Chapter 156: Her Husband Had a Whole Other Life

"Tell me what still works," Dove said, setting the water notice on the counter. "Then tell me whether you’re changing the rent. I’d rather get annoyed about the right thing."

The landlord explained that the tap would work during set hours while crews repaired the line. The room remained available at renewal, but he wanted to know whether they planned to stay. Other tenants had asked to leave early rather than wait for the repairs.

Dove glanced toward the back. Their comb sat beside the mirror. A clean towel hung from the hook Thorne had fitted, and the movie player waited on its shelf. None of it was impressive enough to make another woman gasp, but she knew where her things were, and nobody had ordered her to sleep there.

"Come back tomorrow morning," she said. "I want the water hours in writing and a proper discussion about another fortnight."

After he left, she asked Sprout to show what she could actually afford. Her system coins could buy system goods. They could not pay a landlord who wanted ordinary supplies, and buying something expensive merely to trade it would be foolish if she already owned what he needed.

Edrik sat beside her while she separated household goods from sale stock. "Keep the battery fan," he said when her pencil paused.

"I was going to. I’m generous, not deranged."

Thorne pointed out the working wall fan still available, and she wrote that down instead. They could offer it with bedding, soap, and some shelf-stable meals without dismantling the room to keep renting it.

Morning brought work lights, four sales for forty-eight normal coins, and a landlord who started the conversation faster than Dove intended to finish it. She made him slow down, agree on the interrupted service, and accept fewer meals alongside the other goods. Payment would happen on Day Eighty-Six, covering fourteen nights through Day Ninety-Nine.

The permit and inspection that had admitted them to this western base had not bought them a home. Their shop was in Base B, the busy commerce district between the poorer outer streets and the protected inner neighborhood called Base A. She could trade here because she had followed the entry process and rented a space, not because someone had decided her face deserved a free building.

That mattered to her, even when the paperwork was annoying.

"If he changes the deal, we can look elsewhere," Thorne said after the landlord left.

"I know. I just like this one."

Edrik brushed her hair away from her cheek. "Then liking it is a reason to keep it. It doesn’t have to be the cheapest room left in Michigan."

The rain began while she sold the third work light. By the fourth, water was backing up across the shared service yard, carrying leaves toward the damaged drain beside their rear step.

Dove moved her owned paper goods and loose signs onto the higher shelves and told Thorne where the dry towels were. Edrik checked the drain with a restaurant worker while she stood on the raised threshold holding a light. Their pickup stayed safe on the higher parking strip by the fence.

The grate had bent and trapped debris. Thorne kept his palm on the bent grate and reshaped it while Edrik held and reinforced its edge, giving the worker time to clear the opening. Dove spotted a loose pallet drifting toward them and passed rope to another man on dry ground before it could block the drain again.

Once the water began flowing, the men released the grate and checked its ordinary fittings. Their powers had helped, but the bolts still needed tightening. Dove collected an undamaged spare bracket with the landlord’s permission, stored it by touch, and shut Sprout’s completed-task notice so she could finish drying the doorway.

They ate hot sandwiches afterward, sitting on crates outside the rear door as the rain eased. Thorne’s shirt clung to his shoulders. Edrik noticed her noticing and asked whether she wanted him to get wetter too.

"I want you both to finish lunch before inventing reasons to take your clothes off," she said.

A man crossing the yard stopped so suddenly that his companion nearly walked into him. Both stared at Thorne, then exchanged a look Dove could not read.

"Thorne?" the older one said. "I thought that was your voice."

Her husband went still. His expression changed before he stood, surprise opening into something younger and unguarded. Even then, he stayed beside her until she touched his arm and nodded toward the men.

"Go say hello. I’m not going to evaporate because you enjoy yourself."

He crossed the few steps quickly, laughing when the older man caught his shoulder. Dove looked at Edrik, delighted by how happy Thorne sounded. Edrik offered his arms, and she let him lift her from the crate.

"Don’t worry," he murmured beside her ear. "I’m here."

His teeth closed gently on its edge, just enough to make her grip his shirt.

"Shh. He’s having a nice moment, and you’re being a menace."

"I can do both."

Thorne waved them over before she could answer. He was smiling at her like this was the best thing that had happened all week. Dove smiled back before she knew a single thing about the two men.

"This is my wife, Dove," he told the men. "Edrik’s family too. These two worked for me before the fall, at the company I ran. I didn’t know they’d made it out."

Both men looked from her face to Thorne, then to Edrik holding her comfortably. The younger one’s mouth opened before he remembered to close it. Dove smiled and said hello, giving them a moment to catch up without punishing Thorne for their surprise.

They had come through the warehouse district two days earlier and were staying near the repair businesses. The older man started explaining which former coworkers he had seen, then stopped when Thorne asked about anyone from home.

"Your father," he said. "Your beast father. I worked beside him at the relief warehouse less than two weeks ago."

Thorne’s smile disappeared so completely that Dove reached for him before she knew what she meant to do.

The man looked between them, suddenly careful. "Thorne, he’s alive."