Jake had set his alarm to get up early, guessing at the time that Heather usually got up. He wanted to make sure she was okay. He lay in bed for long minutes listening and thinking, and struggling to stay awake. He never heard an alarm from Heather's room, but his efforts were rewarded when he heard the sounds of Heather leaving her room and taking a quick shower in the bathroom. He tried to not think of her pale skin underneath the blast of the hot water, in the same bathroom and bathtub where he took his shower every day. After he guessed she had gone downstairs, he showered in record time, catching the scent of Heather's soap and shampoo in the shower and finding it distracting. Dressing in a hurry, he wondered how Heather could get up this early in the morning, especially without an alarm. The sun was just rising as he left his bedroom.
Downstairs, he found Heather in the kitchen making breakfast. He noted that she hadn't listened to his mother and was also washing the dishes.
"You know, I was just kidding about the washing dishes thing," Jake teased her as he leaned against the doorway that led from the dining room.
Heather jumped slightly at the sound of his voice, obviously not expecting him to be up this early. "Oh, hi." She smiled over her shoulder at him. "I'm just earning my keep."
"You don't need to. My mom is complaining about the lack of things to do. Besides, fixing the VCR should pay your rent for the next year." He had noticed that as far as he could tell, Heather didn't appear to be very upset that other people were living in her own house requiring her to stay here, not that he minded either. He admired her easy going spirit.
But Heather appeared to be distracted or tired. She didn't respond to his playful remark. Instead, she asked, "Do you want breakfast? I was just making an omelet. We can split it."
"Sure." Though he wasn't all that enthused about having eggs yet again, though at least it was something to eat. If there was one food Jericho did have plenty of, it was eggs. One of the bigger farms just outside of Jericho was a poultry farm with pretty solid egg production. It used to sell eggs commercially but now kept the town well supplied. They were also trying to grow additional poultry for meat with limited success so far.
"I should warn you, I'm not the best of cooks. It will be edible, however."
"Whatever you make is fine. I have a running tab down at the med center anyway." Another tease, but Heather did give him an amused smile on that one, her hair failing in her eyes as she finished washing a pan and then rinsed it. Drying her hands, she retrieved a few things from the refrigerator.
Jake watched as Heather cracked two eggs in a dish and beat them. He saw her add some of his mother's herbs to the dish and added some milk to the mixture. She poured it in the pan, adding it to the omelet she was already cooking. He saw green already in the pan and almost worried for a second before realizing that it was probably spinach. His mother had started getting it from one of the neighbors with a greenhouse. He glanced at the front bay window in the living room, visible through open doorway to the dining room, and saw the trays of seedlings Heather and his mother had already started, hoping to grow their own vegetables soon.
Still not quite awake at this ungodly early hour, Jake walked over to the cupboard and grabbed a glass, filling it with water from the sink while Heather worked on the omelet. He took several swallows and scowled at the lack of flavor, missing orange juice and coffee. He was near Heather as she turned back to the sink and noticed that she wore her red sweater today over a printed top. The sleeves of the sweater were pushed up her arms as she washed the dishes. He was pretty sure it was the same sweater she was wearing the day she had kissed him. It brought back memories. Being with her in the kitchen, watching her as she worked washing the dishes and making him breakfast, made him feel close to her. He decided it had been a very good idea to have her stay here.
Heather looked up in surprise when he started helping her with the dishes. Jake took the bowl she had just rinsed off and began drying it with a towel instead of letting her place it in the rack to dry. His hand brushed against her wet one. He wasn't sure, but he thought she blushed as she pulled her hand away.
"I thought you hated doing chores," Heather told him.
"Chivalry is not dead," he said, raising his eyebrows at her. "Can't let the womenfolk do all the work."
In a few minutes, all the dishes were done and Heather helped him put them away. By the time they finished, the omelet was done, complete with melted cheese on top. Heather served it on two plates after dividing it into two portions. He noticed she took the smaller one. Jake grabbed silverware and napkins and they sat down at the dining room table together to eat with glasses of water to go with their meal.
"How are things down at City Hall?" Heather asked.
"Crazy. " He took a bite of the omelet and discovered it was rather tasty. "This is pretty good."
"Well, it's rather hard to ruin eggs," she confessed, but she looked pleased by his compliment. But she had the look of having something on her mind and asked him. "Jake, is the military actually out patrolling or still busy scavenging the countryside looking for radiation?"
"Well, they claim they are doing both," Jake answered as he kept eating. That was the story they had been giving the residents of Jericho to explain their wide and thorough searches, that the military was looking for radiation fallout and damage from Denver, as well as any metals like nickel that might have absorbed it. It was a weak reason but no one had questioned it all that much. The military had yet to go house to house, but had been searching vacated houses and businesses and some of the properties around the outside of town, including the farms. Fortunately with the military in the area, there hadn't been as many problems on the local roads and crime had gone down and people were content with that much. But they had heard rumors that things were still bad beyond Jericho, so Jake wondered why the government was wasting so many resources here in Jericho that could be better used elsewhere. Someone in the government must want Hawkins' package and the people who knew about it pretty bad. He was also concerned about what lengths they might go to to find either, however.
"What are they really looking for, Jake?" Heather asked. "And don't give me the radiation bit. Any radiation we may have gotten should have been long gone by now and we haven't had many travelers from Denver that could have brought anything either."
"Has anyone been saying anything?" Jake had gone to talk with Colonel Hoffman a few days ago and had given him an overview of Jericho and how it had been coping since the bombs, as well as to discuss how the residents of Jericho would react to the searches and interviews the military was doing. He had been surprised that the colonel wanted his opinion when he could have asked Gray Anderson or even Eric. The colonel had also probed him on matters like local troublemakers and suspicious people and how his border patrol was working out. His best guess was that their road blocks and immediate search of the area hadn't turned up anything regarding the terrorists they were looking for and now they were starting to dig a bit deeper. He was surprised when the colonel had mentioned Jonah Prowse and Jake wondered who had mentioned him to the military. Colonel Hoffman hadn't mentioned Robert Hawkins by name, however, though they had discussed what Lieutenant Williams had told them last week, about their search for terrorists, which probably meant that they hadn't made the connection with Hawkins yet, though he was supposed to be interviewed as a participant in the conflict with New Bern.
Heather replied, "A few people. I don't think they like the military poking around asking questions. You don't think this has something to do with why they came here all of a sudden?"
"It does and it would be best if others didn't know." Jake finished his portion of the omelet and saw that Heather barely eaten half of hers.
"So are you gonna tell me what it's all about?"
"I can only tell you the little I know," Jake made a point to not look her in the eyes. He debated for a second how much to tell her, but he was tired of having no one else to talk to about these things. Heather was a good friend and he knew he could trust her. "They think someone involved with the bombs may be in the area."
"Here? In Jericho?" Heather asked, an incredulous expression on her face. "Is that why they came here?"
"Yeah, but only a few of us know, so keep it between us." He answered, then realized that too many people already knew. Emily did and even Stanley had caught on that something wasn't quite right. Heather had already been suspicious of the military so he didn't feel as guilty about letting her know. He wanted to see how she reacted with the news anyway. Many people in town already looked at Heather as a leader thanks to her wind turbines as well as getting the military to save them from New Bern. He also knew Heather had started attending the workshops they held at the high school and making suggestions on how to find alternatives for supplies since they no longer had things from the outside world. Gray Anderson had put her in charge of building more turbines for Jericho and she had several people helping her, including Ted now. If she could help keep people calm by encouraging them to work with and not worry about the military, that would be a bonus.
"Why would someone involved in the bombs come here?"
Jake leaned forward with his elbows on the table, running a hand down his face and noticing he had forgotten to shave in his haste to get downstairs this morning. He paused and thought carefully before answering Heather right away. He wanted to tell her all of it, of how Hawkins had told him that Jericho would be a safe spot in event of a nuclear attack and that's why the CIA had been planning on meeting here, but he couldn't tell her how he knew that without revealing too much. Nor was he so sure that this new government or military was all it was pretending to be, especially if they found it more important to be hunting down alleged terrorists instead of using their resources to help secure the rest of the state. The knowledge he had kept to himself for so long about the bombs was tearing him up inside, especially since Hawkins was gone now. He wish he had someone to share it with. But he didn't want to worry Heather any more than necessary or risk putting her in danger with everything he knew. Deep inside, he discovered he wanted to shelter Heather from what was really going on. She was innocent in many ways, as he had seen on their trip to Black Jack. She was smart, but optimistic, and maybe a bit blind to the horrors and evil of the world. So in the end, he prayed that he would be convincing enough and only responded. "I don't know."
Fortunately, Heather didn't notice his lie. Her questions didn't stop now that she knew. "Have they found anyone or anything yet?"
"Nothing concrete in the two weeks they've been here." Jake chuckled, knowing that the military and whoever was leading them were probably frustrated. It was likely whoever they were looking for had already slipped away. Hawkins had left and Sarah Mason was supposedly dead. It was just going to take the military a while to figure that out, if they ever did. And they could be looking for other people, he considered. And Jake wasn't going to help them, not until he knew more about their motives and what kind of government they were really representing.
"Is that why they are interviewing people?" Heather asked.
"Some of them. But they also are trying to build a case against Constantino," he answered honestly. "So, anything you can tell them about what happened in New Bern will be helpful." He desperately wanted to see Constantino put away and suffer for what he did. He sat back in his chair, drinking his water, once again wishing it was coffee. They didn't even have coffee at the military outpost.
"All right, I'll do my best." Heather continued eating her omelet. The silence stretched between them, reminding Jake that he had rarely been alone with Heather since she returned.
"You know you had a nightmare last night?" Jake finally asked, wanting to assess her reaction.
Heather blinked at him in surprise, pausing with a bite of food halfway to her mouth. She obviously didn't remember it. Then again, she never woke up. "I did?"
"Yeah, I heard you crying in your sleep."
"Probably just something from my childhood. I'm sorry if I woke you up." Heather spoke quickly. She finished the last bite of her omelet and washed it down with a drink of water.
"It's no problem. I just want to make sure you're okay." Jake leaned forward and touched her forearm where it rested on the table, rubbing it gently. This close, he could see that she looked tired. He wasn't sure what to make of her reaction, but his gut was telling him that she wasn't being totally honest. But he wasn't sure he had the right to pry any further.
"I'm fine." She grabbed his empty plate and hers and took them to the kitchen sink to wash them. "I really need to get going. Ted and I are still searching for a possible site to make turbines at. We checked out four old warehouses yesterday and an old fertilizer plant, but none of them will work."
"There isn't space at the mine? I know they have a pretty good shop there for fixing tools and equipment." Jake got up and followed her back into the kitchen, picking up a towel to help her with the dishes again.
Heather shook her head. "There's not enough room. We need space plus a way to be able to work with metal, such as a furnace of some kind, and storage for collecting scrap metal. And we'll need room to build an assembly line or two and a testing area."
"How about the old aircraft parts plant? It's out beyond Pine Lane. I think it shut down when I was in junior high. Nearly cost my dad the election that year when they lost all those jobs."
"I think that's on our list to check out." Heather finished washing the pan and started on their dishes.
Jake wished he could take the time to help her, but Gray had both he and Eric working nonstop with the military lately. He hoped that once they slowed down on the interviews and searches they had scheduled, he'd have a bit more time for other things like helping Heather or at the workshops. Plus, people still came to him and Eric for complaints instead of talking with Gray. The residents of Jericho still didn't totally trust Gray like they used to trust his father, thus they relied more on the Green brothers. When they weren't helping with interviews or some of the searches, he and Eric were running interference and negotiating local disputes. People were growing more upset that they weren't getting more help from the government and were starting to fight amongst themselves now that there was nothing much left to trade anymore. It was all he and Eric could do to keep people helping each other and being patient until things improved.
"I'm going to go out and take of the horses, would you like to come?" Jake asked as they finished up the dishes. Since it was early, he would have time to walk out to the ranch before he needed to show up at City Hall today.
"I gotta meet Ted and Harry in about fifteen minutes." Heather replied. "I'll go with you the next time, though. Your mom said you only have to go a few times a week now."
Over the winter, he and his father had fixed up the fences around the ranch. The horses could now graze for grass and didn't require as much grain and hay as before. He knew Heather had gone once or twice already with his mother to take care of the horses. He would have enjoyed her company this morning.
As they both left the house together, Jake realized that this was twice in the past two days that Heather hadn't disappeared in his presence right away.
(To be continued...)