Was his chest horrific? No. When she’d seen her fill, she angled the light to the ceiling. “So what? You have some scars. I’ve seen far worse. Hell, there are those of us whose scars don’t even show, but we are far more messed up than you. At least you lived.”
He had turned his head away from the light, but now he faced her. “Are you going to try to tell me it’s a pleasant sight?”
It was the first time she’d heard sarcasm from him. Though it surprised her, she understood where it came from. He had his limits, and she’d pushed him beyond. But as far as she was concerned, it was for his own good. “Hell no. It’s ugly. But some people are born ugly and have no brave tale to tell. You were lucky.”
“Right, fucking lucky.”
If she could have crossed her arms and held the light, she would have. “You are. Only half your body was burned. Most of it you can cover up to hide it if you want to, though I’d dress for comfort and screw everyone else and what they thought. Plus, your face is unmarred. I know a man who only has one eye and half a nose. Hair won’t grow on half his head so he shaves it every day. You’re a handsome man and people don’t turn away from you in the grocery store.”
“You think I’m handsome?”
She rolled her eyes. “That’s what you decide to listen to?”
He shrugged. “It’s not like I could tell. We’ve been in the dark most of the time. And by the way, I think you’re beautiful.”
“You need your eyes checked.” She turned the light off and stuffed it back in her pocket.
“Come here.” His voice had a smile in it.
She liked that she could make him smile. What was with that? Still, she willingly lay back down and ran her hand over his chest. “If a woman really cared about you, she wouldn’t let you get away just because of this. You just haven’t found the right woman.”
“Or maybe I have, and she just doesn’t know it yet.”
His voice was soft, but still it sent a shiver through her. She was no good at caring for people. In fact, she sucked at it as her mom often told her, but it took war for her to finally get it through her thick head. “I think you’re delirious from lack of food. You better go to sleep.”
He gave her a little squeeze. “Yes, Ma’am.”
She shook her head against his chest. He was a good man. The kind she respected, which just made it more dangerous for her to be around him. She should be sleeping in a completely different tunnel if she were smart, but there was no way she was leaving his side. He made her feel safe. He respected her in turn, and he gave her hope. Right now, that was the only thing keeping her alive.
Plus, he’d made her body feel better than it had in years. Closing her eyes, she smiled. Hopefully, her dreams would be filled with him. After all, they were only dreams.
~~*~~
The next morning, she woke refreshed. Not a single bad dream entered her mind. She was going to start thinking of Garrett has her nightmare blocker.
After their usual routine, though it was depressing that they had one, they grabbed their tools and moved back to the cave-in. Garrett had mentioned checking her arm, but she’d distracted him. There was no doubt in her mind it was infected. She had ibuprofen, but only one dose. She planned to take it when the pain got too bad. Right now, it was just hot and it stung a bit.
He moved the light to shine on their progress from the day before. With the dense dirt, he had moved forward at least twelve feet. She wasn’t sure, but she estimated the cave-in had happened fifteen feet inside. The problem was that the mudslide could have changed everything.
Garrett climbed up on the mound of dirt. She looked for Copper but found him lying on the earth where they had slept. After giving him a little water and forgoing her own, he’d settled there. He wasn’t doing well. He had a lot less fat on his bones and the lack of food was making him weak.
She voiced her fear. “I don’t think Copper can hold out many more days.”
Garrett looked over her shoulder at the dog. “No, he can’t. We better start digging then.”
Climbing up behind him with her gold pan, she set her position directly behind him.
When he saw she was ready, he faced forward, dug his shovel in, and turned out the light. There wasn’t much battery life left on her phone now either. In her cave, there had been little tufts of straw paper packing material from the boxes of guns and ammunition that had been stored there. She lit those when her phone had died.
If they were forced to, they could bring wood up from the transfer area they’d found, but she wasn’t excited about burning up oxygen.
At first, they worked in silence, but she knew she had to talk to keep him pointed in the right direction. “Why did you buy a house here if all your family live in Prescott?”
He pushed a shovel full of dirt behind him to his left. She leaned forward and dragged it all the way out to send it down the small hill they had made. The movements became automatic. Their tunnel had to be at least twenty feet now. Getting the dirt out took longer.
“I needed a change of scenery and since I’d worked at the Canterbury fire station for a couple of years, I figured this area was as good a spot as any. Close to family but not too close.”
That made sense. He wanted to stay away from his smothering sister. “Will you join that station again?”
