35. Lehm
Chapter thirty-five
Lehm
Ishake my head and shift my legs. “I appreciate the offer, but that’s been settled. I don’t want anything to happen to Diego, but I don’t want him here either.”
Chris cocks his head to the side, raising one eyebrow. “Does Tig know?”
Maria waves off the question. “Not yet. I told her I’d talk with you and Lehm first. I called her again when you still weren’t answering, and she asked.”
“But it’s not that easy. Diego has a say in what happens to his fledgling. Let me see if Tig has worked it out.” He clicks his tongue and puts the vidcon on one of those magical virtual screens so Maria and I can see and hear.
Tig appears on screen, her mouth pinched, looking irritated. She’s inside the main cavern. Familiar stalactites are in the background.
“What, Chris?”
“I didn’t ask earlier: how’s your jaw?”
“Better. Almost healed. Now if that’s all—”
“What are you doing about Lehm’s maker? Lehm is staying with Maria and me.”
“Glad to hear you got your act together.”
Chris scowls at her. “And he doesn’t want Diego to join us.”
“I suspected as much. We started negotiating, in case that was the answer. Diego wants to turn another willing mortal of his choice to replace Lehm.”
Chris huffs. “Sounds like true love.”
“No judgment, Chris. I’m just trying to get authorization so we can close Diego’s file.
He wants to stay with the nest if we put up the dome and provide a truck.
I think I have the good guys sorted from the perps who reneged on the original deal.
But your love life is at the bottom of my to-do list, got it? ”
“Understood. Bye.” Chris glances at me. “Did that make sense to you?”
“Yeah, that sounds like Diego.” It wasn’t about love—I knew that from the start.
Diego wanted a semi-warm body as a regular sex partner.
The speed at which he’s willing to replace me isn’t surprising, either.
Even so, my heart feels heavy. I’ll always have a soft spot for him—he saved my life, introduced me to a lot I didn’t know, and helped me protect Zinnia.
But I’m just as happy to use this as an excuse to move on without him.
Maria slaps her hands on her knees. “It’s almost sunrise. Chris, could you please set up somewhere for Lehm to sleep?”
“Why not the couch?”
She rolls her eyes as if Chris is an idiot. “Zinnia. In case she wakes before we do.”
I’m confused by that, since Zinnia slept beside me during my day sleep yesterday, but I don’t say anything. I’m in their space and I don’t want to upset their relationship. I just want to stay.
“Got it.” Chris’s jaw-joint bulge smooths out, and his movements relax. He rises and gestures to me. “Come on, Lehm. You can bed down in the warehouse. No windows there.”
Now that I’m not a threat to his relationship with Maria, he’s acting friendlier.
Maria heads for the master bedroom. “I’m gonna shower. I’ll see you in bed, Chris.”
Chris may be more relaxed, but everything’s changed so fast for me, my head is swimming.
Home. I have a home again. And soon I’ll have my own room.
I never had much space to myself in the silo. A whole room sounds decadent.
As we walk down a hallway—remarkably clean, like the rest of his habitat—Chris leans in close. “I’ve learned that if I do what she wants, things work out in the end.”
“So did I. In the silo, Maria led on some things, Gabriel on others, and I had my own areas of expertise. Our parents raised us that way, to share responsibility for our family’s survival. The three of us rarely butted heads.”
I hope it works out as easy with Chris replacing Gabriel in our family. He slaps me on the back as we walk down the hallway toward the warehouse elevator. “Good to know Maria has a smart ex-husband.” He pauses. “Or maybe we should just call you Zinnia’s father and leave that be?”
“Um, we can figure out the language as we go along.”
“Sounds good.” Chris stops us at two metal doors and hooks his thumb at them. “Elevator. For today, you’ll sleep on the same level where I store the cots. Once I get a timetable from the Lux on how fast they can build your room, we can move the cot to a more convenient area.”
“Thanks.” The doors slide open, and I jump back.
He chuckles, then shows me how to work the controls.
“I have it locked so Zinnia can’t open the doors and get lost in the warehouse.
It’s ten floors.” He keys in a code on a panel.
“Put your hand here. Flat. Hold for a minute.” He taps some other controls, and the panel lights up.
“There. You have full access to the warehouse. Just remember to put your hand flat there and enter the number here. You’re on the third floor. ”
It feels good he assumes I’m literate. But maybe Maria told him about our parents’ belief in lifelong learning. When they scavenged, books in good shape were a priority.
I nod. “Uh, I appreciate the trust.”
“Letting you in here? Not a big deal. If Maria trusts you, I do too.” He pauses. “I’m sorry I was…less than friendly when we first met.”
“I understand.” I do.
We step out of the elevator box—which was like riding a motorcycle vertically—and my dizziness returns. I’m standing in a two-story area that goes on farther than I can see, chock-full of pre-Collapse rarities.
When I get my bearings, I hug Chris. I can’t help it. “Thanks for taking me in. Zinnia speaks so highly of you. I’m sure it’ll all work out.”
His acceptance means everything to me. I can live with my daughter and watch her grow up—something I never in my wildest dreams believed possible.
He pats my back. “Yeah. It’s kinda new for me to live with other people here. I’ll adjust.”
“We’ll do just fine together.” I lean back, because pleasant tingles are starting to gather in my groin, and prolonging the hug isn’t a good idea. I gaze into his gorgeous blue eyes. “Welcome to the family, bruh.”