Chapter 21

Day 15

"It sounds like it wasn't that bad at first." Andi said.

"It wasn't." Clara replied. "You can only stay afraid for so long, once I realized we weren't going to drop dead it got kinda comfortable. By the fourth day I was starting to forget that we were in harm's way." She smiled gently. "And I do enjoy Spencer's company."

"Really?" Kate asked.

"Oh yes, he's a fascinating conversationalist. We could talk about anything. I think we did that week."

Day 04

By the fourth day they had both decided they wanted one of those coffee makers.

Their days had fallen into a pattern. Up in the morning to work out, because Clara insisted and Spencer thought that just hanging around the gym waiting for her was silly. She would cook breakfast, then he would do dishes and they would do whatever chores wanted to be done. The rest of the day was given over to books and hobbies, her knitting, his fiddling with the radio, trying to listen in on the military jets that kept going by overhead. After dinner they would shut down most of the house to conserve power, settle in the living room to watch movies before tucking in to bed.

But mostly they talked. Easy, casual things early in the day, discussion of the news they heard over the radio, the books they had been reading, museum exhibits they had both seen. As the day turned into night the discussion always seemed to get more personal, more intimate. It felt like the calls he had made to Maeve, the times he had used a drop phone instead of a pay phone, had called her from his couch, curled up and talking for what seemed like hours on end. "So why be so frugal?" He asked one night. He was curled up in the wing chair, now turned more toward her than the screen, long legs tucked under him as he cradled a cup of hot cocoa. "Not that it's my business but why save?"

"Oh, I like to travel." She replied. She was also curled up, in the big rocker, a mug of tea warming her hands, her knitting lying idle in her lap. "I've been trying to see as much of the country as I can, trying to learn about the people out there. I started with the Civil War battlefields, the old plantations, important locations north and south, that sort of thing. Now I'm looking further out west, trying to learn about what came after." She was, perhaps, quieter than she ought to be. "I suppose I'm trying to learn about my own past, my own history, ancestry. What about you, why do you still drive an old car, live in a cheap apartment?"

"Mmm, health reasons." Spencer had long since given up on hiding his past; it helped no one, least of all him. "My mother has Schizophrenia. She's living in a care home."

She winced. "I'm sorry."

"She's actually doing really well, they have her on a good med schedule now, she's been stable enough to start taking day trips out and start writing again. She's happy there, really." He sighed. "I was saving in case I needed to cover the cost for both of us. Thankfully I'm outgrowing the age when you start showing symptoms; it looks like I won't need to worry about it." Now he considered. "Maybe I should travel. I mean, I've seen a lot of the country, but only while working. That kind of distracts you from seeing the sights."

"I'll say. I always thought it better to travel with a plan, and then be open to experience along the way. What are you interested in?"

"History." That was an easy one. "To be honest I've lived in the DC area for thirteen years now, I haven't even explored outside the beltway."

Her jaw dropped. "Serious? Oh I could be your tour guide, I lived here my whole life, my Nana shared tons of oral history passed down through the family, I could tell you all kinds of stories. We wouldn't even need to wait for summer; we could go on week-ends."

The thought of a sunny spring day, out on the back roads. They needed a convertible or something. He didn't even have to think. "Let's do it."

Her smile was a bright as the sun on that imaginary day. "Yes!" She agreed. "Who knows, if we travel well together we might go further out come summer."

Just the thought of it was filling him with this bubbling joy, an excitement he hadn't felt since he saw Maeve's number on his phone. He'd always dreamed of something like this but he never had anyone to go with. Everyone he knew would think it silly, funny, childish. But she didn't, wouldn't. He didn't have to be alone anymore. He looked around, unfolded himself, and went to fetch an object he'd seen on a shelf in the back of the room. He placed the globe on the coffee table. "Ready?" He asked.

Her grin kept growing. She leaned in, lifted a finger, and closed her eyes. "Ready."

He grinned, spun the globe, and watched her finger go down. She stopped the globe and they both looked. "Hokkaido," he read.

"Japan." She beamed. "It's perfect!"

Tokyo. Kyoto. Mt. Fuji. "Yes!" What an adventure!

"We should put a map up." She said, unfolding her legs. "We can start looking up what to see..." He watched something come to her then, the excitement kind of go out of her as she fell back in the chair. "This isn't our home. For a bit there I forgot."

Not their home. Their home. For a moment that echoed in the space between his throat and his heart. Their home. "We're going to get out of here." He said, trying to be convincing. "They're going to come for us any day."

"I believe you." Clara said. She started picking up her fallen knitting.

Spencer folded himself back into his chair and found his mug. What surprised him more was what came out of his mouth next. "We could go out and look at some of those battlefields one week-end soon, before it gets snowy." Was he really even daring to consider? How could he ever explain? "Maybe find an inn to use as a home base or something."

He could feel her looking at him again, studying him. "Maybe," she said, cautiously, "Movie?"

Maybe he shouldn't get his hopes up here. "Sure."

She tipped her head like she was considering him. "I'm not saying no you know."

"Then what are you saying?"

"Do you really want to "travel" with a workaholic health nut?"

She didn't mean travel, not exactly. "If you don't mind "traveling" with a workaholic nerd." He thought he could understand her concerns though. "If it's your health issues you're worried about I don't have any problem working with them." The entire sum of what she was dealing with wasn't a tenth of the difficulty of schizophrenia.

She considered him again and seemed to make her decision. "I know of a lovely little inn in Fredricksburg. One of my sister vixens runs it, she keeps telling me I need to come out for a few nights."

"Really?" He was, of course, assuming two bedrooms, but even without the sleep-over aspect it could be a lot of fun. A week-end tramping around historic sights, coming back to a cozy country in, tea by the fire at night just like this. "We should give it a try."

That warm smile returned to her face and he had the distinct impression that if it was allowed she might just pull his arm around her. "Let's plan for that." She said. "Movie?"

"Sure."