Part 2
Once back at the project site, they unloaded the panels. Burt was ready to jump right in to work, but Kylie was ready to take a break. She stood scowling at him, hands on hips. "I'm still hungry, Burt."
He stared at her. "I'm not going back to town. Don't start--"
"I could go in and pick something up, bring it back here." And find out what's going on, she added silently to herself.
Burt looked over at his truck, then back to Kylie. "I don't think so."
Kylie was affronted. "My driving's not that bad Burt. I can make it to town and back without hurting your precious power wagon."
He only raised a skeptical eyebrow at her.
She tapped a small, booted foot. "So we're expected to sit out here and starve because I don't drive like your grandmother?"
"All I'm saying is, if you would simply use a minimum amount of caution--"
"I do! I'm not a bad driver, Burt!"
"You bent the fan housing on your truck--"
"That wasn't my fault! How was I to know there was a ditch--"
"If you'd've been looking at the road, you'd've seen the ditch!"
"Well if somebody hadn't been trying to teach me the finer points of tying square knots while I was driving, I'd've been looking at the road."
They stared fiercely at each other a moment.
"It was a half hitch," Burt informed her.
Kylie's face broke out in a smile and she shook her head. "You're not going to let me win this one, are you?"
"No," Burt agreed.
"And you're going to make me starve to prove your point?"
"Not at all," Burt said, that smug grin back on his face. He started for the truck, forgetting their recurring argument. He'd gotten used to Kylie's lightning changes in mood.
Kylie entertained, briefly, the notion that he'd changed his mind and they were heading for town. Then she caught herself: this was Burt. She hurried after him. "And don't you dare suggest we go hunt lizards again! You know I won't--"
"Here." Burt handed her a brown plastic pouch he'd taken from the back of his truck.
She kneaded the pouch. Felt like plastic, but crinkled like foil. Then she read the label. "Meal, Ready To Eat... Oh! MRE!" She looked up, holding the pouch out to him. "Nancy said never to let you talk me into eating one of these."
"You're going to take Nancy's word for it?" His tone said everything there was to say about his opinion of Nancy. He handed her a bottle of water and walked over to the flat rock where they'd been taking their breaks all week.
She looked at the pack dubiously, but followed. "There's an enchilada in here?"
He nodded, then held out the pack he had. "Would you prefer Beef Stew?"
She looked from one to the other. They looked exactly the same. "I'll stick with this, I guess." She settled down beside him. "Now what do I do with it?"
He illustrated, opening his own pouch and setting out the contents on the rock in front of him. "There's your entree, a side dish, a snack, dessert, drink mix--"
"Oh look!" Kylie broke in. "Tabasco sauce! Cute little bottle." She set that in Burt's pile. "Here, you'll want that." She pulled another small item from her pouch. "What's this?"
"Toilet paper."
She gave him a look. "Obviously, this was designed by men..." She dumped out the rest. "Ooh! M&Ms!" She picked up the only clear pouch. "Doesn't look like food. What's this one?"
"That's to heat your entree," he said. "Just open it, pour in a little water..." He waited while she imitated him. "Then put your entree pouch in. A hot meal in ten minutes!"
"O-kay..." She poked and prodded at the pouch that claimed to be a beef enchilada, then slid it into the water as Burt had. She set hers next to his and went back to examining the rest. "What, no candles? No wine?" She looked around. "Not even mood music?"
"You could turn on the radio," Burt suggested dryly.
"And listen to... static." Kylie learned early that local radio stations didn't broadcast this far into the valley. At least, none of the good ones. She tore open another pouch. "Oh look, it's a fruit... bar... type-thing." She pulled the orange-colored block out of the bag.
"You should add water to that."
Ignoring him, Kylie nibbled a bite from the edge of the block. After a moment, she shrugged. "Not bad."
Burt ate in silence, listening to the comments Kylie made on every bite.
He smiled when she opened her side dish, labeled "Mixed Vegetables," and grimaced.
"Ugh!" she said, pulling the hardened block of vegetables from the package. "I think they mixed these a little too much. I guess nobody told them they didn't actually need to use a blender." She set the brownish block with green and orange spots aside and reached for the candy.
Burt checked the entrees and they seemed warm enough to him. He showed her how to open one end and eat from there. She took a tentative first bite while he waited for her verdict.
"Not bad," she pronounced with a shrug.
Burt nodded as she ate a few more bites. "Told you not to listen to Nancy," he said smugly.
She finished another plastic forkful before answering. "Well... this'll never replace home cooked..."
"Unless you're doing the cooking," Burt muttered under his breath.
"I heard that! And I'll have you know I can now make grilled cheese."
"Still black on one side, pale yellow on the other?"
"Funny," she said sarcastically. "Jodi even ate one. And didn't die." Kylie sidled next to him and dipped her fork into his pouch.
"Hey!" He pulled the pouch out of her reach and slid away from her. "Eat your own."
She ate the forkful of beef stew with an unrepentant smile, then held out her own pouch. "Mine's better anyway," she said. "Want a bite? Some of us are willing to share."
"I'm perfectly happy with this, thank you," Burt said.
"Oh c'mon, Burt. You're just mad because mine's better." She got some on her fork and held it out. "Here, try a bite."
"No."
"Don't be that way, Burt," she insisted, walking on her knees toward him. "Just one little bite."
"Kylie..." he began, a warning note in his voice.
"Here."
She shoved the fork toward Burt and he opened his mouth because he knew if he didn't he'd be wearing it. Still, Burt felt a tightening in his groin at the thought of Kylie feeding him. There was just something so...
"See? Mine's better. And I don't mind sharing."
She went back to her meal while Burt gathered his scattered thoughts. "You should give those vegetables a chance, then," he said hoarsely, more because he just needed to say something than because he could recommend them.
"Oh I don't think so, those are a lost--" Suddenly Kylie's Kimber was in her hand and she was pointing it at the vegetables while she scooted hastily away on her knees.
Burt looked. Several insects had found the food and were enjoying the unexpected bounty. Burt rolled his eyes. "If you fire that," he said dryly, "I shall beat you."
"But eewww, Burt. Bugs. What are they, following me today?"
Burt continued eating. "Stop waving that thing around. You know you're not going to fire it." He'd seen this display often enough to know that Kylie could really only fire a weapon at targets.
"Still..." She carefully scooted closer to the vegetable block and pushed it off the rock with her pistol.
He shook his head as she surveyed the area for any other unexpected guests. "You're right, you've developed a phobia."
"Yeah..." she grumbled, but holstered her gun. "Let's see how you react when you get covered in bugs." As she was finishing up her block of peaches, she idly picked up the pouches and read the labels. "You know, this isn't bad. We could probably market these fruit blocks for-- Three THOUSAND calories? Burt! You let me eat three thousand calories? In a single meal? Why didn't you tell me this was so fattening?" She stood up to pace. "I'm going to have to run twenty miles tomorrow to work this off! Goddess! I can feel my butt growing as we speak!" She twisted to look behind her.
Burt looked too. Until he noticed her staring at him. He applied himself to picking up the trash.
"Why can't I be bulimic! I can't believe..."
She continued in that vein for a while and Burt shook his head, just letting her go on. She had the nerve to accuse him of ranting. By the time he'd put the trash in the bag in the back of his truck and returned, she was still going on about the size of her behind. He shrugged. It looked just fine to him. That was the problem. It looked too fine. And he looked altogether too often. He laid down on the rock and pulled his hat over his eyes. He didn't think he'd sleep, but it might just make Kylie stop talking to him.
But the vision of Kylie's behind conjured up other visions, too. Not for the first time, the memory of Kylie that first night flashed into his mind. The image of her nearly naked body haunted his dreams and waking moments all too often. Lately, though, he realized his thoughts toward Kylie had changed. She was still too volatile, of course. He cracked one eye open while she contorted into impossible angles, trying to ascertain if her posterior had actually grown during the meal. He could assure her it hadn't. Unfortunately, he was fully aware of even minute changes in her, though he'd never admit he paid attention. She started her stretching exercises and Burt almost groaned. She bent down and touched her forehead to her knees and that brought things to mind too painful to consider. He firmly closed both eyes again.
Once Kylie finished indulging in her overdramatic reactions to things, though, he found she had a quick, intelligent mind and a genuine desire to learn. She still seemed to have a too flippant attitude toward the more serious things, but Burt had learned to see through that facade. He sighed. He spent altogether too much of his time examining the girl. He really needed to spend less time in her company.
But, he admitted honestly to himself that that wasn't something he wanted to do. He was already used to her theatrics and once he'd learned to ignore them, he found her fairly pleasant to be around. Even though they bickered incessantly, at least she listened to his arguments before dismissing them out of hand, as most people did. She actually seemed to take him seriously, which he reluctantly admitted to himself, most people did not. And occasionally - not often, but occasionally - she was even right. Not that he'd ever tell her that. She even brought up points in his arguments he hadn't considered, from time to time. He found he sometimes had to think fast to keep up with her, and he rather enjoyed the competition.
Now if he could just get her to shut up on occasion.
Eventually, her complaints slowed and finally ceased altogether. His tactic seemed to have worked. Soon she picked up her radio. He heard her ask for Larry and then the two started talking about some movie they'd caught on television the other night. When they started trading movie quotes, he turned off his radio.
Kylie watched him put her conversation with Larry on "ignore" and grinned. He could be so predictable. Good old Burt.
"Larry," she whispered, after putting some distance between herself and Burt, "who are those people in town and why is Burt avoiding them?"
Kylie returned a short while later, scrambled up on the rock and sat down, cross-legged, next to him. She waited silently, staring at him, until she saw him open one rather irritated eye at her. She grinned. "Fan club?"
He scowled, and his eye swiveled down to his radio then back to Kylie. "I don't know what you're talking about." He got up quickly and resettled his hat, before striding over to the work area, the image of a man ready to get back to work.
Kylie followed doggedly after him, almost running to keep up with his long legs. "Larry says those women in town are your fan club. 'Gummer's Groupies,' they call themselves. He's an official member now, by the way. Don't you want to go back and, like, sign autographs?"
"No," Burt said shortly. He grabbed an end of one of the sheets, and stared at Kylie until she pulled on her gloves and took the other end.
"You sure?" Kylie persisted. "There could be hotties. I saw this one redhead..."
"No." He tugged the sheet into position and started hammering - vehemently.
"But Burt... your adoring public..."
He paused briefly to glare at her, then went back to hammering.
"But, Burt... Your very own fan club. Who else has their very own fan club?"
He stopped pounding and dropped the hammer so he could give his full attention to glaring at her. His eyes were wide and hands clenched into fists.
Kylie blinked back at him, her mouth open for yet another teasing comment. This was Burt's mad look. Clearly, she'd gone too far. Again. She closed her mouth with a snap and looked left and right for inspiration. "Okay... so I... should hammer this side now," she said, reaching for the hammer. "Nail?"
He tossed one across the sheet to her, only barely less furious with her.
She set the nail into one of the holes drilled in the sheet. "Here?"
He nodded, his eyes never leaving her face.
"You know, it occurs to me," she said, tentatively hitting the nail, "I've never done this before." She hit the nail with a little more force after gaining confidence. "It's not so-- Ouch!" She quickly pointed the hammer at Burt, sucking her suddenly injured thumb. "Don't you dare laugh at me Burt Gummer!"
She hadn't actually intended to hurt herself, but at least he was smirking at her instead of trying to flay her alive with that look. Sometimes, Burt could be so touchy about things.