Page 43 of Ash Fall

Gage reaches over and closes his hand around mine before I can get too far into those thoughts. "Hey."

"I'm good."

"So damn good." He teases with a wink.

His thumb moves across my knuckles once before he lets go to shift the motorhome into drive.

I smile despite myself. "Smart ass."

"Yep."

Penny settles on the floor between us. She's sitting, but her entire body vibrates with excitement as the convoy pulls away from the Stillwell house, her head swinging back and forth to look out the huge windshield.

The neighborhood disappears behind us, and within a few minutes the large homes give way to smaller properties, then open land. Out here the roads are quieter than in town. There are abandoned vehicles here and there, but nothing blocking us, and the farther we get from Prairie Gap, the easier it becomes t drive the speed limit.

For almost five full minutes, Gage says nothing and neither do I. Five minutes becomes seven. At eight, I can't take it anymore.

"If you keep squeezing the steering wheel that hard, you're going to break it."

His hands loosen immediately. "I wasn't."

"You were."

"I was driving."

"You were strangling the motorhome."

"It likes a firm hand on it."

I laugh at that, and his mouth finally lifts. The smile doesn't last, though.

His eyes stay on the road when he asks, "Are you getting back together with Mars?"

No lead in and no careful approach to the topic, just a flat out ask that surprises me with its bluntness.

I turn toward him. "Wow."

"What?"

"You couldn't start with how about this weather?"

"We've got a broken moon and volcanoes going off. Weather talk seems risky."

"How about, did you sleep okay?"

"I already know you did. You drooled on me."

My mouth falls open. "I did not."

"You absolutely did."

"I was asleep between four grown men. Statistically, it could have been any one of you."

"Sweetheart, it was you."

I cross my arms. "Prove it."

He hums a laugh, but then his expression goes serious again. "Mars."