Chapter 209: The Road Had Other Plans

Dove woke before the knock, with Thorne’s arm warm across her waist and Edrik already listening to movement outside. She wanted to stay. Then she remembered the sandwiches. Leaving a bed was less offensive when breakfast was waiting.

Day One Hundred Four began with a pond-water wash and clean travel clothes. Dove braided her honey-blonde hair away from her face, then ate while her husbands checked the bags. Thorne kissed her neck, apparently distracted by how she smelled.

"You can appreciate my excellent hygiene after we make the truck," she told him.

"I haven’t made us late yet."

"Everyone in this marriage thinks they’re very talented."

Edrik passed her a sandwich and looked entirely untroubled by the accusation.

She completed fifteen minutes of familiar practice in the cleared room before they left, moving carefully rather than trying anything new while watching the time. She chose equipment, and Sprout offered backpacks, three sales for sixty-four normal coins. She checked the three bags, and told the system that if it suggested she flirt with a driver before coffee, she would become difficult.

"Your customer engagement already exceeds expectations."

"That’s because I keep telling people no in interesting ways."

They left the cooler empty and off, the larger cart covered, and their pickup in the yard. Owned goods stayed behind their return notice. Dove looked at their bed once more, then pulled the curtain across.

They reached the freight yard in time to see Cal checking the straps on the covered truck. The repaired route sheet was fixed near his seat, and a clerk handed him the latest report. The smoke warning still had no confirmed closure on their road. He would check again at the first planned stop rather than treating yesterday’s information like a promise.

Cal and Edrik checked the truck before anyone boarded. They found no tampering, which left the cut ramp unexplained. Dove would go anyway. Waiting at home hadn’t kept trouble away.

At the freight yard, the clerk let Dove open beside his office, clear of the loading road. A worker with a split bag, a passenger, and the clerk bought the three backpacks. She packed the empty storefront before boarding. With the morning’s rewards and genuine reactions recorded, she had 1,830 normal coins and 239 Favor. The traded goods joined their bags.

Dove asked Sprout to hold routine alerts during the ride, then put the display away. It could record genuine reactions without tapping her on the shoulder every time a man smiled. She wanted to see the road she’d chosen. Thorne poured coffee from the thermos into her new mug without being asked, and Edrik tucked the blanket behind her where the bench edge pressed. She took a sip, looked between them, and decided that spoiled was a condition she could live with.

Dove sat between her husbands on the secured bench, watching the base fall behind through the open side of the canvas cover. The wind smelled of warm pavement and wet earth.

Cal’s first stop was a former service station above the low ground. Another crew had confirmed the forecourt was clear, and the owner was trading from the intact shop while keeping the damaged rear room closed. Passengers could buy food, use the facilities, and inspect the marked clearance goods while the driver checked road reports.

Dove climbed down with help from Thorne that became a brief, unnecessary hold around her waist. She gave him a look, and he smiled without apologizing.

"You’re enjoying being useful," she said.

"Very much," he said, setting her down when she tapped his arm. His hand lingered only until she could feel solid ground beneath both feet.

Edrik joined them with the empty canvas bag. "Buy her lunch before she starts charging for that smile."

The shop smelled of hot sandwiches and coffee. Dove bought enough food for all three, then noticed a driver juggling a scalding paper cup beside his map. She offered one of her spare insulated mugs in exchange for a bag of sealed snacks. He tried the lid before agreeing. One cupboard find had become food already; she tucked the snacks away and asked about the clearance shelves. There were sealed cleaning supplies, reusable containers, a small folding table with one loose fitting, and a pile of travel goods from a damaged display. She checked each thing instead of sweeping junk into her bag because it was available.

They bought the sound containers and table with ordinary goods, and the owner let them take several items from the approved clearance pile.

Outside, Thorne shaped the table’s bent metal tab straight. Edrik held and reinforced the joint while they fitted a sound spare fastener, then let go. Dove pressed her palms on the tabletop. It stayed level. Good, they had somewhere to eat, and nobody had to use a husband as a table leg.

Dove kept looking after the third useful find. She came away with cloths, sturdy clips, a sealed pack of trash bags, and a plastic basin that would make washing on the road easier. Behind the truck’s closed changing screen, with her husbands guarding the space, she stored the smaller approved items by touch. The three-item mission completed, but the rest were worth keeping too.

They ate beside the truck at their repaired table. Dove poured water into the mugs that had been somebody else’s clutter yesterday. Her sandwich was hot, her husbands were close, and Edrik’s elbows no longer made lunch wobble.

"Look at us," she said. "We found furniture and immediately put lunch on it. Very responsible adults."

Thorne wiped a little sauce from the corner of her mouth with his thumb, then stopped when she caught his wrist.

"Don’t look that pleased in public. People will think I’m nice to you."

"You are nice to me."

"Keep spreading that rumor and I’ll ruin my reputation."

Edrik laughed quietly, and the sound made her look at him. He caught her watching and held her gaze, warm enough that she forgot the next joke she had planned.

Cal came back before they finished eating and spread his route sheet beside the plates. His finger stopped at the bridge. Dove put down her sandwich; drivers didn’t look like that when they wanted to admire the furniture.

A freight crew had reported fire near the western detour. The wind was pushing smoke across the approach to the bridge they needed, and the road had just been closed to incoming vehicles.

Dove looked beyond the service station, her lunch cooling on the table she had just rescued. A darker line now marked the sky above the distant trees. Their planned stop lay beyond the closure. The remaining east road led somewhere none of them had visited.

"Show me that road," she said, pulling the map across their new table.

She opened the campground booklet beside it. That turn ran past one of the places she’d wanted to search, but a lake on an old printed map didn’t mean safe water now. She could ask Cal to take them back, or help find a way around.

For once, wanting more had put the next choice squarely in her hands.