Нора Робертс - Year One

And Allegra, with her ice-queen looks: pale skin, pale hair, frosty blue eyes. But her manner contradicted her looks, Lana thought. Warm and open, welcoming and kind.

And yet …

No and yets , Lana ordered herself as she switched off the shower. Allegra and Eric shared a bedroom, and their relationship had that fresh and shiny look of the new, so she would be warm and welcoming, too.

She dressed, studied herself in the mirror, and decided that while she might not feel fully rested, she looked it. She went out to find the others.

They owed the big, beautiful house to Shaun—or his parents. For a vacation home, they hadn’t stinted on luxury: gorgeous wood floors, spacious rooms, fields of windows to let the forest and mountains in, generous decks. A small, in-house gym equaled a lovely dream after the rigors of the road. But her favorite aspect was the huge and exceptional kitchen.

She found Max and Eric in the great room, huddled together over coffee.

She walked to Eric, wrapped her arms around him, and hugged hard. She’d only met him twice before: once at a family wedding, and then when he’d spent a long weekend with them in New York the previous summer. But they’d clicked.

She moved from him to bend down and kiss Max.

“Want coffee?” Max asked.

“Actually, I want tea for some reason. Is it all right, Eric, if I hunt for some?”

“I know we’ve got it because Kim goes for it. You don’t have to ask. We’re all in this together.”

“We’re going to have to start thinking about inventorying the food,” Max began, and Eric rolled his eyes.

“Man, you just got here. Relax a little.”

“There are eight of us now,” Max began, and because she knew Eric could get defensive when Max played big brother, Lana broke in.

“Speaking of, where’s everyone else?”

“Poe’s in the gym—he hits it every morning. Allegra’s still conked. Probably the others, too. Mostly we don’t get up this early. Except for Poe. Your pal Eddie took the dog out.”

“How about if I do some more hunting around and see what I can make for breakfast. For eight.”

“That’d be great.” Eric beamed at her. “We’ve been mostly doing everyone for themselves, unless Poe cooks something. He’s not bad, but he’s nothing close to you. We picked up some supplies on the way here when we could. And there’s a big freezer in that mudroom place. Shaun said his parents would’ve just had it stocked before … before everything went to hell.”

His face lost its easy cheer as Eric lowered his voice. “They’d always come up after the holidays, after all that, and they’d spend about a month here. Have some friends up, and stuff.”

He glanced toward the doorway. “The way it looks, they didn’t make it.”

“It must be hard on him,” Lana murmured.

She found the freezer and the pantry well stocked. The refrigerator offered slimmer pickings. Max, she knew, had a strong point about inventory.

The eggs and milk wouldn’t last long—and the milk would turn in any case. Since she had frozen blueberries in stock, she started gathering what she needed for pancake batter.

“What’s the generator run on?” Max asked.

Eric, feet up on the table, shrugged. “I think Shaun said propane.”

“He must know where his parents got it. If we can get a propane truck up here, keep the generator filled, we’ll keep heat and light. We shouldn’t be using more power than necessary.”

“Christ, you sound like Kim.”

“That makes Kim a sensible girl,” Max countered.

“Look, with what I’ve got now…” Eric wiggled his fingers. “I can keep this place up and running.”

“That may be, but basics are basics. Keeping the heat on, replacing firewood as we use it, going out for fresh supplies, keeping enough fresh drinking water in stock.”

“We’re going to have to learn how to hunt.” Poe walked in, his dark skin shining from his workout.

“Not you, too?” Eric shook his head, got up for more coffee.

“We’ve got eight people and a dog to feed,” Poe went on. “And it might be more people find us, need a place.”

“This isn’t the only place around here. Let them get their own.”

“Eric.” Surprised, disappointed, Lana nudged his arm.

“Seriously. Shaun’s got about six acres here, he said, but there are other cabins. High-class ones like this, and more—what was it— basic ones.”

“Has anybody scouted out those cabins?” Max asked. “To see if anyone’s using them, or if there are more supplies we can use here?”

Poe turned to Max. “Kim and I talked about doing that today.”

“It’s a good idea. I’ll go with you,” Max offered. “And you’re right about learning to hunt.”

“Hunting what?” Shaun came in, pushing his glasses up on sleepy eyes. “You mean like shooting animals? Uh-uh, no way. I’m not shooting animals.”

“Then you can go vegetarian.” Poe shrugged. “But the rest of us are going to need fresh meat, and have to learn how to hunt it, dress it, cook it. Either way, we’re going to have to learn how to grow shit, too, when spring comes around. I’m going to get a shower.”

“Poe and Kim are always looking on the downside,” Eric muttered.

“It sounded to me they’re looking on the realistic side. Eric,” Max said patiently, “we can’t live off what’s in that freezer long-term. The fact is, we might not be able to stay here long-term.”

Eric’s next shrug held a sulky edge. “I’m going to see if Allegra’s up.”

“Give him some time, Max,” Lana whispered when Eric walked out. “They haven’t been here long, either, so it’s natural just to want to hold on to the relief. The rest? It’s a lot to take in, a lot of adjusting.”

“Taking in and adjusting is what’s going to keep us alive.”

“I don’t want to shoot things.” Shaun flopped down. “Maybe I could fish. My dad and I went fishing every summer.”

He shoved his glasses up to cover eyes that glimmered with tears. Then Joe raced in from the mudroom with Eddie behind him. Shaun brightened, slapping his thigh to invite the dog over.

* * *

After breakfast, Eric and Allegra volunteered for cleanup, and Max joined Kim and Poe on their scouting expedition. Lana held Eddie back to check his wounds, change his bandage.

“I think it’s healing pretty well, but I don’t think we should take the stitches out yet.”

“They’re starting to pull some. That’s probably good, I guess. Closing things up.”

“Keep taking that antibiotic we got from that drugstore, and I’ll take another look tomorrow.”

“Yes, ma’am, Dr. Lana.” He pulled his shirt back on, looked around the stone-tiled bathroom. “This is some place. I’ve never been inside a house like this. Fan-cee. Eight of us in here, along with Joe, and we don’t feel crowded. But…”

“Supplies don’t just regenerate. Max will find more.”

“A lot of deer in the woods. Rabbits, too. Some streams close by where fishing’s probably good.”

“I get a little queasy at the idea of shooting a deer or a rabbit, which is hypocritical since I’ve cooked both.”

“Don’t much like it myself, but you gotta do what you gotta. This is a good place to be for now, but it’s a fact we’d be better off finding a place where we could grow some crops, keep a couple of milk cows and some chickens. And more people. More hands to work, more hands for defense.”

“I know Max feels the same.”

“And, Lana?” He stepped to the door, glanced out, eased it shut. “There’s more going on out there than deer and rabbits.”

“What do you mean?”

“We walked a ways, right? Me and Joe. Felt good to be out in the air. And back in the woods I came across this like, circle of stones. Not like a campfire, exactly, but that’s what I thought at first. But the ground in it, that was black and burnt but, no ash, no charred-up wood. And Joe, he got the shakes and wouldn’t go near it. I got ’em, too, I admit it.”