Regan Wolfrom - After The Fires Went Out - Coyote

“She’ll be more than upset…”

“Then go hogtie the crazy so we can get home before Matt decides to try and cook dinner. We don’t need another forest fire.”

“Lisa will figure it out,” Graham said, sounding like a total fool.

“Yeah…maybe…”

Lisa jogged back to the cart.

“Nope,” she said. “They’re not interested.”

“Neither of them?” I asked.

“Fiona seems like she just wants to keep Gwyneth happy.”

“For how long? Are they going to set up at Helena and start some kind of Amazon collective?”

“They’re both too short for that,” Lisa said. “Let’s just go with Feminazis for now. I think we should just let them walk for a while. Eventually reality has to set in.”

“I think Gwyneth left reality in her other pants.”

“I can’t believe this,” Graham said. “How did I end up being the one who wants to brutalize these two girls and drag their butts home?”

“You have a dark side,” Lisa said. “And I like it.”

“I’m not going to put up with this,” I said. “I’m not interested in holding this crazy bitch’s hand.”

Lisa nodded. “Then go. We can handle this. We’re relieving you.”

“I stand relieved.”

“Is that a pee joke?” Graham asked.

“We’ll keep the cart,” Lisa said. “I don’t want us to have to hump these girls back on the machines.”

“Sounds good,” I said.

Graham handed me his key.

I didn’t wait around. I hopped down and started walking back toward the snowmobiles.

I went back home.

I didn’t see Sara when I got back, but I didn’t worry about it. If she wanted to hide out at the Marchands or wherever, I wasn’t going to try and stop her.

Kayla and I made dinner in the kitchen while Matt sat on the chair by the porch, holding the shotgun and looking exactly like the overzealous idiot he is.

Has he ever seen me on watch with the shotgun? Is that how he thinks this is done?

It was awkward at first with Kayla, neither of us talking about what I’m sure both of us were thinking. We hadn’t seen each other since she’d been half-naked on my bed, about to let me pull down her pants. I wasn’t sure what to say.

“I miss apples,” Kayla said as she opened up a can of mandarin oranges for the salad. “More than bananas, even. Probably because we’re just a little too far north to get them.”

“We’ve got applesauce by the buttload,” I said.

“It’s not the same. That feeling of biting into an apple, that mixture of skin and the…er…apple guts…”

“Are we going to talk about it?” I asked.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because there’s no reason to. We’ll just move on.”

“Move on? Like try and be friends?”

She laughed. “Move on like the next time we get a chance we’ll fuck like bunnies and that’ll be that.”

“So that’s still the plan?” I wasn’t disappointed.

“That’s the plan.”

“I’ll bet there are apples that can be grown here,” I said. “I’m sure I’ve seen apple trees.”

“You’ve seen them? But you don’t remember where?”

“It didn’t seem important at the time.”

“I didn’t start this because I want to hurt Sara,” she said. “It just happened. Hurting Sara would just be a happy side effect.”

“She wouldn’t care. She’s done with me.”

“Yeah, right.”

“I’ll keep an eye out for apple trees. We ought to have an orchard.”

“Yeah…our canned fruit won’t last forever.” She stopped making the salad and grabbed my hand. “What happened to those girls, Baptiste? What did they do to them?”

“They wanted to hurt them,” I said. “To get back at me.”

“No…before that. When you first found them in that cabin on Silver Queen Lake.”

“You don’t want to know.”

“I’m asking. Just tell me, okay?”

“They stripped them down and tied them to a bed.”

“They tied them? To the bedposts?”

“With zip ties…why does it matter so much? It’s not going to happen here, Kayla.”

“Were their ankles tied? Were they blindfolded?”

“I don’t want to talk about this…”

“I can’t imagine what that would be like.”

“Stop it, Kayla, okay? Just change the goddamn subject.”

“Okay…sorry…I just wanted to know.”

“Yeah,” I said.

We finished making dinner without talking about much else, and I set the table and wondered why no one was back yet.

The three of us sat down and had dinner, Matt finally putting the shotgun down.

With the way Matt still looks at Kayla, I don’t think he has any idea what she and I have been up to; I doubt he’s been given a copy of that plan of hers.

The three of us sat in the living room after we’d eaten. We hadn’t done the dishes, since we were expecting more diners to show up.

“Fiona just messaged me,” Kayla said. “They’re on their way home.”

For a fleeting moment I was surprised she hadn’t messaged me. Then I remembered how I’d left her behind, and it all started to make sense. I was now higher on her shit list than Kayla.

“Must not be far if she was able to send a message,” I said.

“They’re on New Post Road. Fiona sent me one earlier, not long after you guys found her, all the way from Birchill. I’m surprised she had a signal out there.”

“I didn’t even check.”

“Yeah…apparently Sara’s pissed about that.”

“What?”

“She’s pissed. Apparently you didn’t tell her what was happening. She only found out when Fiona messaged her that you guys had found Gwyneth. Personally, I think she’s lost the privilege of being the first person you tell.”

“Yeah…it doesn’t matter what she thinks.”

“I don’t disagree.”

That time I was the one who leaned in for the kiss.

I heard a snowmobile arrive a few minutes later. I went downstairs to check, leaving Kayla in my room. We hadn’t done much.

But probably enough for Matt to get the message.

Justin was the one who stepped into the house, which was odd, since I don’t remember inviting him over.

“We got ‘em,” he said to me as he kicked off his boots by the door.

“Where are they, then? You just took off in front of them?”

“The cart’s a little slow. And you know, I have a family to care for. It’s hard being the support system for two of those now.”

“So you’re just here to taunt me? Like you’re looking for a fistfight?”

He smiled. “Come on, Baptiste…I was just messing with you. Don’t be so mopey.”

“Don’t be such an ass, Justin. Let’s start with that, shall we?”

“Sure,” he said with a grin. “Sorry about Sara, eh?”

“What about Sara?”

“You know…that you two are on the outs. It was a good run, though.”

“How is this your business?”

“Well, when Sara starts sniffing around me because you’re not cutting it for her…that makes it my business. I mean, I’m a married man…”

I stepped up to him and gave him a shove. “Get out,” I said.

“Easy, guy…the heart wants what it wants…”

“Get out of my face, Justin.”

“Sure, pal…I’ve got a place to be.” He turned and headed toward the door. He stopped and gave me a smirk. “Don’t worry…I’ll make sure Sara isn’t…neglected…”

“Don’t you have some supplies to give away?”