Chapter 122: The Bear Was Coming to Dinner

Edrik sat on the office chair and let Dove remove the torn glove. A shallow scrape crossed his palm where the steel edge had caught it. His fingers were steady when she turned his hand, though tired enough that he didn’t argue when she rested it on a clean cloth.

"You could have said it hurt," she told him. Edrik admitted the scrape barely bothered him. Holding the shield had tired his arm; letting her fuss over his hand was simply much nicer than checking another strap.

"You’re enjoying this," she accused, and he made no effort to deny it. Dove shook her head and kept his hand. "Fine. Be spoiled quietly while I clean it."

She cleaned the scrape, dabbed it with a little pool water, and wrapped it while he watched her face. The raw patch eased, but she’d seen what holding the shield cost him. "You’re eating, then sleeping," she told him. "You can act indestructible again tomorrow when I’m less likely to yell about it." He smiled and let her finish.

Thorne brought the meal into the office. The room had a desk against its back wall, two chairs, and a door into the appliance showroom. Their bedding lay in the cleared corner beside the desk. Edrik’s bag remained just outside in the showroom, close to the office door and away from the loading entrance.

Dove set a full plate in his lap, then sat with her own. Halfway through her first bite she dropped the fork. The little clatter made all three of them look down.

"Apparently my hands have decided we’re finished being impressive," she said.

Thorne picked it up and brought another. Nobody told her to stop shaking. Edrik asked whether she wanted him closer, and she moved her chair until their knees touched instead of making herself answer through a tight throat.

She managed a few bites, then another scoop of rice. Edrik stayed close, eating one-handed while she tried not to remember the gunshot hitting the wall. Thorne asked whether she wanted peaches afterward. Such a normal question nearly undid her. She nodded, swallowed carefully, and let him talk about dinner until her hands settled.

That night she slept beside Thorne with the office door open. Edrik stayed in his own bedding, near enough that she heard him turn once before she drifted off again.

On Day Sixty-One, her pool wash felt less like another task and more like proof she could still have something clean. She brushed her hair, checked her blonde ears in the little mirror, and came out to find both men arguing quietly over who would make coffee.

"If you’re fighting over who gets to bring me coffee, you can both win. Bring two."

Thorne handed her a mug and leaned down for his kiss. She gave it willingly, then kept a hand against his jaw for a moment longer. He’d fought for her yesterday and remembered her coffee today. She needed both.

Sprout supplied four packs of oatmeal breakfast bars, twelve to a pack, and wanted three sold. Dove dismissed the picnic basket offer. She wanted Edrik to sit with her for breakfast; she didn’t need special equipment to ask him.

A pair of travelers stopped outside the store before noon, drawn by the parked pickup and cooking smell. Thorne met them at the loading entrance while Dove watched from inside. They wanted food and directions, not an argument, and each bought a pack of bars. The third sale went to a driver arriving to inspect the road. He also traded for two sealed drinks from her owned stock. Dove kept the rest of their safe water in the shade, away from the muddy bottles he’d filled elsewhere.

Dove traded for coffee, sealed pasta, and clean bandage cloth. She stored all three and paid four Favor to keep the last bar pack. Before practice, they searched the empty showroom. Dove kept a tested extension cord and two sealed boxes of AA batteries. Thorne carried them to the cart, then stayed beside her while she stored them. Her practice with Edrik finished the active minutes.

When her turn improved during practice, Edrik grinned outright. Dove nearly lost her footing looking at him instead of the space beside his arm.

"Don’t do that while I’m learning," she complained, catching her balance.

"Tell me what I’m allowed to do, then."

"Keep looking at me like that afterward." The words escaped before she could tidy them up. His grin softened, and she found herself pleased she’d said it.

A traveler recognized the name inside the separate bag from the van. Dove wrote down his suggested contact, but kept the bag. Knowing an owner’s name wasn’t the same as being allowed to collect his belongings.

Thorne helped inspect the bag strap before she used it again. It still held, though the stitching had stretched where the attacker caught it. She ran her thumb over the damage and remembered how quickly she’d thought of storing it.

"That was yours," her husband said. "The idea. Nobody had to tell you."

Dove looked at him, surprised by how badly she wanted that noticed. She hadn’t needed to win the whole fight to matter in it.

"I’d prefer to show off somewhere less shooty next time."

He smiled and kissed the hand holding the strap. She let herself enjoy the pride before folding the bag for repair.

At lunch Edrik tried to rise before finishing his second bowl. Dove caught the uninjured sleeve.

"Stay. There’s nothing you need to kill between here and the dessert."

His smile came slowly. "You keep asking that."

"Because you keep looking surprised when I mean it."

"I like being asked after the work’s done," he said. "That’s all."

Dove put down her spoon. She hadn’t expected that honest answer. Through the open door she could see his bedding laid out between them and the showroom, the place he always chose so danger would have to reach him first. She tightened her fingers on his sleeve.

"Then stay after the work’s done," she told him. "I want you here when there’s nothing happening too."

Thorne moved his chair to give them room, stealing her bread as he went. Dove threatened his fingers, then gave him the last bite herself.

Later, Edrik asked whether he could move his sleeping bag inside the office, along the wall beside the door. Separate from their bedding, he said, but closer if she woke again.

Dove checked with Thorne, then moved her bag to make space. Edrik brought his bedding inside and smiled at her. Sprout settled the day’s rewards, praising the value of honest connection.

The notice floated beside Edrik’s smile. Dove shut it, but that didn’t stop her knowing she’d earned coins while asking him to sleep closer. She had meant every word. He should know what Sprout was doing before she asked for anything else. Her stomach tightened at the thought of his face changing when she told him.

She took Thorne’s hand by the loading door. "Stay when I tell Edrik where the shop comes from. I need sleep first, or I’ll make a mess of it."