Chapter Eighteen #2
Ted in the mouth, and relishing the idea. Instead, in a voice that seemed to come from outside herself, she said, “You know
what, Ted? You’re welcome to the gas, but as for the rest of it—” She stopped, and shot her middle finger at him, so close
to his eyes they crossed a little as he focused on it.
His mouth opened, closed, opened again. He sucked in an outraged breath. Then, evidently realizing he couldn’t do anything
he wanted to do or say because everyone else there would turn on him, he wheeled around and stomped away.
She’d never given anyone the middle finger before, not even when she was driving.
She turned around and saw Olivia gaping at her. Then the girl began grinning, and gave Sela an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
Strange how two digits on one hand could have such completely different meanings. Aghast at herself, she pressed her hands
over her face. Twice now in twenty-four hours she’d lost her temper and been rude to people.
Then Ben reached her, and stopped less than a foot away. “Say the word, and I’ll hurt him for you.” As always, his nearness
seemed to create a force field around them that made everyone else dim in her perception. It felt as if the two of them were
insulated in a bubble. Perhaps he didn’t feel it, perhaps this was an effect of the strength of her attraction to him, but
having him close by made everything feel . . . right.
“Thank you, but that isn’t necessary.” She sighed. “I kind of feel sorry for him, because he’s such a butt and doesn’t know
why people don’t like him. His wife is nice, though.”
He looked down at her, that raptor gaze roaming over her face, touching briefly on the small bandages covering the cuts. “You
look like you’re almost too tired to move. Why don’t you go home and get some sleep? We’ve got things covered here. After
the gasoline is taken care of, I’ll go over security organization with the patrol, then come tell you about it.” He glanced
around and located the dog, curled up by Olivia. “After I take the dog to the old couple.”
She started to refuse, because she kind of felt as if it was her duty to stay, but then she saw how exhausted Olivia looked
and knew she probably looked as bad, if not worse. She put her hand on his arm, loving the steeliness of him under her fingers
even through the layers of his shirt and thick coat. “Are you certain about the dog? We can find another one for the Livingstons.”
Ben looked at the dog again, and a brief flicker of regret might—might—have passed over his expression before being banished. “Yeah, I’m sure. All of the attention will be good for him, and he’ll
be good for them. It isn’t as if I won’t be seeing him, because I’ll have to do some extra hunting and take food down for
them. They sure can’t feed a growing dog without help.”
And he was accustomed to being alone; that went without saying.
Correction: he’d been accustomed to being alone, but that had changed. Even though he was taking the dog to Jim and Mary Alice, he’d still be checking
on the Livingstons and on the dog. However unwillingly, he’d also forged a connection with her, and she’d discovered she could fight for what was important to her. Ben was important, more than she’d ever anticipated.
Not only that, without effort the valley men had opened ranks and accepted him into their company, and the only way he could
extricate himself now would be to move completely out of the county. Given the circumstances and how difficult travel was,
that wasn’t going to happen. He was a natural at thinking strategically, in seeing what was an urgent source of danger and
what wasn’t.
She looked down the road at the long line of headlights, duty making her waffle about going home. Ben saw the indecision on
her face. “We’ve got this,” he said, putting his hand on the side of her waist. Even as tired as she was, she was aware that
he’d made a very public declaration by touching her that way. No one seeing the gesture would think, “Oh, they’re just friends.”
But she wanted to be his friend, as well as his lover. Friendship was more difficult, more emotionally intimate and they hadn’t
achieved either step yet. She looked up at him with a wan smile and nodded. “I know you do. I just feel guilty leaving. But
I need to get Olivia home, and I think I’ll fire up the generator so we can all have a nice hot bath.” Though she’d had a
shower at his place, now she felt grimy with gun smoke, and her hair and clothes smelled like burnt gunpowder. After the stress
of the night, she wanted the comfort of modern conveniences. They had carefully hoarded their cans of gas for colder times
and emergencies, but she thought this qualified as an emergency.
She dared to give his arm a gentle squeeze, then dragged herself into the store to get their rifles before going to Olivia.
Fatigue made her feel as if she had weights tied to her legs, and her eyes were gritty. “Let’s go home,” she said. “And fire
up the generator so we can have hot water for showers. We’ll have to start the pump for the well, too.” Before they’d switched
over to the county water system, all of the houses had had wells, and water pumps. Without electricity they’d been pulling
buckets of water from the wells or hauling it from the creeks.
Olivia’s eyes lit up. “Hot water! OMG, that’s worth being shot at!”
Sela gave a reluctant laugh. She wouldn’t go that far, but Olivia’s enthusiasm meant she’d make herself keep going long enough
to get everything done.
Thank goodness she didn’t have far to drive, because she kept blinking to keep her eyes open. In the passenger seat, Olivia
huddled down into her coat. “I’m so cold.”
“I am, too.” The drive didn’t last long enough for the Honda to get warm. She pulled into the driveway and saw lamplight shining
in the window, which meant someone was already awake. It was nearing dawn, she thought, seeing the sky lightening in the east.
Before she and Olivia made it up the steps the door opened and Barb and Nancy both crowded out. “We’ve been so worried! Are
you two all right? I can’t believe you did such a foolhardy thing!” Barb cried, tears in her voice, then she held her palm
up to Olivia for a high five. “I’m so proud of you both, and don’t ever do anything like that again!” After Olivia, Barb high-fived
Sela, too.
“We didn’t plan on doing it to begin with,” Sela murmured as they entered the warm house.
Nancy said, “What happened to your face?”
“Broken glass. It’s nothing, just a few little nicks.”
She and Olivia shed their coats, then both went to stand in front of the fire. Sela had just had the thought that she was
glad Carol had evidently slept through the crisis, when her aunt called from the other room, “Sela! Olivia! You two get in
here!”
Barb rolled her eyes. “She’s been fit to be tied, since we found out what happened.”
“How did you find out?”
“Leigh Kilgore said Mike tore out of the house when he heard shooting, and she followed on foot because he forgot his gloves.
She tracked the noise and lights to the store. After she gave Mike his gloves she stopped by back here and let us know what
was going on.”
She hadn’t even seen Leigh at the store, but then she’d been a little distracted.
“Sela!” Carol bellowed again.
“I hear you!” Sela bellowed back, because it had been that kind of night.
A shocked silence came from the bedroom, and Olivia rolled her eyes. “You’ve done it now,” she said in a stage whisper as
she headed toward Carol’s bedroom. Sela trudged after her, knowing Carol had to be soothed before they could do the necessary
chores to get the water heater working, but she was almost at the end of her tether.
“We didn’t know anything was going to happen,” she growled as she entered the bedroom.
Carol’s eyes widened at Sela’s appearance, and perhaps also at her uncharacteristic surliness. “You’re hurt,” she whispered,
her hand going to her mouth.
“It’s just a couple of little nicks, I promise. The store doesn’t have a window left, though.”
“Sela gave Mr. Parsons the finger,” Olivia announced.
Sela’s face got hot, though she was grateful to Olivia for deflecting Carol’s attention away from the danger they’d been in;
she just wished it wasn’t her own bad behavior that had been brought to the forefront. “I was stressed,” she muttered.
Olivia curled up beside Carol on the bed, rested her head against Carol’s shoulder. “I’m not sorry I sneaked out, Gran. If
I hadn’t, Sela might be dead. She needed me, and y’all wouldn’t have let me go if I’d asked.”
Carol opened her mouth, then shut it. Perhaps she was trying to think what she could do beyond scolding them both, but she
also had to admit that, faced with a difficult decision, they’d done the best they could and had succeeded in keeping the
gas safe.
“You’d have been there with us if you’d been able,” Sela pointed out.
“That’s true,” Barb said, coming into the room with Nancy, who was putting on her coat. “Don’t even try to say you wouldn’t.”
“I have to get home and feed my bunch,” Nancy said, “but I want to put in my two cents’ worth before I leave. I’m proud of
you, Sela, and you, too, Olivia. The two of you saved the gasoline for us. I’m grateful neither of you were hurt—or at least
not hurt very much—and anytime you need backup you just let me know.”
Nancy left, and Barb said, “I don’t know about all of you, but I could use a cup of coffee and more breakfast than usual.
Worrying burns up calories, you know.”
Sela remembered everything she had to do before she could crash. “I’m going to start the generator and the well pump, if I
can figure out how, and get the water heater going. I think we all deserve a nice hot shower.”
“Fine for you to say, at least you can get in the shower,” Carol grumbled, looking at her splinted and elevated leg.
“If you want one, we can put a chair in the shower and get you in and out,” Barb said stoutly. “As for turning on the well
pump, I can help with that, too. We old people used to have to do stuff like that all the time. We were constantly having