Page 68 of Raw

“Yes, they’re spending a few weeks here with me. Thought we needed good food the first time they’re back,” Mama said with a smile.

“Looking more and more like a mountain man, Judd. I like that beard,” Dianna told him, making him chuckle.

“Gotta fit in out there somehow, right?” Papa replied.

“Looks good. And you…” She turned to us, looking at Fennec with a grin. “You grew up to be a good-looking young man. How are you holding up out there?”

“Thanks, Dianna. It’s great. It’s where I belong.”

She didn’t need to make a comment about me since she had last seen me during the summer, so she directly got to writing down what we wanted to drink.

“I’ll have a beer too. And those marinated meatballs would be great as an entrée,” Mama told her.

“Awesome. I’ll be right back.”

I turned to Papa and smiled at him, seeing that he had already gotten used to the people around us.

It took me a little while, but with Fennec’s hand on my thigh and my hands over his, I was slowly getting used to them too.

We came to eat here a lot, but back then people didn’t know Fennec and I would be living in the wilderness with no electricity and running water, isolated from society.

They would never understand, but that’s okay.

I had my family, and even with Mama living here, we would always belong together.

“I heard the venison burger is delicious. I never tried it, but they just got a delivery from some hunters who sold the meat to Brian,” Mama said.

“Sounds like something we’d like,” Papa grinned, and Fennec chuckled.

“Now that we’re here, I think I’m going for a delicious beef burger. What about you, sweet girl?”

I looked at him and shrugged. “Everything sounds delicious. But I’ll stick to a normal cheeseburger with extra cheese and fries.”

“And a milkshake?” he asked, grinning widely, knowing I loved to dip my fries in it.

“Yes, please!”

“You two are strange. Dipping fries into a milkshake?” Mama asked, laughing.

“We eat far worse things out in the wild, Mama,” Fen pointed out.

“Yeah, like livers and hearts,” I added.

“When did you ever eat liver?”

I moved my gaze to Papa. “Uh, one time when I was on my period. Fennec said it’s good for me when I lose a lot of blood.”

“That’s true,” Mama said, not letting Papa ask more questions.

We did a lot of things behind his back up there, and more than half of it was something I never wanted him to find out.

He couldn’t find out.

I laced my fingers through Fennec’s, looking at him with a crooked smile.

“How about we also order some veggies? We don’t get a whole lot of those in the wild either,” he suggested.

I nodded, thinking that would be a great idea.

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