’s cabin had been emptied, and the ammo in the Hummer was inventoried and ready to go, so all that was left was to pack up personal belongings and get on the road.

  We’d left the others at the lodge two days prior, and my dad had explained the loc
ation and all its securities to everyone, even offered some of them an out should they want one, but everyone was on board. We had children—especially little Aiden and baby Zoe—to consider with the coming winter. We also had Abe and Jonah, who were both in their seventies. Neither would do well in cold weather.

  “Hey, you okay?” I heard at the bottom of the porch steps, and I smiled at Jack. “What’s left, Shortcake?” he continued, picking up the box I’d just set down.

  “Um, you have Tina’s and Janie’s stuff. That’s Freddie’s,” I told him. “I’ve got to grab the last of ours.”

  Jack’s brow wrinkled, but he nodded as he pulled the box off the porch and walked it to his truck. I turned around and went back inside, rechecking both Freddie’s room and the room Tina had been using. Both seemed cleaned out. I stepped into the master bedroom, pulling the bags from the bed to the floor. I double-checked the closet, dresser drawers, and the bathroom for anything left over. Walking back into the bedroom, I jumped a little at Jack leaning back against the closed door.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You look…lost, baby. Do you…not want to move?”

  “We don’t have a choice, Jack,” I countered, shrugging a shoulder, but I gazed around the room slowly. “I’m okay going wherever as long as we’re together, but…”

  Jack pushed off the door and sat down on the edge of the bed, pulling me between his legs.

  “But…what?”

  Smiling sadly, I ran my fingers through his hair as he ran his hands flat up and down the outside of my thighs. His hair needed a trim, as did Freddie’s. His face was now bruised from his fight with Brody, and my hope was that Brody was worse. The scar above his eyebrow had reopened, but I’d butterflied it as best I could to keep it from scarring even more. And God, all of that just added to the appeal of him, and he probably had no idea. The normally beautiful face was now all rugged and tough. The fact that he’d lost his temper over me, the safety of everyone around us due to Brody’s drinking, it was just…sexy.

  I smiled as he waited patiently for me. “I just…” I pointed a finger around the room. “This place… It represents so much—to us, especially, and even more so now. I just… I’m gonna miss it. It was our escape before this virus thing, and after, it became…”

  “The end goal,” he finished for me softly, smiling a little when I nodded.

  “We’ve always used this place as a getaway, but you realize…we may not come back. Ever.”

  Jack’s nose wrinkled as he nodded and let out a deep breath. “I know,” he admitted quietly. “I’m sorry for that, Shortcake.”

  “I’m not…sorry, just nostalgic,” I said with a grin. “Maybe a little sad about having to give it up.”

  “Me too,” he whispered, cupping my face and kissing my lips with the softest of kisses. He huffed a laugh, locking his gaze with mine when he pulled my forehead to his. “You know, this place… It was just the mere idea of it that kept me going. My whole life, it seemed. From both tours overseas, to getting here from Florida. All I wanted was to get here, to you, to Freddie. I kept thinking…just one more state, one more mile, one more…whatever.” He sighed deeply, frowning a little. “This is the first time ever that I can’t promise we’ll come back. And I’m hating it, baby. Can’t fucking stand it, if only because I know you love this place.”

  Tears welled up in my eyes at how sweet that was. “The fact that you’re here, that you made it here long enough for us to even make this decision? Jack, you don’t understand… We could move to Mars together, and I’d be okay.” I kissed him lightly. “But we… Everything happened here.”

  He grinned, and it was sexy and salacious and dirty. I could see it in his eyes that his answer was going to be filled with innuendo. “Oh yeah, it did. Everything,” he purred against my lips. “You told me you loved me…right there.” He pointed toward the door. “We made love for the first time…right here,” he said, his voice rough as he pointed to the bed next to his leg. “This poor quilt alone has seen more debauchery than I’d like to admit.”

  “Liar,” I said with a giggle. “You’d admit any debauchery.”

  “True.” He laughed, wrapping one arm around my waist. “Our honeymoon, our vacations… Hell, I think Freddie was conceived here. It’s all in this cabin, Shortcake. I wouldn’t trade it for a fucking thing.” He placed his hand flat over my heart, his voice a soft, reverent tone. “Be still, sad heart, and cease repining. Behind the clouds is the sun still shining. Thy fate is the common fate of all. Into each life some rain must fall. Some days must be dark and dreary.” He kissed my lips when tears fell from my eyes. “It didn’t get much darker than when we were apart, baby. And I can’t promise many things with how the world is now, but I can promise you that we’ll always be together to figure it out.” He sighed deeply, looking up at me with love and warmth and just sweetness. “It can’t always stay bad, Sara. It can’t. I have to believe that. Eventually things have to settle down so that life can continue; even if it’s a new way of life, it still has to continue.”

  I sniffled a light laugh. “So what you’re saying is it’s just a building…”

  He grinned, kissing me roughly. “Well, no. I was just saying that being with you beats anything, so I can’t be sad about leaving this cabin.” He raised a deadly sexy eyebrow at me. “But we’re taking the quilt.”

  Laughing, my head fell back, and his lips met my throat with a chuckling kiss. “Oh, my God, I love you.”

  “Love you too, Shortcake,” he sighed against my neck. “And we’d better finish packing, or I’m going to make us very late leaving. And Hank won’t be happy that it’ll be because I’m doing really dirty things to his daughter…married or not.”

  “Damn, that’s too bad,” I sighed dramatically.

  He pulled back, caressing my face with the backs of his fingers. “I’ll make it up to you. Now that I can promise, Sara.” His eyes were sweet but heated and loving.

  Nodding, I smiled at him as he gently wiped away my tears with calloused thumbs. “I hope so. There is one good thing about this move,” I told him, pulling him up from the bed so I could strip the quilt off it.

  “What’s that, beautiful?”

  “There are enough rooms that we won’t be sharing a wall,” I told him, pointing to the wall that was between our room and Tina’s. “And…there’s a suite, so Freddie’s got his own room…down a hall.”

  He grinned, dragging his tongue along his bottom lip. “Good to know, Shortcake.”

  Folding up the quilt, I shoved it at him. “Guard that.”

  He snorted, snatching up one of the bags with his free hand. “With my life, Sara. C’mon. Let’s go.”

  Southbound 97, just east of Rocky Point

  “Can we still fish?” Ava asked Jack, but my son watched his dad with hopeful eyes from his spot between them.

  “Definitely. It’s a bigger lake too, so different types of fish—not to mention I’m pretty sure I saw a boat,” Jack chattered back.

  I snickered softly from the backseat of the truck, and Ruby joined me as Sasha snoozed between us. Ava had wanted to ride with Jack, and Ruby had opted to stay with me. Joel was currently behind us in Derek’s Jeep, followed by Rich and Dottie in the Hummer, and then everyone else. We’d locked up the cabins and left as soon as everyone was packed up. We’d kept the caravan as small as possible—Jack’s truck, Derek’s Jeep, the Hummer, Jonah’s RV, Ruby’s RV, and Dad’s truck, which was towing the trailer with the four-wheelers. We’d stuffed as many supplies as we could into the truck beds, piled as many people as we could in every available seat, and the Hummer still had the storage of ammo. Ruby’s RV, however, had all of my in-laws’ medical supplies. Moving twenty adults—even with four of them absent—and eight kids wasn’t an easy task, but we’d managed to do it in less than two days.

  Ruby leaned closer to me as the kids started rummaging through Jack’s old CD case, finally putting something on. “I can’t believe Brody volunteered to sta
y behind.”

  I snorted, shaking my head. “He’s a loner, really. And it’s not like he hasn’t been helpful throughout this whole ordeal. Brody can behave, but he sometimes chooses…poorly.” Jack barked a laugh, and I poked the back of his head. “You, hush.”

  “Well, he’s an alcoholic,” Ruby summed up, shrugging a shoulder. “So were my mother and Tucker. There’s a point where they stop making conscious decisions and the addictions take over. That doesn’t excuse them of wrongdoing, but it explains some of it.”

  “That’s what Brody’s mother died from. Drinking and driving, I mean,” I told her, keeping it low as the kids sang along with some God-awful song. “He was probably…eight? I think. And while you’re right about poor decisions, he still cheated on me. He still tried to make me think I had to dress a certain way or act a certain way or…whatever.”

  Jack’s scoff turned into a humorous low, growly sigh, ending with the biggest eye-roll ever. When he caught my amused face in the mirror, he smirked, giving me a wink.

  “I know, but that’s…” Ruby tapped her temple. “I’m not defending it, but it comes with it all. His self-esteem is suckin’ mud, so…he takes it out on everyone else.”

  I nodded. “I’m sure. And if he tests Derek, he’ll end up with an arrow in his head.”

  Ruby smirked, shaking her head. “That’s if he can stay away from Lexie.”

  The truck jerked a little, and I met Jack’s curious yet amused gaze in the rearview mirror, which made me laugh silently. Sometimes he was too damned adorable.

  “What? You don’t know?” she asked me in a whisper, but she eyed Jack.

  We both shook our heads.

  “Oh, you’re kidding…”

  “Um, Ruby, neither of them are gonna confide in us,” I said, raising an eyebrow at her. She’d been well aware of Lexie’s feelings for Jack, and I’d eventually told her about Derek.

  “I don’t think anyone would have known, but I sort of…busted them the other night in the tree lookout. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the first time either.”