“The phone company better give us a discount when the bills roll out,” Cheryl muttered.
“What about the internet?” Willow asked. “I can send a message to our friends.”
“If the phones are down, the internet probably is too, but I’ll check,” Cheryl said.
She hurried from the room and returned a few minutes later with a laptop she set on the table and opened. Willow tried not to drum her fingers on the table as she watched Cheryl navigate to a browser, and then a spinning circle appeared on the screen. A box popped onto the screen a minute later to tell them there was no internet connection.
Willow’s palm flattened on the table, and Declan rested his hand on her shoulder. She relaxed a little under his touch, but she bit back a scream of frustration. They weresoclose to her family, yet they were still so far away.
“How long does it usually take to fix?” Declan asked.
He wanted out of this town. The people were friendly, but he wouldn’t relax until Willow was safely back inside the compound.
“Somebody will drive out of town to file a complaint with the company,” Gus said. “It usually takes a day or two after that.”
“Until then, you’re welcome to stay here,” Cheryl said.
“Oh no,” Willow protested. “We couldn’t impose any further on you. We’ve walked this far; we can walk until we find a phone.”
“I can’t let you do that,” Gus said. “I’ll give you a ride into the next town. They have a payphone you can use.”
Declan felt like he’d stepped back into the eighties, but he might hug that payphone when they saw it.
“You don’t have to do that,” Willow protested.
“Of course I do. Besides, I might as well be the one who calls the phone company.”
“Before you go,” Cheryl said, “I’ll get you some of my daughter’s clothes, and you can clean up.”
Willow was ready to get out of this town and back to her home, but she was tired of the blood and dirt coating her, andreallytired of her smell. They were going into another town, it would still be hours before anyone could pick them up, and they couldn’t hang out there looking and smelling like they’d rolled in garbage for a week.
“That would be wonderful,” Willow said. “Do you think we have the time for that?” she asked him.
Declan opened his mouth to tell her no, they needed to get out of this town so she could be safely ensconced behind the walls of the compound again, but the words died in his throat. He sensed her excitement and couldn’t deny her something that would make her happy.
He didn’t like the fact the phones were down, but Cheryl and Gus didn’t find it odd, and there hadn’t been any sign of a Savage for days. Besides, once Willow was safely within the compound, she would only leave again. She was a member of the Alliance; that meant she would always be in danger.
“Of course we do,” he said, and she beamed at him.
“I’m afraid I don’t have anything that will fit you,” Gus said to Declan. “And neither will Junior.”
Gus and Junior were a good eight inches shorter than him. “Thanks anyway,” Declan said.
He wouldn’t mind a shower and some clean clothes, but while his clothes were dirty and rumpled, they weren’t as bad Willow’s. Her time in the pine tree and amid the sap had causedeverythingto stick to her.
“Follow me, dear,” Cheryl said.
Willow smiled at him before following Cheryl out of the room.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Declan stoodat the bottom of the stairs as he gazed up them to the hallway at the top. Cheryl took Willow up there twenty minutes ago and returned nineteen minutes ago. Willow remained behind to shower and change.
Gus and Cheryl sat in the living room—Gus in his recliner and Cheryl on the couch. He flipped through the TV channels while Cheryl told him about the preparations for the bake sale next week at the library.
“Karen insists on bringing her lemon squares,” Cheryl said.
“Uh-huh,” Gus replied with the bored tone of a man who’d endured many inane conversations with his wife over the years.
