Her brow quirked. “You have a burger and fries hidden in your backpack or something?”
He beamed. “Nothing so fancy, but it’s hot.”
The word made her eyes grow wide, and the thrill inside him blossomed.
“Hot? How did you ...” she started, dropping off as if she were witnessing a natural wonder of the world.
He opened a small thermos. The waft of heat felt miraculous as he dumped half the contents onto her tinfoil.
The smell made his mouth water.
“Kevin’s pasta?” she said, incredulous.
He smiled. “Uh-huh. Last night I asked him if I could have some, and he said yes.”
“Unbelievable.” She put her face close to the noodles. “Oh my stars, it’s still steaming.”
His smile widened. “The trick is to warm the thermos with hot water and then dump out the water before you fill it. Retains the heat better.”
She sat back with a shake of her head. “You are a wilderness wonder, Gideon Landry.”
He laughed. “I’ll put that on my business card and expect you to post a Yelp review of my class, even though you tanked it by scaring away my only student.” Emboldened by her praise, he reached out and took her hand. “For grace,” he said quietly, and she nodded.
With her cold fingers clasped in his, he prayed. He’d said grace thousands of times, mechanically, but now his words rang with a deep sense of humble gratitude. He sensed the same emotion in her amen. God had provided and they were still alive. She picked up her fork and twirled up a mouthful of pasta.
The rolling of her eyes in pleasure matched his own as they sampled a bite. He chuckled. “Gonna have to write a thank-you note to Kevin’s wife when this is all over. Best pasta on the planet, has to be.”
She ate a bite and forked more noodles. “Oh for sure. Icould eat pounds of it.” She gazed in wonder at the next mouthful. “What do you think happened to Kevin?”
“If he was smart, he left town, unless Bullseye commanded him to try to trap us again.”
She shook her head. “I just can’t see him setting us up. He looked petrified at the barn, and he was going to help us escape.”
“Appearances can be deceiving and alliances can shift, and Bullseye owns the town. Maybe he figured out Kevin was aiding and abetting and reached out with some not-so-friendly persuasion. Kevin might have been going to trap us in his car to prevent us from leaving.”
Her expression darkened, and he strove to improve the mood. “But for now, we have hot food and a roof over our heads, so that’s a win.”
“And dry clothes.” She saluted him with her fork. “Thanks for that too.”
He ate another mouthful, trying to keep himself from wolfing it down. “Survival is as much mental as it is physical. A warm meal and a change of clothes can go a long way.”
She was making his point for him, savoring each bite with such fervor he could not help but smile.
Though he could have happily packed away three times the amount, the noodles and sauce took the edge off and restored his senses. They swigged water to wash the meal down. He found an old bunch of emergency water packets that hadn’t yet expired, which gave him the confidence to indulge in more hydration rations.
She went to her pack and produced the two saltwatertaffies she’d taken from Al’s truck. “In honor of the occasion, I brought dessert.”
“How delightful,” he said. “A sure way to be invited back.”
They took off the waxy wrappers, clinked the candies together, and popped them into their mouths.
“Mmm. Strawberry,” he said. “Perfect.”
“Root beer for me. Remember when my class sold root beer floats at school? You bought one every day.”
He had, but not because he enjoyed the soda and half-melted ice cream. It was because he’d wanted to see her, something he’d never admit. He shifted on the seat and let the sticky candy dissolve on his tongue. “I think this will go down as a most memorable meal. Right up there with the carpenter ants I ate on a training mission. You have to eat a lot of those to make a dent, let me tell you.”
She giggled. “And catching them must be a chore.”
