Page 106 of Bound in Ashes

“Yeah, I have my uncle. Lourdes. Bridget. Elliot. Even Caitlin,” I said.

I studied him, trying to gauge his reaction to leaving him out.

“Like I said, you aren’t alone.”

Then he slid his hand to the back of my neck. Pressed his thumb against my pulse point, and stayed there for a moment, his grip warm, heavy.

Possessive.

Then he pulled away.

But as much as his touch comforted me, I didn’t miss what he didn’t say.

EIGHTEEN

Asia

“Ms. Bridget, Ms. Bridget!”

I listened to the giggles, the sound of stampeding feet.

“Now what do we have here?” Bridget said.

I glanced over from where I was weeding Uncle Levi’s tomato bed to Bridget. She was resting on the porch, getting ready to prepare the afternoon meal. I’d sent Uncle Levi to bed to rest, and even though I knew I would hear about it, I’d told him I would take care of the plants because he needed the rest. Jack would give me crap because I was supposed to be on supply duty, but what was the good of living through the end of the world if I had to stick to Jack’s schedule?

I smiled as the girls approached. They were twelve-year-old twins, Ellie and Evie, and over the past few weeks at the farm, they’d blossomed. I remembered the first time I saw them, looking terrified, dirty, and simultaneously younger and older than their tween years.

“We found mushrooms!” Ellie—or maybe it was Evie, I still wasn’t sure—said.

“Well, what do you have here?” Bridget said.

She’d found an old pair of Aunt Kathleen’s glasses and said the prescription was close enough. She pushed them up on her nose, and I laughed, noting that she seemed to be looking over them instead of through them.

“Huh,” she said, studying the mushrooms.

“What do you think?” Evie said.

“Well, you know, you have to be careful with mushrooms. The wrong one and—” She slashed her hand across her throat, and the girls giggled.

“But you told which was which?” Bridget said.

“No,” Evie said.

“Yeah, but you always gotta make sure. So what do you think? Can we use these or not?” Bridget asked.

The girls shifted, looking at each other, then back at the mushroom.

“Well, this one has pores and not gills,” Evie said.

“Yes, it does, but description isn’t identification, sweetheart. Is it poisonous?”

The girl twisted, then finally looked at Bridget.

“It’s not,” she said.

Then she stood, waiting, and practically preened when Bridget nodded.

“That’s right. Not poisonous. So go find any others that you can. We’ll look at them all together,” Bridget said.