Page 44 of Night of the Living Manny
Liam disappeared without a word.
“He’s real upset.” Susanna got the salad stuff out of the cooler. “The fridge will take a bit to cool off, so we’ll leave it on ice?”
“For now, yeah.”
“Okay.” She dug around in the remarkably well-stocked kitchen for a bowl.
They worked well together, and he was proud of her. She was scared but determined and doing grand.
“Sister? Can we watch a movie?” Britt stared over through the kitchen.
“Sure. The generator is on.”
“Cool! Can we watch a Thor movie, Peter?”
Peter blinked over at his sister. “Sure. I’ll put it on.”
Oh, Britt was being dear. Genuinely. He knew she would much rather watch something girly, but she wanted Peter to stay there with her. They were too young for this shit.
“How much do they know?” he asked Susanna.
“Britt? Not much. She hasn’t made the jump to not being at school tomorrow. I think Peter knows a lot. Dad might not have explained, but Peter knows what he does, and Pete watches tons of zombie movies.”
Brenden nodded, kinda forming a plan for handling this stuff. That was his job. Help make things easier, take care of the kids. They needed a schedule.
“We’ll have some lessons, huh? Did… did your dad plan for that?”
She nodded. “There is a whole room in the back with books and puzzles and stuff, but we’ll need more if we’re gonna be here long. Most of it is a bit young for us now.”
“Cool.” He was good enough, he guessed, to keep them homeschooling for a while. A few months, at best.
“Dad’s smart too. We have satellite, for now.”
“Oh, good deal.” They could check the news once the kids were asleep.
“Yeah. I just hope it goes quick. I want to go home.”
“I know, hon.” He got nuggets on a pan, then found sauce and mozzarella cheese. Chicken parm nuggets. Rock on.
“Salad done. What next?” She looked around, her hands clenched, probably without her knowing.
“How about some garlic toast?” He got the oven going, then got the nuggets in. Not bad for dinner on the run. Moose wagged but didn’t get up.
“You okay, buddy?” He knew Moose hadn’t eaten anything outside, so he would bet the big guy was just stressed.
“Moosey?” Britt called, and Moose jumped up to go sit with his new bestie on the couch.
Britt snuggled in, petting Moose, both of them comforting each other.
He nodded, mixing cheeses, then handing Susanna the butter. It was just another dinner right now.
Another dinner in a cabin in the woods.
LIAMworked through the night after supper. He let Brenden drag him away for dinner because the kids needed him, but now he had to get the job done.
Every so often he went upstairs, did the rounds, then headed back down.
Once he realized he was working with tears sliding down his cheeks, making his shirt wet. He’d failed. He’d failed everyone.
