Nathan Jones - First Winter

“Raul!” he said, clapping his friend on the shoulder to get his attention. “Have you met Hailey Nelson yet?”

Gutierrez looked over, and a bit of his sour mood faded away. “I think we said hello back when she first arrived,” he said, offering his hand. Hailey shook it without a trace of shyness.

“Well I seem to remember you’re a pretty good dancer, and Hailey was hoping to get out on the floor.”

His friend finally smiled tentatively. “Sure.” He offered the girl his arm, and she happily allowed herself to be led out into the press.

Lewis was fairly satisfied with the introduction, but as he was circling his way back around to Jane Linda caught him. “Smooth matchmaking, cuz,” she said with a grin.

He shrugged sheepishly. “She was looking for someone to dance with.”

“You do know the reason Raul was standing there was because he was waiting for Mary to finish this song so he could cut in, right?”

Lewis blinked. “What?”

His cousin rolled her eyes. “Oh come on. You haven’t noticed the guy has a serious crush on your sister? He keeps on trying to work up the nerve to talk to her.” She suddenly smiled mischievously. “Oh. Or is that why you steered Hailey his way?”

He looked at her in befuddlement. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Linda rolled her eyes again and grabbed his arm. “Well come on. I know Jane doesn’t want to dance, and Wes and Alvin keep sidling up trying to find an opportunity to ask me. Be my knight in shining armor and take me through a few waltzes so I don’t have to be a heartbreaker.”

Lewis allowed himself to be led onto the dance floor, shaking his head slightly in disbelief at his cousin.

Gutierrez was interested in Mary, huh? He didn’t exactly have a problem with that, although the fact that the man had been in a relationship with Mandy Townsend wasn’t exactly a mark in his favor. At the same time Sam’s description of the way Gutierrez had broken up with that toxic troublemaker definitely made it easier to like him.

Besides, since the former soldier had defected from the raiders and joined the town’s defenders, then the volunteers, he’d become one of Lewis’s closest and most trusted friends.

Still, brotherly protectiveness and all. Especially where Mary was concerned, with her painful shyness. Lewis wasn’t about to get in a chest beating competition or anything, but he’d be on the fence about whether this was a good thing or not until he saw how his sister felt about it.

Until then it looked as if he’d been dragged into dancing with his cousin to dash the dreams of two fine young men. Happy as he was for Rick and Alice, this was exactly why he hated parties.

Maybe he didn’t regret the way he’d married Jane after all.

Trev bit back a yawn as he helped Mary move the fences of the shelter group’s animal pen to a new grazing location, the sheep still ambling around inside while patiently moving along with the light but sturdy barriers in a chorus of baas .

The sun was just rising over the ridge of the canyon’s eastern slope, but although he’d slept later than usual this morning and had done almost no work yesterday thanks to Rick and Alice’s wedding, he still felt exhausted.

Deb had interrupted his sleep again last night to sit with her. It had come as a bit of a surprise, considering how well things had seemed to be going at the celebration yesterday. But he supposed you never really could tell. Shivering in the cold, wanting to help her but not really knowing how or even if he could, he’d suggested she talk to someone, some sort of counseling. Only he wasn’t sure who in town could help with that, and had no answer when she’d challenged him about it.

It was kind of a shame that with all the professionals they’d invited in, they hadn’t thought to include a therapist who specialized in traumatic events. He supposed the committee’s thought process was that with so many immediate physical needs, any mental and emotional issues had to go on the back burner.

But at the same time there were a lot of people in town who’d suffered terrible loss or been through horrific hardship since the Gulf burned. A lot of people burying issues or handling them as best they could as they struggled to go about their daily lives.

Trev woke up from nightmares himself after his time fighting the blockheads, and still found himself flinching for cover and going for his gun at sudden loud noises. To be honest being woken up in the night, even gently, was something he could do without. It always came with a surge of heart-pounding adrenaline as he went from a safe, relaxed state to ready to fight for his life in an instant.

“I think that’s far enough, Trev,” Mary said. She’d already let go of her corner of the enclosure.

Trev jumped slightly and looked, and sure enough he’d dragged the pen a good ten feet farther than he’d needed to. “Whoops.”

His cousin gave him a concerned look. “Is there, um, that is, are you…” she trailed off awkwardly. Then, before she could think of a way to say whatever it was, she looked past him and abruptly flushed slightly and began humming.

Trev turned around and was relieved to see Gutierrez approaching, putting an end to any awkward conversation about how he was doing. “Morning, Raul,” he called.

“Hey Trev,” his friend answered, quickening his step to join them. He glanced at Mary and assumed the sort of stiff casualness that even an idiot could recognize. “Hey Mary,” he continued in a subtly different tone. Then he gave Trev a friendly nod that seemed to say, ‘Good to see you, man. Can I get some space here?’

“Oh hi, Raul,” the blond young woman said, looking flustered as she hastily brushed dirt that wasn’t there off her shirt and pants.

Trev bit back a smile as he moved over to pick up the animals’ water buckets to refill. As he did he watched the awkward tableau unfold as the two fumbled their way through a conversation without being too obvious that they were interested in each other.

Gutierrez did his best to look relaxed and confident as he searched around for suave things to talk about, obviously picking up on Mary’s social awkwardness that wasn’t doing his own nervousness any favors. For her part Mary was blushing and kept breaking into humming songs that were generally romantic, between shy responses.

Trev didn’t know whether to think the exchange was adorable or cringe his way right down to the center of the earth at being witness to it. “Hey, I’m going to go grab some water,” he said. He wasn’t sure if they responded as he made a beeline for the stream running through the canyon.

Mary and Gutierrez, huh? They could be good for each other, between her gentle nature and his competence and unwavering loyalty. Assuming they could get past awkward pleasantries.

Of course, judging by Robert’s obvious interest in Mary at the wedding reception last night, Gutierrez was going to have to hurry things up if he didn’t want competition. Then again, that might explain why he’d popped in to say hello this morning.

The stream that flowed down the canyon past town was a decent size, more than enough to meet everyone’s needs. Even so it was fairly shallow, so they’d deepened a few of the spots people frequented most into small pools to make gathering water easier.

Not bathing, though. Privacy considerations and water temperature aside, they were doing everything they could to avoid contaminating the water upstream of town and where it flowed past, all the way to a mile downstream of the last house. That included keeping latrines well away from the water, and doing any clothes washing farther down.