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“If you’ve got the only sane and healthy woman in Alaska, I recommend you start thinking that way.”
Justin ignored him. “What would Lewis say about your situation?”
It was a catchphrase in The Unit: What would Lewis say? They’d even had rubber bracelets made up with the letters WWLS? Lewis had been one of the first commanders of The Unit, a cold, calculating man who could give exact odds on the success or failure of a mission. He had been technically retired, just as most of them were after a service period of five years, but he still showed up at the office every day, helping to organize and plan the missions. And he was almost always spot-on in his predictions. The one time Justin hadn’t listened to him had been bad. Really bad.
“Probably five-to-one,” Carter said after a pause. “I ain’t gonna lie to you, man. It’s bad here. I’m trying to skirt the populated areas, but I keep running into trouble, and one of these days, sum’bitches are going to get lucky. I’m saving back two shells, if you know what I mean.”
Justin thudded the side of his fist against the wall. “We can’t stay up here. We can’t grow enough food or keep warm in the winter.”
“I understand, man. Just stay frosty. And keep that girl close to your side. I’m glad you found someone, Justin, I really am.”
Justin was startled. Had he let something slip, or had his tone spoken louder than his words? He teased and flirted with Carly because he just couldn’t help himself, and she was so cute when she blushed, but he hadn’t intended to let it go any further than that. “She’s dependent on me, Carter, and I’m not going to take advantage of her gratitude. You and I both took the same psychology classes.”
“You’re afraid you’ll fall in love with her, but her feelings for you won’t be real.”
Justin closed his eyes. “I don’t remember you being a relationship counselor.”
“As you said, we both took the same psychology courses. And this is probably the last chance I’ll ever get to talk to you. If you’ve got a chance with this girl, take it. Life is way too fuckin’ short, especially these days. You can’t miss out on what might be a good thing just because you’re afraid of what may or may not happen in the future. You may not even have a future, dude, so grab what happiness you can.”
Justin snorted, but it was good-natured. “Thanks for the advice, Dr. Phil.”
Carter chuckled. “Take care, man.”
“I will. Best of luck.”
“Vaya con Dios, buddy.”
The line went dead. Justin hung up the phone and closed his eyes.
Carly sang while she was in the shower—a long, hot shower that felt so incredibly good. She’d woken very late; it was almost noon before she got out of bed. She called down to Justin to see where he was, and he shouted back that he was cooking lunch.
Carly washed her hair twice and conditioned it, and then she shaved her legs and under her arms. She felt really clean for the first time in months. She wrapped her hair in a towel and put on a clean T-shirt and yoga pants with socks before she headed for the staircase. The aroma made her stop in her tracks, her eyes wide. It couldn’t be...
Carly ran down the stairs, through the living room and into the kitchen. She lost the towel from around her hair somewhere along the way but didn’t even notice. She came to a stop in the kitchen so fast her feet slid on the linoleum.
Justin stood at the stove, pushing something around in a skillet with a metal spatula, something that hissed as it fried in oil.
“That’s not...”
“Yup. French fries. I found them in the freezer.”
Carly thought she was going to cry. “Oh, my God...”
He glanced at the timer. “They’ll be done in about five minutes. Why don’t you get out some plates for us? And, keep an eye on these. I gotta run outside.”
“Why?” She was leery of the town, and going outside seemed risky.
“Burgers on the grill,” he said and grinned when she hopped up and down with undisguised glee.
Burgers and fries. She couldn’t believe it. She poked at the fries, shoving them around in the skillet. Through the window over the sink, she could see Justin on the patio in front of a large gas grill. Shadowfax grazed on the grass in the small yard behind it. Sam had followed Justin outside and was trying to get the horse to play chase again, but Shadowfax ignored him. Disappointed, Sam followed Justin back inside, his head tilted back as he sniffed the air, tracking the delicious scent of the burgers.
Justin brought in a plate heaped with hamburgers and cheeseburgers, which he sat down on the counter before fishing the fries out of the oil, salting them, and placing them on a paper towel to drain. While he did so, he teased Carly that women hadn’t evolved to be able to grill as well as men, and it made her laugh, thinking of when she’d told him about her theory as to why men couldn’t find things. And she thought of her mother teasing her father that the only time he would ever cook was when he used the grill, and the memory didn’t make her sad.
It felt so strange. This was normal, a world she didn’t think existed any more, a world of freezers and hot showers. A world where the clock on the microwave told the correct time. She hadn’t known what the time was for months, except what she could glean from the position of the sun.
“There are no buns,” Justin said apologetically. “All the bread was moldy.”
“I don’t mind.”
