Page 58 of Ash Fall

She points at me. "You're my favorite today."

"He's getting a whole sandwich?" Jules asks.

"Two if he keeps his mouth shut."

I take a second one off Luna's tray before the offer can be withdrawn. A sandwich will do for now but the thought of a hot bowl of chili sounds almost obscenely good right now. I try to remember the last time I ate a meal that wasn't reheated or thrown together from whatever we had on hand. It happened before the moon cracked, back when sitting around a table with food in front of us was so ordinary none of us knew enough to appreciate it. I can’t wait to get back to that.

Luna carries the remaining sandwiches toward one of the hay bales stacked beside the barn and lowers herself onto it. There’s room beside her so I move to take it before anyone else can.

Her shoulder bumps mine when I settle in, and that restless feeling under my skin eases a fraction. I tear the crust off one corner of my sandwich and glance toward Gage again. He's standing by the motorhome eating with one hand while glaring at Jules over the top of it, and Jules smiles back at him until the glare gets darker.

I lean closer to Luna. "Do you know what's up with Gage?"

Her expression freezes and her eyes widen as a flush sweeps across her cheeks. Then she stuffs a bite of her sandwich so fucking huge in her mouth I almost laugh.

"That's a lot of sandwich, love."

She chews furiously and shakes her head, so I wait her out. "Would it have anything to do with why Jules looks even more insufferable than usual?"

Her eyes snap toward mine, which is all the answer I need. She makes the mistake of trying to inhale while she's still chewing and starts choking. I drop my sandwich onto my plate and pat her between the shoulder blades while she waves me off, and her eyes water until she finally gets the bite swallowed.

"You trying to kill me?" she demands.

"I asked a question."

"You asked it while my mouth was full."

"Your mouth became full because I asked the first question."

She gives me a narrow-eyed look that’s so cute, and I wait again while her gaze flicks toward Jules, then Gage, before coming back to me.

"I plead the fifth."

A laugh spills out of me. "We're Canadian."

"Then I plead whatever our version is."

"We don't have one like that."

"We do now."

"You realize you're making me more curious."

"That's a you problem."

"It could become an us problem."

"No."

"I have ways of getting information."

She lifts one eyebrow. "Are you threatening to torture me?"

"I'm thinking tickling."

Her expression goes genuinely alarmed. "Don't you freaking dare."

That grin of mine is entirely unrepentant. "Ah hah! There is something to find out."