“I’m not loving the whole three boyfriends thing.” Dad groaned, running a hand down his face.
“Dad.” I pouted my lips teasingly, but I honestly understood his discomfort. He hadn’t even liked Jay, but he had been right about that one.
“No one is good enough for you, honeybee.” He shrugged, sliding his gaze to Spencer. “Or for my peanut.”
She frowned before grumbling under her breath about how the population had dwindled.
“We are up for that challenge, sir.” Nathan winked at Dad.
“We’ll do everything we can to be good enough for her,” Calix added.
“She’s already the center of our lives,” Micah rasped.
“You better.” Dad crossed his arms, looking every bit uncomfortable with the situation.
“Alright, well it’s getting dark.” Mom clapped her hands, dispersing the awkwardness in the air. “How are we going to do this?”
“I boarded up all the broken windows.” Dad jerked his thumb to the kitchen window he had nailed a few boards over. “Enough of the solar panels are still working to run the heat tonight.”
“And the shower?” Daisy’s eyes lit up, but I winced as the memory of the well stacked with groaning decaying zombies flashed in my mind.
“Zombies piled up in the well somehow.” Dad made a disgusted face that must’ve mirrored my own. “Donotuse the water.”
Calix cleared his throat. “Do you have water bottles?”
“We do.” Mom opened the fridge and handed one to him, and I had been surprised to see everything was untouched in there. Maybe the raiders didn’t think to check the fridge.
His eyes widened as he held it. “It’s still cold.”
“The electricity stayed on,” she explained with a soft smile as Calix stepped away and carefully took the mask off to take a drink.
“I’m staying with you guys tonight,” Spencer told my parents, rubbing her arms. “No way I’m staying alone in my room.”
“We’ll take our room,” Jay said, wrapping an arm around Daisy.
“The guys can stay in mine,” I murmured.
“We need to rotate watch tonight. Raiders or other zombies could be through,” Nathan said.
“Daisy and I will take first shift,” Jay offered, and Daisy frowned but didn’t say anything.
“I can take second,” I offered.
“Then it’s settled.” Micah scratched his beard and glanced around the room. “Everyone get rest while you can. We have an early morning ahead of us.”
After saying goodnight, Daisy and Jay stayed in the kitchen while the rest of us went to our rooms to get some much needed sleep.
I paused at the doorway as Calix, Micah, and Nathan strode into my room and broke apart before looking around at everything. Flicking on the light to the room, amusement tugged my lips into a smile as I watched them. I understood Micah and Nathan, but even Calix was being nosy.
A sense of calmness settled over me as they walked around my spacious bedroom. There was a large window that overlooked the pasture, but the blinds were pulled down so we couldn’t see the destruction of the land outside from the horde.
Nathan took a seat on my fluffy brown comforter, a perfect blanket to seek warmth in during the winter. I had to remember to bring it along. It would be so comfortable in Micah’s bed. There was a collection of nude colored throw pillows and a throw blanket on the bed to add to the calmness of the space.
Calix stood at the small wooden desk in the corner of my room, surrounded by shelves filled with a few books and trinkets of horses and photo albums.
Micah was staring at the photos in the frames on the wall I had put up, something else I needed to bring with me to the Oasis. There were photos of my parents, Spencer, and me. One photo of Kovu and me after a horse show where he won first place, and it made my chest swell with mourning as Micah touched the frame of it. I had another photo of just Spencer and me up.
“Having fun?” I teased them, and they all glanced at me sheepishly.
