“I didn’t used to,” she said. “But three years living on the Oregon coast will do that to you. Trust me, you’ll be freezing when we get over there, after this kind of heat here.”
“It’s not going to be that much difference,” he said.
“Now it’s your turn to trust me,” she said, smiling at him as she finished taking a long drink. “If it’s this hot here, more than likely the coast is socked in with a fog, and the temperature is a cold fifty-five to sixty. Of course, that’s also the temperature of a winter day when it’s below freezing here, but that’s beside the point.”
“Amazing what a hundred miles can mean to climate,” he said, shaking his head.
“A hundred miles and an ocean,” she said. “But give me enough time and I’ll get used to this climate again.”
“I think we have all the time in the world,” he said. “Now I’m going to go see if I can figure out a way to turn on your water.”
“Thanks,” she said. “And good luck.”
She watched him walk out the door. He had the build of an athlete, was clearly in very good physical shape, and carried himself well. She remembered the wonderful feel of that body against hers when she had kissed him. She hoped that at some point soon, she would be against him again.
And kissing him again.
She took another long drink of water, letting the cold draft of air brush over her arms and neck and face. Then she stood, feeling the sweat that had dried on her skin crack. She hoped he got her shower running soon, or she was going to have to borrow his again.
She had finished wiping down the walls and was starting on vacuuming the carpets with his vacuum cleaner when Matt came back through the door. He arms were covered in grease, some of which had made it to black streaks across his face.
She flicked off the machine and smiled at him, wiping sweat from her face. “Any luck?”
“Time to test this and find out,” he said, heading toward the kitchen sink. He took one of her dirty towels and used it to protect the sink handle from the grease on his hands. He twisted the cold open and then waited, leaning down to listen.
No water came out at first, but by the time she had moved over beside him, the water was flowing through the tap.
At first it was red and dirty in color, but then it quickly changed to a clean look.
Matt nodded. “Get all the taps running, about half open, including the shower and the bathtub and the utility sink, and leave them running. I’m going to go check to see if I have any leaks where I brought the pipes to this floor into my system.”
She did as she was told, and by the time she was finished, the apartment sounded like it had a bubbling stream running down the hall. And all the water looked clean, from every tap, almost instantly.
Matt came back in a few minutes later, smiling. “No leaks.”
“Water looks great here,” she said.
“Good. Let’s turn them off.”
Together they turned off every faucet, with Matt checking each one to make sure it worked, and that there were no leaks in the drains under the counters.
Then, as they headed back for the kitchen, he said, “I’m going down to a store about six blocks from here, off of Front Street, to get a new water heater.”
“The old one won’t work?” she asked. She had no idea at all about plumbing.
“I doubt it would after having water sitting in it for three years without movement.”
“Oh,” she said. “Do you need help?”
“I have my little tractor with the bucket on the front,” Matt said, smiling. “And I have a good path cleared through the car wrecks to that store. I’ll just load a water heater into the bucket and bring it up the freight elevator. I might need some help getting the thing from the elevator in here.”
“Just shout when you get back,” she said.
“I will.” Then he moved over closer to one of the big windows and pointed across the river. “The next wave of settlers is arriving.”
She joined him, staring at the dots that were bikes moving along the freeway toward the bridge. The crews working to clear the road had made it past that point, so the bunch of bikers were moving at a pretty reasonable speed.
Again the sight of them twisted her stomach, even though she knew who they were, and why they were here. She was going to have to get over this fear of motorcycles at some point. It was silly and she knew it. More than likely, on the trip to the coast, she would get past it. At least, she hoped that would be the case.
“Looks like we’re at the end of a new Oregon Trail,” Matt said. “They’re not quite in covered wagons, but close.”
“Same reason, though,” she said. “They are coming here searching for a new home to start over.”
“That’s true,” Matt said. “More than likely, a hundred years from now they’ll be writing history books about Dan and those folks out there, and their trek to Oregon.”
“I hope so,” she said. “I sure hope so.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
IT WAS AMAZING how much plumbing a guy could learn out of books. Matt was actually starting to gain some confidence with it. And considering the only thing he had done with plumbing before three years ago was pour Drano down a sink, he was doing all right. Better than all right if he said so himself. It sometimes took him a few tries before he got a joint to not leak, but this time he’d gotten it right the first time.
Amazing. Simply amazing.
Adding her apartment onto his closed water system turned out to be easier than he had expected. He just opened a few values he had closed off before, and ran a pipe from his clean water system to the main line to her apartment. He installed a shut-off valve as well just in case something happened in the future.
No leaks anywhere. He checked it three times because he couldn’t believe it.
Carey helped him move the new water heater into her place and drain the old one. It still weighed a lot and it took both of them to get it into the bucket of his tractor out into the dumpster area behind the building. Doing that, he discovered that Carey was a lot stronger than she appeared. That was a good thing to know, considering the world they were living in.
Then he hooked up the new water heater without a problem, watching for any leaks as the water moved into it.
“You’re going to have to give it some time to heat up the water,” he said, sounding like he knew what he was doing. He hoped he did. He had read the installation instructions at the hardware store twice.
“Then I’m going to need to borrow your shower again,” she said, “if you don’t mind. Even with the air-conditioning on, cleaning this place was hot work.”
“But it looks great,” he said, slowly scanning the apartment. And it did look good. She had even managed to wash the inside of the windows while he was off getting the water heater. The apartment smelled of lemon cleaning solution and was as bright and shiny as if it had just been painted.
“It does, doesn’t it?” she said, smiling. “This is a simply wonderful place.”
“I thought you’d like it,” he said. “I sure do.”
“I do more than like it,” she said. “I love it. Thanks, for everything.”
“You’re welcome,” he said, smiling at her. She seemed radiant as she studied her new place, the fear she had shown at lunch now gone. “But it needs furniture, don’t you think?”
“Not today,” she said. “It has to be over ninety degrees out there. If you don’t mind, I’d like to take a shower, help cook a nice dinner for the both of us, and maybe watch another movie. We can get some basic furniture and supplies tomorrow morning when it’s cool.”
“You know,” he said, “that sounds like a perfect evening to end a perfect day.”
“A perfect day is doing plumbing?” she asked, smiling at him with that twinkle in her eye that he was starting to love.
“No, a perfect day is being with you all day and not having any leaks in the plumbing.”
She laughed. “Yo
u sure know how to charm a girl. So what do you have up in that wonderful kitchen of yours that I might help cook for dinner?”
“I always have more chicken,” he said. “And I make a mean spaghetti sauce from scratch.”
He watched her as she thought about the choices, then said, “I seem to remember I used to do a pretty good lemon and herb chicken. How does that, with some asparagus out of your garden done in a light cream sauce, all served with a salad, sound to you?”
He laughed. “No leaks and asparagus in a cream sauce. Now I know I’m having a perfect day.”
“Well then,” she said, “I’ll get the chicken defrosting and then take a shower.”
“I’ll do one more quick check of the water system and be right behind you.”
He didn’t offer to wash her back, but he wanted to.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
EATING DINNER with someone besides her cats felt great, and after just a few meals, it was starting to feel almost normal. She would have never thought that possible three days ago. Dreamed about it, maybe, but never thought it would happen.
Her lemon chicken tasted better than she remembered it tasting, and the asparagus and sauce came out perfectly. She almost felt human again after the shower, and while the chicken cooked and Matt took a shower, she had gone back down to her apartment to just walk slowly through it. She had no doubt, she would be very comfortable here. Actually, more than comfortable. This was a dream apartment for her. She could see herself living here the rest of her life.
When she got back to Matt’s, she checked on dinner, then wandered into the security room. A large group, maybe the biggest yet, were coming into town, the motorcycles seeming to stretch into the distance. The sight of them jarred her again, but not as much as the first time she saw the bikes. And this time there was no fear making her want to run away. Knowing who they were helped. And seeing that there were young children and a few babies in this group made them seem very non-threatening.
Humanity rebuilding itself, getting up off the mat from the knockout blow and fighting on.
Matt joined her a minute later, his hair wet and combed back. He looked so damn good, she just wanted to kiss him right there.
Instead, she pointed at his monitors. “More company.”
“Wow, that’s a lot of people,” he said. “Am I glad we went and talked to Dan. Sitting here and seeing this without knowing what was happening would be really scary.”
“True,” she said. “Now it looks hopeful.”
“That it does,” Matt said.
At that moment a timer dinged from the kitchen, calling them to dinner.
About halfway through the wonderful dinner, they switched the conversation over to when they should leave for the coast.
“You know,” she said, realizing what she had been feeling when she was downstairs while dinner cooked, “the furniture in my place isn’t really that important to have in place before we get back. I’d rather take my time and get some stuff I really liked. Cat boxes is all that needs to be ready, if you don’t mind me crashing on your couch the day we get back.”
Matt smiled. “Not at all. Consider my place as yours until we get you set up.”
“Thank you,” she said, keeping her gaze locked with his for a moment. “For everything.”
“Trust me,” he said, smiling that smile that she was growing quickly to love. “It’s been my pleasure.” He paused for a moment, then said, “Missing your cats, huh?”
“Very much,” she said. “And getting worried about them.” More worried than she wanted to admit. It felt like she had been gone a lifetime in just the last two days.
“So, we roll out real early tomorrow morning. Buddy’s got a spare cat box he hasn’t used that I’m sure he wouldn’t mind loaning the new neighbors.”
She laughed. “What we do for our cats.”
Later, she once again fell asleep on his shoulder while watching a movie. But this time, when he tried to cover her with a blanket, she woke up enough to pull him down to her and kiss him again.
Long and hard.
It was a perfect kiss, far, far better than she had ever imagined or dreamed since this nightmare of a world had started.
After a few minutes, he picked her up and carried her into his bedroom, kissing her all the way.
Slowly, very slowly, they undressed each other and all she could do was marvel at how wonderful he was, how perfectly built, how great his skin felt against hers.
And how wonderfully he kissed.
Two hours later, she fell asleep once again, this time nude in his arms.
Somehow the nightmare of the last three years had turned into a wonderful dream.
And for the first time in years, she had no desire to wake up.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
THE FANTASTIC SMELL of toast and sizzling eggs woke her. The sun wasn’t over the mountains to the east yet, and Matt was gone.
She stretched and lay there smiling, remembering how wonderful everything had been with Matt last night. The fear that she was moving too fast now completely gone. That made no sense considering that she had only known him for a few days, but somehow she knew him in far deeper ways than just being together.
They had both survived the last three years and there was a new world lying in front of them to help build. And build together.
She climbed out of bed and wrapped the bathrobe Matt had draped across the bottom of the bed around her, then walked barefoot down the hall into the kitchen.
Matt saw her coming and smiled that wonderful smile that she knew she was never going to tire of seeing.
“I was hoping to serve you breakfast in bed.”
“After last night, I’m not sure I could have handled that as well.”
He laughed and came over and kissed her, then quickly went back to the eggs, indicating she should take a seat at the table. He had already showered and was dressed.
“Isn’t this awfully early?” she asked, noticing that the lights were still on because the sun was a distance from being up.
“I figured we’d get an early start for the coast before it got too hot,” he said.
The image of him naked beside her was pushed aside by the sudden realization that very shortly she was going to have to climb on a motorcycle.
He smiled, not really laughing, but clearly almost reading her thoughts. “Don’t worry, I’m doing the driving and we’ll get your cats back here soon, I promise.”
“Thanks,” she said as he slid a plate of scrambled eggs and toast in front of her. The smell was wonderful and the plate had barely stopped moving before she had the first bite to her mouth.
The idea of riding a motorcycle just scared her to death, but that seemed just silly now considering what she had already come through. And for the first time she had someone in her life she could trust.
Granted, she really didn’t know him yet, not completely, but she felt she did, and she felt she could trust him. And right now that was enough.
More than enough.
Outside, she could see movement on the interstate bridge. Clearly humanity was up and working early as well, getting the highway cleared and working to build a new future.
And she needed to do that as well.
She needed to move into a future because suddenly she had one again. With Matt and with all the people pouring into town.
She took a deep breath. She had survived three years alone in all the death and destruction. She had come up with the courage to come back to Portland, to meet Matt, and to join the rebuilding.
She could ride a motorcycle and face whatever else needed to be done in the coming years.
Just as she had done coming into town just a few days earlier, she slotted her fears away and felt a calmness come over her.
She finished the last bite of her eggs and pushed the plate aside.
She stood and kissed Matt hard, not allowing him to come up for air for a good thirty seconds.
“Thank you for brea
kfast.”
All he could do was nod and smile.
Then she started toward the bathroom to take a shower. About halfway down the hallway she stopped and looked back at Matt. “I can be showered and dressed and ready to go in about fifteen minutes.”
Then she slipped the robe off, holding it in one hand as she stood there naked, smiling at the shocked look on Matt’s face. “But I don’t think we need to leave for thirty minutes if you’d like to scrub my back.”
She turned to the bathroom grinning as behind her Matt scrambled to his feet and followed.
One hour later, she was in the passenger seat of a motorcycle, holding onto the man of her dreams as they headed off into their future.
A future she never dreamed she might have.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
USA Today bestselling writer Dean Wesley Smith published more than a hundred novels in thirty years and hundreds and hundreds of short stories across many genres.
He wrote a couple dozen Star Trek novels, the only two original Men in Black novels, Spider-Man and X-Men novels, plus novels set in gaming and television worlds. Writing with his wife Kristine Kathryn Rusch under the name Kathryn Wesley, they wrote the novel for the NBC miniseries The Tenth Kingdom and other books for Hallmark Hall of Fame movies.
He wrote novels under dozens of pen names in the worlds of comic books and movies, including novelizations of a dozen films, from The Final Fantasy to Steel to Rundown.
He now writes his own original fiction under just the one name, Dean Wesley Smith. In addition to his upcoming novel releases, his monthly magazine called Smith’s Monthly premiered October 8, 2013, filled entirely with his original novels and stories.
Dean also worked as an editor and publisher, first at Pulphouse Publishing, then for VB Tech Journal, then for Pocket Books. He now plays a role as an executive editor for the original anthology series Fiction River.
For more information go to www.deanwesleysmith.com or www.smithsmonthly.com.
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