Regan Wolfrom - After The Fires Went Out - Coyote

Maybe one day when she’s a little older I’ll let her know that I think she’s more than fuckable. Obviously I’ll find a better way to say it…I’ll probably feed her some bullshit about her eyes.

Church girls love compliments about their eyes. I think it’s because they’re too repressed to appreciate God’s good word on their tight little asses.

Today is Tuesday, January 1st.

I woke up yesterday morning to a visitor. She brought Irish coffee and some kind of impromptu egg and cheese breakfast sandwich.

“Thank you, Fiona,” I said, giving her a smile despite how cold and depressed I was feeling.

She sat down on the pulled-out sofabed right by my legs, which wasn’t surprising since every other surface in the cottage was still filthy. “I figured you needed a friend,” she said.

I pulled my legs in and sat up. “You’re a good friend to me.”

“I meant the whiskey, but I guess you and I can be buds, too.”

“Nice. Did Sara tell you what happened?”

“Sara’s not talking to anybody. Everyone’s sure you must have done something pretty terrible.”

I swallowed hard. “Yeah…it was pretty bad.”

“She’ll get over it. She loves you and she’s not about to change.”

“I hope so.”

“Well I still think she’s lucky to have you.”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“Well, I would. I think you’re pretty awesome.”

“Uh, thanks.” I was getting pretty uncomfortable.

“Do you think you two will get married someday?”

“I doubt it.”

“Oh.” She seemed disappointed.

“I still feel like I’m already married. I don’t know if that will ever change.”

“I understand. I still feel like I’m a kid, even after everything that’s happened.”

“You are a kid, silly. That’s why I’m not sharing any of this delicious coffee.”

“That’s fine.” She reached into her jacket and pulled out a silver flask with an eagle outlined upon it. “I don’t drink coffee.” She took a deep swig.

I laughed. She’d come full circle.

“You’re awesome, Fiona,” I said. I leaned in and kissed her on the lips; only after I’d done it did I realize that I hadn’t gone for her cheek.

She smiled and let out a little giggle.

“Uh, sorry,” I said.

“Don’t worry about it. Now eat your embryo sandwich and let’s head back home.”

I ate my breakfast and then we walked back together. From what I could tell, Sara was still hiding upstairs.

That suited me fine; I was still hiding from her.

Pretty much the entire morning and afternoon of the 31st was spent helping the Marchands to get set up in their new home. Graham, Matt and the skinny kid (whose name I still didn’t know) had several more loads of supplies and equipment to do, but the rest of us minus Sara were on the job, cleaning and dusting and testing out the various appliances that were there.

The Marchands’ new kitchen was completely electric, so that meant that it would be mostly useless until we could set up some power. There are still transmission lines connecting all of the cottages and beyond; we’ve never done any kind of inspection, but I’m pretty sure the lines are intact.

But even if we can hook up the new Marchand place to ours, we’d probably end up draining our battery banks faster than we could charge them. So for now, the Marchands will have to get used to cooking dinner on top of the wood stove, unless they decide to use our place as some kind of restaurant; I don’t know what we’ll do if that starts happening.

Before I’d pissed her off, so obviously before I hit her, Sara had invited the Porters and Tremblays over for New Year’s Eve. She’d felt it was an important gesture given that we’d both done our best over the past few days to make them hate us. Obviously the Marchands were invited by default, so by the time everyone had arrived almost the entire first floor of our cottage was jammed with people.

I was feeling tired, so I was tempted not to say anything or even show up, but I knew that I still had a job to do.

“I need everyone’s attention,” I said as I walked into place in the middle of the living room.

It didn’t take long for the talking to die down; I guess everyone was sober enough to listen for the time being.

“I need to go over a few things,” I said. “It won’t take long. A lot of you might get a little inebriated this evening, and that’s fine…but try to remember that you can get into trouble if you’re not careful.”

Everyone seemed to be listening so far, but I knew that my time was short.

“If you leave this cottage for any reason,” I said, “make sure you leave with someone who is sober and has a way to defend you. Do not go outside alone, no matter what. Everything seems really peaceful out here, but you need to remember that there are plenty of places for someone to hide, not to mention the coyotes, or the fact that if you pass out in the snow you’ll probably freeze to death. And keep an eye out for snowmobiles…just because we haven’t seen any tracks so far this year doesn’t mean they won’t be coming around. We can’t trust anyone. If you see any person who is not a part of this team, you need to assume that they will take any opportunity to do you harm.”

“That’s a little paranoid,” Kayla said.

“There’s no such thing as being too paranoid…we’ve learned that lesson before. Over and over again. There’s no harm in assuming the worst.”

“So shoot first,” Matt said with a grin. “Understood.”

“You know what I mean,” I said. “Just be careful. If you’re outside at all, there’s no reason to veer off the gravel road. Don’t take any romantic walks down moonlit paths…no risks, okay?”

There was a collective murmur, and I knew that there was no point in saying any more. I’d said the important part: trust no one.

Short and sweet.

I was even more tired now, so I tried to hide out in the kitchen with Fiona while she finished prepping the finger food, but she kept shooing me out like she was doing me a favour.

“You should be out there having fun,” she said on what I think was my third incursion. “Have a drink for me.”

“You know I don’t like to do that. Well, yes to the drinking part…but I’d rather just stay in here with you.”

“It ain’t breakfast time…we don’t need any eggs folded in here, boss.” She picked up a tray of what looked to be spring rolls to take to the oven.

I opened the oven door for her with a rather stupid bow. “Then I can wash dishes.”

“Don’t you dare…that’s my excuse for staying in here after the appetizers are served.”

I didn’t like that she was walling herself off from the others. “Why don’t you want to be in there?”

She stopped working and stared at me. “Why don’t you?”

“Seriously, Fiona…it’s New Year’s Eve. Do you know how many normal sixteen-year-olds would dream of having all the liquor they could drink?”

“I guess I’m not normal, then.”

“I don’t get you, Fiona. There are all these people out there who would love to know you better, but you don’t seem to want to let them.”

She rolled her eyes. “They don’t like me, remember?”

“That’s all in your head.”

“Oh, really? Exactly who else around here likes me?”

I knew she was fishing, that she just wanted me to make her feel wanted. I didn’t have a problem with that. “Well, obviously Sara loves you like a little sister, but that’s not a surprise. And Lisa thinks you’re pretty cool…”