Page 26 of Bound in Ashes

That didn’t change the fact he’d been too close.

Touching her.

Anger, irrational but undeniable, welled up.

I never thought I’d be happy to see Caitlin, but the distraction was welcome.

“That took longer than I expected, but I had to look around. Your uncle’s shed is packed to the roof,” Elliot said, his voice threaded with nerves.

“There were always folks in and out of here. Aunt Kathleen always said we should have extra on hand,” Asia said, her voice overly bright.

She went to step away from me.

I grabbed her wrist and kept her in place.

Everyone wisely pretended not to notice.

“That’s way more than extra,” Caitlin said. “We need to inventory everything, calculate rations, and think of distribution and refill protocols.”

I couldn’t stop my quick nod of agreement, surprised that Caitlin was finally trying to think like a survivor.

“Good plan,” Asia said.

“It is, but let’s let Asia handle that discussion with her uncle to keep things on an even keel.”

Asia nodded, and I knew she would understand. Things were tenuous. But having met Levi and taken his measure, I knew there was no way he would turn Asia away.

And if the rest of us came along with the package, I guess that was what it was.

I wondered why she seemed so insecure, when how much the man loved her was obvious.

But that was something else I couldn’t concern myself with.

Instead, I grabbed the water from Elliot, walking back up the porch and into the house. “I need to talk to your uncle,” I said to Asia before I moved inside without waiting for a response.

The house was well cared for, modest, and homey in a way that I had never experienced, with photos lining the hallway.

I could see why Asia liked it here so much.

I could also see the absence of Aunt Kathleen.

The snow globe collection in the wooden hutch in the hallway definitely didn’t seem like Levi.

And something told me that if Kathleen were around, the two pairs of muddy boots leaning up against it wouldn’t be there either.

I found him in the kitchen, sitting at a white table with a pine top, a green mug from the local high school baseball team gripped in his hands.

Evan loved baseball.

I swallowed past that thought and the emotion that threatened to follow it.

“Little late for coffee, don’t you think?” I said, mostly to keep myself from thinking of my brother.

“Never too late for coffee and I don’t sleep no damn way,” he said.

“Yeah. Sleep’s getting harder to come by, like everything else,” I said. “How you doing on fuel for your generator?”

“Always keep three months. But that was when it was just me, Kathleen, and a few others. Got a full house now,” he said.