Chapter 226: Home Sweet Hot Mess

DOVE’S POV

They had spent one more night at the diner while Cal checked the eastern loop, then left early on Day One Hundred Nine. By the time Base B’s north gate came into view, Dove had decided she was going to hug her own pillow and refuse all criticism.

The eastern loop had held. Cal had checked the low bridge with arriving drivers, taken the damaged stretch slowly, and stopped twice for water and shade. Ash’s shape had crossed above the trees more than once, too distant to pretend he was traveling with them and too obvious to pretend he was not.

Dove had ignored him with considerable effort. Now she wanted to get out of the truck without discussing the dragon, the rain, or why the air felt like a damp towel somebody had left in an oven.

Thorne helped her down. She held his shoulders for a moment longer than she needed to, then put her feet on the pavement.

"Home," she said, testing the word.

He smiled at her. "Pillow first?"

"You understand my priorities."

Inside the gate, the road split around a staffed water station. Beyond it lay Base B’s market street, with workshops, food stalls, and rented storefronts under patched awnings. People waited in the shade instead of filling the center of the road. A kitchen worker carried a covered tray past a mechanic arguing over a tire.

The base was still working. That mattered more than the bright promise of safety painted over the entrance.

They unloaded at their rented shop. The front door opened onto the selling space, with the ordinary counter to one side and room for her system storefront without blocking the street. A curtain separated it from the back room where they slept. Beyond that room, the rear door opened into the narrow yard holding their red pickup and covered larger cart.

Dove walked through all of it before sitting down. Her bed was there. Her mug shelf was there. Nobody had stolen the stupid little things she had started caring about.

She put a hand on the bedspread and let out a breath she had been carrying for miles.

Edrik came through the curtain with a box. "Still attached to the place?"

"It’s amazing what a mattress can do for my loyalty."

"I’ll remember that."

He set the box down and kissed her forehead, then went outside to help place the generator. They kept it well away from the doorway and windows, with its exhaust pointed clear of occupied rooms. Edrik checked the ordinary connections with the mechanic’s instructions beside him. Thorne shaped an existing bent bracket back into place so the cable stayed out of the walking path.

Edrik marked the fuel level before starting it. Dove watched from the doorway, already imagining which side of the bed would get the breeze.

When the fan finally started, Dove stood in front of it with her eyes closed.

"Nobody talk to me. I’m in a relationship."

"With the fan?" Thorne asked.

"It knows exactly what I need."

Edrik stepped into the air beside her. "It has one trick."

"And it’s doing it beautifully."

Both men laughed. Dove opened her eyes and caught them looking at each other over her head, pleased with themselves and with her. She loved that look. She liked being the reason for it, but she also liked that they could share it without making her manage every feeling in the room.

She washed, changed into a clean skirt and cropped shirt, and checked the cooler before switching it on. It needed time to chill. She did not put their entire future happiness into it and hope the lid did the rest.

At the front, Sprout offered the day’s category choice. Dove selected food and drinks because the road had made demand painfully clear.

Eight cases of six one-liter bottles appeared behind the glass, with sturdy handles through the cardboard tops. She could see the sealed caps through the cutouts. The blue labels were plain enough for thirsty customers to understand without a speech.

"No magical refills?" she asked.

"Each case contains the quantity displayed."

"I’m checking before someone falls in love with the cardboard."

She kept one case for four Favor, set ordinary barter terms for the others, and let the cabinet work while she unpacked. Seven cases sold over the afternoon, with the six-sale task adding its stated eighty-four normal coins. The goods people paid her stayed hers after the cabinet emptied.

Some went into their household supplies. Some would pay for clean containers. Her work was starting to become things she could point to and enjoy.

Iris stopped at the doorway with a covered dish and news of which streets had lost power during the heat. She did not ask Dove to solve them all. She handed over roast chicken, potatoes, and enough vegetables to make dinner look like dinner.

"You look better than the travelers coming through yesterday," she said.

"I bought a fan. I’ve become unbearable."

"Then I’ll come back when you’ve cooled down."

Dove laughed and invited her for lunch the next day. After Iris left, she noticed Ash across the street, newly returned to his security post. He took one step toward the shop.

Dove shook her head before he reached the curb.

He stopped. She went inside and sat between her husbands with the dinner Iris had brought. She was not giving him this meal either.

Later, while Edrik fussed over the generator’s running sound, Thorne helped her hang the salvaged screen over the back window. Dove held one side, he fixed the existing clips, and for once they finished a task without discovering three new problems behind it.

She stood back, pleased. A room, a breeze, good food, her men. She wanted more days like this badly enough to make sensible plans for them.

Then a shout went up near the gate.

Dove stepped to the shop doorway as workers closed the water station. Red runoff had reached the raw-water intake feeding that line. The sealed reserves were still safe, the worker called, but nobody would be refilling there until they knew more.

Dove looked back at the case she had kept for them.

"How long can the reserves last?" she called.

The worker looked at the queue, then at her. "Depends how many people were counting on tomorrow’s refill."