Your girl was in desperate need of some undies.
I tried not to pull everything out this time, though. For most of these remaining boxes, simply opening them and seeing what was on top was enough to remind me what the rest of the items inside were. I even found all my shoes and boots.
Only problem was, after opening everything, I didn’t find any other indoor clothing besides my fuzzy pink bathrobe and matching slippers. That, and a bunch of scrubs.
I didn’t really want to make breakfast in scrubs. Especially if there would be no bra or underwear that went along with them. But there were no other boxes to open. Had some of them been left at the saloon?
The kitchen was completely crammed. There was no room left. Maybe he’d had to abandon some of the boxes in the wagon for the night.
Or…
My eyes alighted on his bedroom door. He’d never told me it was off-limits, so I’d stolen in there last night to give him the little joke gift of my shirt. Now, I wondered if he’d seen it.
He must have. I’d left it right on top of his bed. And something told me that extreme attention to detail was one of Warden Hallum’s many strengths.
I stepped around piles of pillows and scented candles and opened his door. Luckily, it opened inward and into his room, otherwise it would be nearly impossible to enter or exit with all my stuff on the floor out here.
After the kitchen, his bedroom felt almost eerily empty. There was a small desk by the window with nothing on it. There wasn’t even a chair, which made me think that if he ever actually had cause to use the desk, he did it standing up and didn’t spend long. His closet had no door, and the only clothing in it were outfits identical to the one he was wearing today. Multiple sets of uniforms, perfectly hung on their hangers, not a wrinkle to be seen. There was one extra belt, and one extra pair of boots, both set neatly to the side. And nothing else.
The only stuff that took up much space – and therefore seemed really out of place – were three boxes of my things. He’d placed them on the floor at the foot of his bed, evidently havingrun out of space in the kitchen last night. This made me feel a bit warm and gooey inside to imagine. He easily could have left my last few boxes in the wagon, or on the porch. But instead, he’d taken them into his own room, arranging them as carefully and precisely as he did everything else. Seriously. The tower of boxes was so perfectly straight that it didn’t even look like three separate boxes at all. The edges of each one was crisply aligned with the others. I almost didn’t want to ruin his handiwork by moving and opening them now.
I gave the boxes another moment to bask in their flawless, rigid harmony by turning my attention to the bed. It was hard to believe that anyone had slept there. The plain blanket was pulled mercilessly into complete flatness. Even the pillow looked to have been smoothed out, no indents or other evidence that a head had lain there at all.
Maybe Warden Hallum slept standing up in his closet. Like an Old-Earth horse. Or a shuldu, if that’s what they did. I amused myself with that image for a bit before noticing that the shirt I’d left on his bed was gone. An unexpected bit of pleasure jolted through me. He’d received my gift.
And put it…where?
The shirt had been bright red. It would be easy to spot. I didn’t see it anywhere. There was a drawer at his desk, but I doubted he’d stuff a shirt in there. And walking into his room with the purpose of retrieving my boxes was enough. I wasn’t about to go rooting through his stuff. If he even had any other stuff. A small voice told me then that the drawer was likely empty. Maybe he’d thrown my shirt away. Unlike me, it wasn’t like he could actually wear it.
I steeled myself against the deflated disappointment that line of thought brought me. I’d left it in here with no expectations at all as to what he’d do with it. Keep it, toss it. It was up to him.
Squaring my shoulders, I tackled the boxes, carrying them out of his room one by one. Doing my utmost not to trip and break an ankle, I brought them into my room and opened all three of them, chucking various items of clothing on the bed. I settled on something cute but comfy, since I’d be cooking and cleaning up all my stuff today. I got dressed in high-waisted black leggings and a cropped sweatshirt – after the very necessary underwear and bra, of course. Then, I spent a few minutes clearing a path through the kitchen and hunting through the non-perishable food ingredients I’d brought. Cans of instant coffee went into empty cupboards, and my bags of rice and little jars of spices and sauces were placed on the counter. By that point, I was famished, having slept, I was fairly sure, more than twelve hours. My normal breakfast hour was long passed.
“We are so going to get our brunch on,” I whispered giddily to myself, discovering a trap door in the floor that led down into a cold cellar. It should have been a little spooky to go down there on my own, but Warden Hallum kept it so scrupulously clean that the vibes ended up being more boring than haunted. There were no creepy crawlies or dank corners to imagine ghosts living in. Down there, I found eggs and some sort of smoked meat that looked like beef – maybe from the bracku animals Tasha had told me about – and decided to do a nice, big, Filippinotapsilogmeal for us. Clutching my eggs and smoked meat, I hurried back up the stairs and got to work.
Warden Hallum had great timing. When he walked back in, the food was ready.
“Hi!” I called to him, busily plating his portions of garlic-fried rice and meat with its new, sweet-and-savoury sauce. “And don’t forget your egg!” I said merrily, plopping the fried egg onto the plate before holding it out to him.
He stared at me, then at it, in apparent bewilderment. Then, he looked beyond me to the stove.
“Don’t look at that,” I advised him. “I’ll clean it up after.” My cooking process tended towards the chaotic. However, the results were always worth it.
He took my advice and avoided gazing at the stove and its many messy pots, though he looked a little grim about the mouth over it. I held back a laugh, finding his neat-and-tidy nature to be extremely cute. Also funny. Especially when my own loosey-goosey nature clashed with it.
“Iwillclean it up,” I said again, once I’d gotten the giggles under control. Though I was starting to enjoy seeing what made this stern-jawed warden tick, this ultimately was his home. I wasn’t going to completely take it over while I was here. He deserved peace and his own space. “I’ll clean the rest up today, too,” I added, nodding my head towards the piles and boxes still taking up most of the space in here.
Instead of looking relieved, or saying something a little sassy like, “Good,” he simply took his plate and said, “I will help.”
“You don’t have to. I’m sure you have lots of warden things to do!”
“I have completed my own chores. Xennet and Dorn do not require my assistance with anything today.”
“Xennet and Dorn are the other men in this province, right?” I asked, plating my own meal now. My mouth watered. “The unmarried ones?”
“Correct.” A slight pause. Then, “They are eager to meet you. When you are settled.”
I snorted, reading the subtext around the word settled. I was fairly certain Warden Hallum was telling me I wasn’t allowed to run off and make any alien cowboy friends until I’d cleaned up all the crap I’d left all over his house.
