Here Today, Zombie Tomorrow

by Connie Vines

  He remained silent for a moment, his eyes changing to dark gray, as they often did when he was deep in thought. “Yes, to clear my head.”

  “Did it work?” She asked, surprised he told her the truth. He wasn’t obligated to after all.

  “Umm. Walking in the snow, the heavy scent of the pines, the wilderness—yes, everything came back to me.”

  “Came back to you?” Meredith honed in on the eerie tone of his voice.

  He glanced over at her. “Yes. I remembered . . . I lived that part of Eastern Europe as a youngster,” he reminded her. “What did you think I meant?”

  “Oh, I don’t know.” she felt a bit foolish. “It just sounded like, well another day in your life. . .”

  He smiled against the rim of his mug. “Like don’t worry about dinner, dear. There is a nice take-out place a couple of miles down the road from the battlefield—”

  Meredith gave a soft chuckled. “Put into words it sounds a bit—”

  “Over the top?” he supplied.

  She eyed him for a moment. For a second, she pictured him in battle regalia wielding a large sword. Then the impression was gone. “I don’t know—”

  “Granted, I’m immersed in my research and computer challenged, but Meredith can you really see me as a marauding invader from another century?”

  “Covered with blood and gore?” She paused for a moment. He was strong, physically fit, and intensely driven to win. Would he fight to the death? “No. That would be too much of a stretch,” she agreed trying not to laugh at the expression on Viktor’s face. Even though she’d agreed with him, Victor appeared a bit put out.

  Men.

  Of course, Viktor was right. In hindsight, she had to admit he usually was.

  Glancing over at Gertie, happily playing in her cage, Meredith pondered the past. She always had an over active imagination, always thought the boogieman was under her bed. Now she was in a mountain cabin with her human, soon-to-be ex-husband, who tromped through the wilderness at night, unconcerned about bears, coyotes, and mountain lions.

  However, since becoming, albeit an unwilling, member of the supernatural world, she discovered reanimated humans was an umbrella term which also covered ghosts, mummies, and unfortunately, ghouls. She’d heard whispers of legendary beings, but she didn’t want to go there right now. Mummies and ghosts were creepy enough for her. Viktor seemed more intense than he had in the past, he still seemed driven in his work; yet, there was something very different about him. She couldn’t place her finger on what it was, but he’d changed. On the other hand, perhaps she was seeing him in a new light. After all, they’d both had to create an entirely new life, so to speak.

  After topping off Meredith’s cup of coffee, he slid the glass carafe back onto place and leaned against the counter. “How is your novel progressing?” he asked.

  She took a sip of her coffee and shrugged. “Okay, I guess. It’s not following my synopsis, and the tone of the novel isn’t what I thought it would be. You know how it is. After you sit down at the computer, your characters shove you out of their way and the story writes itself.”

  Viktor smiled, and gave a rumble of soft laughter. “In your case, Meredith, this may be true. However, I find the process painful. My characters often hinder the story’s progression.”

  “That’s why I write fiction Viktor,” she reminded him. “Like you always said, I play fast and loose with the facts.”

  He winced. “I suppose I deserved that.”

  This wasn’t the time to say what was really going on in her story. It wasn’t the time to tell him that her original characters had become stand-ins for herself and Viktor, and the story had become their story. What she was writing was no longer fiction; it was painful, and filled with self-discovery.

  She was glad when his words interrupted her thoughts. “Forget about cooking breakfast this morning. We both need to get out of the cabin for a few hours.”

  She dumped the remains of her coffee down the sink. “I think that is a good idea.”

  “Give me a couple of minutes to shower and change,” Viktor told her.

  Pressing the toe of her slipper at the axis of her pet’s exercise ball as it rumbled past her, Meredith leaned over to retrieve her pet. “I’ll move Gertie to the larger cage.”

  ***

  After spending most of last week sitting in front of her computer, it felt good to get out in the fresh air. Half an hour later, she and Viktor bundled up against the forecast of snow, headed to town.

  El Mexicano was the best (and only) restaurant in town. Situated a few feet from the two-lane highway, the robin blue and gray colored restaurant was wedged between pine trees and the Elkhorn General Store. Climbing the steps to the porch entrance, Meredith was glad to see little had changed from their last visit. Cozy and rustic, the outside was on the tacky side of eclectic, but the inside was familiar and welcoming. The host seated them near the wood burning stove.

  Meredith recalled the meals they’d enjoyed and the evenings they’d slow danced away the hours in each other’s arms to the music of a live band. Unexpectedly stunned by the emotions the memories brought to the surface; Meredith kept her gaze on the perky server, and struggled to regain her composure.

  “Pancakes with sausage and eggs are the breakfast special,” the server told them as she set down two mugs of steaming coffee.

  “Is Dave still cooking his #29 carnitas meal?” Meredith managed to ask, hunger beginning to shove aside her emotional responses.

  “Pancakes are the most popular order in the morning, but sure, Dave’ll serve you a platter.”

  The server scribbled, and then shifted her attention to Viktor, who scanned the menu quickly.

  “I’ll have the steak and eggs. Steak, very rare. Eggs, over easy.”

  “Let me know when you’d like a refill on the coffee,” the woman said, collecting the menus before heading toward the kitchen.

  Careful to keep her gaze locked on the contents of her mug, Meredith felt cluttered with a million bittersweet memories of happier times. The first post-honeymoon vacation she and Viktor taken had been a ski trip here, and the El Mexicano had been their hang out.

  How many mugs of cocoa—his laced with schnapps and hers with whipped cream and cinnamon—had they shared during those cold evenings, snuggling together on the one side of their favorite booth? She loved listening to the slight accent in Viktor’s voice, as she admired his well-shaped artistic hands.

  “It’s not gourmet,” Viktor said, breaking into her thoughts, “but it sure feels good to be back in here, doesn’t it?”

  She knew that he was remembering too, and the realization made her glad and unhappy at the same time. Glad, because he hadn’t for gotten the good times—unhappy because she hadn’t been able to forget them. Some things were too painful to revisit.

  She was just being childish, wasn’t she? After all, it was just a good thing that she and her soon-to-be ex-husband could still find some common ground, still like each other. Surely, that was better than resentment, bitterness, and all those other bad things. This was nice. This was adult. This was how a marriage was supposed to end.

  “See, isn’t this nicer than cooking?” Viktor asked.

  Meredith nodded. “More calories, though.” Not that such a thing really mattered to her any longer.

  “Don’t worry,” he said, nodding thanks as the server set a container of cream on the table. “I promise to make something light for dinner tonight. What would you say about some broiled chicken, steamed vegetable, saffron rice...”

  “You’re going to spoil me,” Meredith said, tearing open a package of raw sugar and stirring it into her coffee. “When did you learn so much about cooking? I don’t remember you being so helpful around the house before.”

  “When you’re left on your own, you don’t have much of a choice.”

  Meredith eyes narrowed. “What’s this all about, Viktor?”

  “Nothing,” he protested, sounding equally hurt a
nd guilty, “Can’t a man be nice to his wife without having an ulterior motive?”

  “I not your wife anymore, Viktor,” she managed to say. “It’s over. I told you last week if you have any ideas about try to get us back together again I would...”

  He put his hand gently over hers. “Look Meredith, I’m not going to stir up the old passion-I’m not sure I could even if did try. But...” He seemed to flounder for words, something he almost never did. “I don’t want us to be angry at each other any longer.”

  He spread his expressive hands in a gesture of exasperation. “It’s just too exhausting and counterproductive. Let’s bury the proverbial hatchet, shall we?”

  By that time, the order had arrived and she was excused from having to answer. Seeing that she didn’t want to be pressured into her reply, Viktor dropped the subject for the remainder of the meal.

  Later, when someone played “Feels Good Don’t It” on the jukebox, they both thought about all the times they’d two-stepped together around the small dance floor. After the first-chorus, they decided to leave, ignoring the fact that Brooks and Dunn were singing “their” song.

  As she and Viktor walked back to the cabin, Meredith vowed that she would never let herself succumb to his charm again, even if it was just in her mind.

  A few days before Christmas, Meredith slipped out of the house one afternoon to do a little holiday shopping in Oak Glen. She actually planned to ignore the festivities of the season this year, but that plan had been abandoned a few days ago when she’d come in from an afternoon walk to find Viktor decorating a Noble Christmas tree; her favorite, with newly purchased ornaments and tinsel.

  Later that evening a crinkle of paper and the warning, “don’t come in here!” greeted her announcement dinner was ready. If he bought her a gift, she obviously had to buy him one. Besides, it was too Scrooge-like not to buy gifts for Pippa and her family—and Jess, her agent, deserved a little holiday day gift as well.

  She first stopped at Oak Glen Village and popped into Pueblo Trader where she purchased a turquoise and amber necklace for Pippa. She picked out two stuffed animals a piece for the kids at the General Store and slipped an online gift card for twenty-five dollars’ worth of eBooks into each box. At The Leather Works, she found a pair of leather gloves for Elvis and a box of white chocolate and peppermint bark at the Homemade Candy store for Jess.

  It took a long time to locate something for Viktor, and she wavered between putting too much thought into it, and just buying something flippant. Finally, she settled on an antique inkwell she found at the Curio Shop. It fitted in with Viktor’s historical tastes, yet wasn’t too personal.

  She’d felt a little shaky and stopped by the Elkhorn General Store in Forest Falls before heading up the canyon. The low sodium beef jerky and protein bars would tide her over until she could broil that T-bone she had thawing in the fridge. Tossing several handfuls of the tasty snacks on the counter she ripped open the corner of the plastic and took a healthy chomp. Chewing as she ran her bankcard through the machine, she almost gagged when Rhonda Karl, an angular middle-aged big-haired blonde-haired woman, who lived in Forest Falls all of her life, came out of the stockroom.

  All of the locals and many of the visiting ski people knew her reputation as a gossip. Yet she was a good businessperson, friendly in a brisk sort of way, and she always kept an array of interesting items in her store. Meredith had never really liked her, probably because Rhonda had never disguised her interest in Viktor when she and Viktor came to town.

  “I see your husband came back,” Rhonda said eyeing Meredith’s odd selection of merchandise. “Funny, I seem to recall reading in one of those gossip magazines that the two of you had broken up.”

  Ever since the overnight success of The Luxor Papers, Meredith had become something of a celebrity, which meant her personal life was open to scrutiny by the TV magazine shows, and tabloids.

  It was after reading a story entitled “Best Selling Author Supports Husband” that she and Viktor gotten into their worst fight ever, a direct precursor to their breakup.

  Now, hearing Rhonda’s comment, it occurred to her the most the problems had been caused by her quick success and an inability to understand Viktor’s embarrassment. A very private man, he could never have liked the situation very much.

  After all, even the most liberal minded man liked to feel that he contributed something to the financial aspect of the marriage. Poor Viktor. Maybe if she had managed to be a little more understanding, or he had, she wouldn’t be looking down the road to being single again. Nevertheless, it was too late now to do anything about it, wasn’t it? It wasn’t like the zombie issue was going away, she reminded herself. If Viktor couldn’t deal with the tabloids, he certainly didn’t have the tolerance to deal with her supernatural nonsense.

  Glancing outside through the frosted window, Meredith blinked back tears, her life, or rather, lack-thereof, sucked, big time!

  Chapter Four

  It began snowing at one in the afternoon on Christmas Eve day, but Meredith hard at work in front of her computer screen, barely noticed it.

  At the rate she was going, she could expect to be finished with the final draft by New Year’s Eve. Funny, she had really expected to be distracted by Viktor’s presence in the cabin, but instead it had given her peace of mind, a comfort she’d almost forgotten.

  It made her think of their first year of marriage when she was still writing short stories and Viktor was at work on his second doctorate.

  They’d turned the second bedroom in their Upland apartment into an office, and every evening after pizza or Chinese or the occasional home-cooked one dish meal, the two of them had worked at the writing, working from card tables pushed together in the center of the room. Now when she thought about it, Meredith realized those had been the best times.

  It was the sweet scent of roast turkey that finally brought her out of the den around four o’clock. “I thought you were saving the bird for tomorrow’s dinner,” she said, admiring the table setting.

  Considering that she only had mismatched plates and cups here, Viktor had managed to create a nice effect. He had sprinkled red and green paper circles created with a paper punch on the tablecloth and a vibrant red poinsettia graced the center of the table. It looked like he hadn’t been kidding about acquiring some skills after their breakup. He had certainly never made himself handy in the kitchen before then.

  “I thought we’d celebrate early,” he answered, setting a covered dish next to her plate. “I hope you like it. There’s turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry dressing, green beans and cherry pie for dessert.”

  “I hope it tastes as good as it sounds,” Meredith said, sliding into the chair across from him. “I’m famished.”

  Viktor would probably never win any cooking awards, but judging by the aroma, the meal was almost as good as if Pippa had cooked it. Meredith insisted on helping with the dishes and they went into the living room to unwrap the presents.

  He seemed generally pleased with the inkwell and Meredith exclaimed repeatedly over the red sweater he’d given her. After a while, Viktor switched on the Christmas tree lights, and she selected a mix of Christmas music on her iPad.

  Wine glass in hand, Meredith lounged on the couch, feeling more relaxed and content than she could remember feeling in a very long time. Viktor, sprawled comfortably on the couch next her, said, “I’m really glad to be here, Meredith, I’m not a sentimental guy, but spending the holidays alone—let’s say I’m glad I didn’t have to do it.”

  “I know,” she agreed, and her hand slipped readily into his. “I’m glad, too. I thought I it would be easy to tune out the world, but the idea of being alone for Christmas was just too bleak.”

  She turned to him with a sad little smile, “who would’ve thought we could get along after all that has happened that we could talk, be friends, even live under the same roof and not spend every waking minute fighting?”

  He placed his index
finger under her chin and turned her face to look at him. “Or maybe we both still care a lot more than we are willing to admit.”

  “Maybe,” she answered, not able to meet his gaze. “But nothing has changed, Viktor. We’re still the same to people we were a couple of months ago, the same to people who couldn’t be in a room together without insulting each other and making each other unhappy.”

  “We’re not fighting now,” he whispered and bent to kiss her.

  It had been such a long time since Meredith had felt his lips on hers and she responded with to dizzy eagerness, wondering how she could have forgotten what it was like to have him make love to her. For a few ecstatic moments, she couldn’t think, didn’t want to think, and didn’t need to.

  Then in an instant, she knew just as clearly that this was a mistake, and slipped hastily out of his arms.

  “What’s wrong?” He asked her. She moved to the chair across from him. “Meredith, what did I do?”

  She shook her head. “This is why you’re staying here wasn’t a good idea. Sooner or later this was bound to happen.”

  “You sound sorry.”

  She turned on him, fury in her eyes. “What’s the point, Viktor? We’ve already proven that we can’t live together. So why get involved like this all over again? It’s pointless.”

  “You didn’t seem to think so a minute ago,” he reminded her. His voice had taken on the slightly arrogant, professional tone he used when lecturing.

  “I’m not saying I don’t still have feelings about you, about us—but I’m not going to let myself get caught up in it all again. It can’t work, it didn’t work, and I don’t want to go through it a second time.”

  In the background, the chorus of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas sent a stab of emotion through her. In another minute, she wasn’t going to be able to hold back the tears.