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Of course, the first smile I see on Simon’s face since he hugged me and Bella on the side of the road is when Bernie shows him his gun safe.
We go to the room that Bernie had been using as a study, and I find Simon there with his laptop open.
“What’s the deal, Bernie? Are you a prepper?” Simon asks.
“Funny you should ask that, Simon.” Bernie looks over at me. “Trenda, do you remember Ralph Gunderson?”
I shake my head.
“Yeah, he would have been before you started coming up on the mountain. He died of cancer twelve years ago. He left his gun safe and all of his guns and rifles to me. I haven’t known what to do with them, so here they’ve sat.”
“Is there ammunition?” Simon asks.
Bernie goes over to an armoire in the study and opens the doors. There is box after box after box of ammunition. Simon walks over and starts examining things. “Good, there are even cleaning supplies. Yep, the man was certainly prepared.”
I walk away and go to my favorite place in Bernie’s modest house, the kitchen. Evie had put away the nine bags of groceries. I might have overbought at the supermarket, but I don’t think so. I have the sneaking suspicion that Simon will not be letting Bella and me leave until things are sorted, which is fine by me. I don’t want Bella in harm’s way.
Evie walks into the kitchen as I’m reorganizing the pantry. She starts laughing.
“I don’t know why I bothered putting the groceries away. I should have known you would have moved them all around anyway.”
“I’m not moving them around, I’m organizing them. The oatmeal and the peanut butter can’t be on the same shelf. One is for lunch, the other is for breakfast. And you put the cookies right next to the crackers. They need to be separated by the potato chips.”
Evie launches herself at me, and pulls me close for a big hug.
“Please don’t be mad at me,” she whispers into my neck.
“I’m not. I promise. It’s done. You know those are the Avery girl rules.”
She doesn’t let go, just sniffles for a moment. Then two.
“I hate that I scared Bella,” she whispers.
“Bella is resilient. You had to shell out twelve dollars for your swearing, she’s fine now.”
Evie pulls away from me and looks me in the eye. My shoulders slump. “Okay, not entirely fine, but she’ll get there. She has a gerbil for today, but her teacher is eventually going to stop by and pick him up. And Zarek is letting us have Slayer for her to play with.”
Evie snorts. “Yeah, sure, he’s here to play. I would never want to be on that dog’s bad side.”
“Isn’t that the truth.”
He must have heard his name because I hear his nails on the hardwood heading toward the kitchen. I pull down the dog treats and hold one out for him. He gently nips it out of my hand with his big white teeth.
“He does have a massive jaw and sharp teeth,” I admit to Evie.
“Zarek has Slayer trained to be one hell of a guard dog, and he is devoted to Bella.”
Slayer looks up and gives me his version of a doggy smile. He doesn’t have to look up far, since he’s so tall.
“I love that picture of Bella riding him, remember?” I say.
“When she was little, he was horse-sized in comparison. Hell, he still almost is. Aiden is looking at getting a couple of dogs for us when he retires. He’s considering Russian Terriers because of Slayer.”
Woof.
“Yeah, you know when you’re being complimented, don’t you?” I rub his massive head.
Woof.
