Page 36 of Enraged

How long are we planning to hide out up here?

As Mrs. Rosie finished ringing everything up, Lena pulled her card from the pocket of her sweatpants. Quicker than a ninja, I snatched it out of her hand.

“Yeah, right,” I told her as I pulled out my wallet and passed Mrs. Rosie my card.

Lena rolled her eyes. “I picked out most of that so let me pay for it!”

“Yeah, no. I’m paying.”

From across the counter, Mrs. Rosie smiled. “You forgot a charger!” She reminded me before hurrying away from the register. She returned a moment later with an electric orange cord. “This one works for all the phones!”

All the phones…

“Thank you for remembering!”

I finished paying and we said our goodbyes, but not before Mrs. Rosie made us promise to come back while we were here so Mr. Paul could see us.

The air was even colder when we stepped out the front door. Fetching my keys from my pocket, I pressed my remote start button.

“Get in, Loo. I’ll load up.”

Surprisingly, she obeyed my request.

Only because she doesn’t like the cold.

Five minutes later, everything was loaded in the bed of my truck except for the phone charger I really didn’t need for a phone that I really didn’t give a fuck to turn on.

Jolene

“Do y’all have a weather radio?”

He turned to me, confused.

“Probably. Why?”

I sighed. “I just don’t want to cut my damn phone back on to stay updated on the weather, but we probably should stay updated on what’s going on,” I explained.

“We probably have one in a closet somewhere, but even if we don’t, we can call your parents and my dad from the house phone to let them know we’re okay and then just ride out the storm. We are prepared, I think.”

You think?

“Do house phones work if there’s no power?”

He bit his lip. “Ya know, I’m not sure. Either way, we will update the people who deserve updates and fuck the rest. I’m goin’ to make sure there’s plenty of firewood when we get back. We can either cook something on the grill for supper tonight or eat some of the Chef Boyardee crap you picked out at Paul’s.”

I nodded and turned to stare out the window. I have always loved riding to the mountain house but even the view couldn’t lift my spirits today.

Dakota reached over the console and patted my thigh. “I’ve got you, Lena.”

I squeezed his hand appreciatively. As I went to pull away, he held on, encircling my fingers with his own as if they were meant to be mixed up together.

We drove back to the cabin in silence, our hands meshed and resting on my thigh. Every now and then, he would rub the top of my knuckles with his thumb.

He pulled up to the front porch. “Go inside and start a fire in the living room, Boy Scout. I’ll bring our survival shit inside.”

Laughing, I climbed out of his truck.

The air inside the cabin was sharp and cold. Kneeling at the fireplace, I rearranged the logs to make sure the oxygen would be able to get through them. As I admired my handy work, Dak dropped two armloads of groceries on the kitchen countertop.

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