Chapter 48 - Dean
Dean
Awareness returned.
Lily’s naked body pressed against my back, arm sprawled across my side and chest. Her warm skin heated mine as her soft breath tickled my neck.
Her thumb stroked my cheek, either to wake me, comfort me, or both.
“You’re awake,” I said. She sighed her acknowledgment. “You never wake up before me.”
“There’s always a first time. I added wood to the fire and crawled back under the blankets while you slept. The wood’s almost gone, and I don’t know what to do after that. Oh, there’s more food in the kitchen area, enough for a few days.”
My grandfather’s cabin was unchanged, with more necessities than luxuries. I wondered about his absence. We needed to find him and check the woodpile and basement for food and supplies soon.
I turned to face her, drawing the blankets to our chins to keep our naked bodies warm. Our noses touched. “You were amazing last night. You’re the reason we’re here.”
Lily blushed. “How do you feel?”
I stretched to check for injuries. “A little sore. Still tired. How about you?”
“Is that all? Are you sure?”
Dirt smeared her forehead, and last night’s threatened black eye had emerged, along with a swollen cheek and a puffy lip. She had never looked more beautiful. I tucked a snarled lock of hair behind her ear.
“This is my grandfather’s place.”
Lily pressed her palm against my cheeks, checking for a fever. “What day of the week is it?”
I had no idea. “Are you worried about a concussion? Ask me something I know.”
“How many days until Christmas?”
“I can’t do that math in my head. Let’s try this. I know you’re Lily, and I’m Dean. I know we’re alive because of each other. I know you grew up next door, and I never let myself believe you’d ever want me like I’ve wanted you.”
“My whole life. I did.”
“Your whole life.” Lily stabbed me in the heart with her declaration. “I can’t change our past.”
She stroked my lips and eyebrows, wearing a soft expression that matched my own. “No more than I can. All we can do is move forward. Together.”
“We have so much to talk about. I don’t know where to begin. I’m so sorry.”
“Me too. I’m sorry, too.”
“It’s your turn to answer me,” I said. “The swelling set in overnight. How do you feel?”
Lily touched her eye and flinched. “No one ever hit me before. What should I expect?”
“The swelling will subside a little more every day until it’s gone forever. Like it never happened.”
“Like what he did will fade away.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. “Do you want to talk now or take a break first?”
“Wait. Later today, or maybe tomorrow.” Lily blinked.
She processed at her own pace, not mine.
If I’d understood that earlier, our conversation before I left again wouldn’t have happened.
“Not yet. Oh, you know what? I confronted my dad after you left. He knows what I did while we were traveling, and I forced him to tell me everything. I did my own spying. Of Julian and the sheriff.”
“Good for you. He deserves to see the brave woman I do.” I smiled at the idea of her sneaking across roofs the way I did. “Not great people, those men.” I pulled the blanket up, covering us to our eyes, and scooted closer.
So much to be said between us. So much I owed her. Lily brought us to safety and built the fire, but that was only the start. The winter storm may have caused damage, and I worried about potential pursuers and my missing grandfather. We also needed food, or none of the rest mattered.
“We could stay in bed if we wanted,” I said. An activity denied us between our rush to Deer Lake and life’s demands. We’d spent hours together, yet always with words unsaid or worries to manage. We’d never been allowed to relax. I’d forget how if we didn’t change that soon.
“I was supposed to, remember? We get to Deer Lake, and I’d spend a week in bed. Asleep. Here we are, and I’m not tired now. We also can’t stay in bed all day like I want. Responsibilities, and other things.”
“Not yet.” I didn’t dispute what she said, even as I dreaded it. Talking about us led to talking about me, and I avoided talking about myself. “Survival first, and then us.”
“Food first. My stomach just growled.”
Lily put off talking about Julian Gustafson.
She didn’t say a word about her father or Ryan.
No mention of our last conversation. I’d hurt her that morning, and she’d hurt me.
For now, the practical demanded our attention before the personal.
I was grateful the excuse allowed a delay.
“We’ll take care of what’s needed before we move on to what matters.
In case it’s not clear, that’s you. You’re what matters to me. You are all that matters to me.”
Her voice hitched. “Dean.”
“Stay in bed a little longer. Let me find you something to wear.” I rose before she answered and found warm clothes, along with thick socks and insulated boots, in my grandfather’s storage area. “Take this for today.” We’d need to find more suitable long-term clothing for her if we stayed.
I added wood to the fire while she checked our kitchen pantry.
“Raisins and cream of wheat,” Lily announced as she continued her search. “Beef jerky? Not a traditional breakfast entry. Still protein.”
I sat waiting for the water to boil, taking in our new surroundings. It had changed since my visit years ago.
The furniture and bare walls were familiar, while the electric stove was new. He added a door to the entertainment unit on the far wall. Curious, I opened it, and we smiled in shock. It hid an older television set and a DVD player.
“Check the drawers,” I said.
“Dean. Look at them.” Lily opened one drawer after another, slapping her mouth and jumping with excitement. “Movies. So many of them. Older ones, but actual movies.”
“The hermit’s life is lonely.” Experience taught me that.
We ate enough to satisfy our hunger rather than stuff ourselves, eager to see the rest and make any necessary plans.
I checked the tap, and water poured out. “At least we know his well still works. We’ll have water as long as it doesn’t run dry.”
Lily wiped her eyes with the bottom of her palms. “Who’d ever think water coming from a kitchen sink made a person cry?”
“He moved here before I was born and spent all his time building it. I’ll bet the comet’s announcements were one of the happiest moments of my grandfather’s life.”
“Should we check outside?”
“Not yet.” I wondered about his prolonged disappearance. Outdoor weather would kill him. A single-room cabin, even a spacious one like ours, left no hiding place. “There’s another place he might be.”
“A hidden panic room?”
I chuckled at her genuine question. “Not that.” I moved a heavy chest out of the way. “There’s a blanket and gear inside. I don’t remember what.” I rolled up the carpet kept under the chest next. “He kept the basement entry hidden in case of a home invasion. I’ll go first.”
I pulled the door, revealing wooden steps beneath us. Lily handed me the flashlight and lay on the wooden floor to peek into the cabin’s basement.
“What’s down there?”
“Cold.” I pulled the thin string hanging from the ceiling. I didn’t remember it either. A single light bulb turned on. “You can come down.”
Lily’s voice trembled with excitement. “A lightbulb means electricity. How did he get electricity?”
“It’s new. A generator, maybe, or solar panels. We’ll find out.”
We stood beside each other, hands clasped, as we took it all in.
“Pinch me. Is this real?” she asked.
“It’s real.” My voice shook as much as hers.
Shelves covered most of the floor space, and each one held food.
We separated, both of us eager to explore and take it in.
Lily called out her discoveries. “Instant pudding. Cake mixes. Flour. There are dehydrated fruits and vegetables. Banana chips and peaches. Mushrooms. They’re all sealed with labels. I think it’s your grandfather’s handwriting.”
With care, the basement held enough for a couple of years or longer. “I’ll try hunting as well. It’s been years, but it might be like riding a bike. Worst case, I’ll look like an idiot. Fresh meat will supplement all this, making it last longer.”
Her voice lowered as she asked, “Where is he?”
“I don’t know.” Grandpa had no friends or family, except for me. He wasn’t the kind of man to leave here unless forced. “All these new supplies. He didn’t have as much during my last visit.”
We searched some more and found board games I remembered from childhood, along with playing cards and notebook paper. Lily wrinkled her nose at the books, all old Westerns.
“None of this seems real.” Lily looked up through the ceiling door. “It’s like we stumbled on a hidden paradise. The comet doesn’t exist here.”
“There’s more outside.” I led the way upstairs and closed the door behind us. “Your suggestion helped me find it. I wrote it all out, and the memories returned. We owe you for this.”
“Both of us. We owe both of us,” she corrected. “What’s outside?”
I opened the front door and said, “Snow. Wow. Lots and lots of snow. More than I’d guess was possible from one night.”
White covered everything. It hung from the trees and covered the ground. Pristine and empty, so all evidence of our late-night arrival had faded. I checked the direction we’d arrived from and knew we would not be traveling that way soon.
“We’re stuck here.” Lily wiped her mouth. “For weeks. Maybe longer.”
I swallowed. “Maybe I should have picked somewhere else.”
“No, not that. We can talk about it later. Show me the rest first.”
“It’s in the back area,” I said.
We found the familiar woodshed in the same place I remembered, with wood stacked and organized, ready to warm the cabin during the long winter.
“What’s that sound?” Lily tapped her ear.
I heard it as well. “Chickens. I noticed chicken feed in the basement. Who doesn’t want fresh eggs for breakfast?”
We found three hungry, clucking chickens inside the coop. They’d been cared for, which meant my grandfather had been there not that long ago.
Where was he?
Lily took my hand. “Let’s look for him.”
It didn’t take long.
We found him sitting on the cold ground behind the chicken coop.