Page 31 of Dusty and Dented
“As I’ll ever be.”
“Come on then, Sparky, let’s go see what’s for breakfast.”He led her down the hall, the way they’d come the night before.
As she descended the stairs, butterflies began to flutter in her stomach.Was everyone here?Did she have to face them all again?Would they all be staring at her again?
No, they hadn’t all been staring at her at Travis’s service, it had just felt like it.
Still, she took a deep breath and tried to relax but wasn’t sure how much good that had done.When they stepped into the main room, she couldn’t help but be surprised at how few people were there.
She recognized Raven and the woman with him, but her name didn’t come to her right away.She nodded in their direction but didn’t slow, as she didn’t want to talk to anyone right now and following Dagger to wherever he was taking her was as good of an excuse as any not to.There were several other faces she recognized because she’d seen them either at the service or here during the meal later, but she couldn’t remember anyone’s names.
No one approached them as Dagger led her to the kitchen and opened one of two refrigerators like she’d never seen anywhere but in a restaurant kitchen.Since she’d worked as a waitress for most of her life, she’d seen plenty of them.He stood in front of the open door, and she looked around the room.There seemed to be miles of gleaming stainless steel.And it all shined.She didn’t know what she’d expected to find down here, but this wasn’t it.This place was cleaner than some of the greasy spoons she’d worked in and looked like it was prepared to feed at least a hundred people with little to no notice.She was impressed but what did a group like the Fallen Angels need with a kitchen like this?
“Hey, you okay?”Dagger’s hand on her arm drew her attention back to him.
“Yeah, why?”
“I’ve been talking to you, but it was like you didn’t even hear me.”
“Sorry.I was thinking.Wondering about this place.”She let her gaze flick around the room again but kept her attention on him so he would know what she was talking about.
“Oh, we do a lot of barbeques and things like that.It’s easier just to have a nice kitchen.Plus, someone found us most of this stuff at cost.So it worked out.Back to breakfast.”He turned back to the refrigerator, the door still open so he could see what sat on the shelves.“What do you want to eat?I’ve got some kind of potato casserole thing, there are a few burgers in here, a big roast I can slice some off of.What strikes your fancy?”He turned to look at her again.
“The potatoes from yesterday?”she remembered those.They’d been scalloped potatoes and from the taste, they’d been homemade.
“Yeah.All of this is leftovers from yesterday.There’s enough here to feed us for a couple of days.”He watched her, an expectant look on his face.
“The roast sounds good, and the potatoes.Do you know if there’s any of those rolls left?”Andy’s stomach rumbled at the thought.
“I don’t know, but they won’t be in here.Probably in the pantry.I’ll get a couple of plates ready and start them heating, then I’ll go look,” he said, pulling out a large deep pan that she recognized as the potatoes.
“I can look.Tell me where.”
“That door over there.”He tilted the top of his head toward a closed door on the other end of the bank of refrigerators.
Andy stood inside the pantry that was bigger than the living room in her trailer and stared.She didn’t know where to start.The huge room had floor to ceiling shelves on every wall and a couple of rows of shelves down the middle.And they were all full.This must have cost several months rent to stock, and she couldn’t imagine what it had taken to haul it all in here and put it away.Much less to manage it all.
“You get lost?”Dagger’s voice behind her made her jump.
“Not really, just overwhelmed.Why do you have this much food?”
“Just in case,” he said with a shrug.
“In case of what?An apocalypse?”She turned to stare at him.He didn’t seem to notice as he went to the far wall and grabbed a zipper bag.He turned and held it up.
“We’re in luck.”He turned and left, leaving her behind.
She wanted an answer about why they had so much food, so she followed him, turning off the light and closing the door out of habit.
“Are you preparing for an apocalypse?”she asked, following him into the kitchen.
“No, but maybe a blizzard or another pandemic.Were you here for that?Food and supplies were hard to find in some places, or at least certain things.We won’t have that problem, not again.At least not for a while.”
She tilted her head as she thought about it.He wasn’t wrong.A heavy snowstorm or anything that slowed supplies coming out to the rural towns in the mountains like they were, wasn’t unheard of, even when everything was normal.There had to be more to it, but her brain wasn’t working as well as she might like.The microwave beeped, reminding her that they were in there to get something to eat, not for her to question the way the Angels did things.
Andy watched as Dagger pulled two plates out of an oversized microwave.He nodded to the counter.She looked where he was indicating and found that he’d laid out two sets of flatware and a stack of napkins.She picked it up and followed him back out to the main room.
He went to the same table where they’d eaten before and set down both plates.
