"Heyes, I'm fine. I don't need you fussin' over me like I'm about to break."
"Did you eat today?" Heyes was as usual unintimidated by his temper and merely looked at him with his hands on his hips-showing no intention of giving up until he got an answer, which somehow just irritated Curry even more.
"What is it with you and my stomach? You were always complainin' that I ate too much and now you're worryin' when I don't eat enough." Too late he realised what he'd just admitted and couldn't quite meet Heyes' gaze as he said. "Of course I ate today. I'm not plannin' on starving myself." He hoped his partner didn't think to ask him if he'd had more than breakfast or if he'd eaten yesterday, because those questions would be a little harder to answer honestly without making either of them even more irritated at the other.
It was three weeks after the funeral and Curry knew he was struggling, but he was damned if he was going to admit that to anyone other than himself. Every day he would get dressed and get in some firing practice, finding the rhythm of it satisfying, but was unable to summon much energy to do anything else. With what he and Lily had managed to set aside for the winter, there was no need to go into town, especially with how little he was eating. The families from the nearest homes had not visited, so except for Heyes' evening visits, which despite sometimes not appearing to, he always appreciated, there was little to mark the passing of the days. Always weary, but often unable to sleep, he knew his rest wasn't being helped by the fact he'd been spending nights on the small couch in his living area. But the idea of sleeping in the bed that he'd shared with Lily and where he'd lost her, was still too difficult to contemplate.
"Then meet me in town on Saturday and I'll treat you to a steak dinner. We should celebrate a little at least."
Curry tried to think of a reason to say no, but suddenly thought it churlish to refuse, when he was honestly pleased at his friend's success. So instead he nodded his agreement. Heyes smiled at him then, his relief and pleasure clear. Curry felt a twinge of guilt at getting so annoyed. He knew his friend was simply genuinely concerned and when he was being reasonable he had to admit to being appreciative that at least someone cared. "Now we got that settled, can we just play cards or something?"
Over the course of the evening, he and Heyes shared a bottle of expensive whiskey in another celebration of Heyes' promotion. As a result, Curry managed to sleep through the night albeit a little restlessly.
He washed his hair under the water pump and enjoyed the warmth of the sun on his back even while shivering slightly as the cold water dripped down his chest. In the distinctly warmer weather, the need to do something active was tugging at him. The sky was clear, promising a dry day, so it seemed as good a time as any to see what damage the hard winter had done to the house. Decision made he went back inside to finish dressing. He smoothed down his shirt before taking a deep breath and picking up the dark armband from the small dresser. He slipped it onto his left sleeve and carefully straightened it till it felt comfortable and with a final smoothing of his clothes prepared himself to face the day.
It didn't take long for Curry to check what needed doing, he realised that even though he wasn't well skilled in working with his hands there was probably only a few days work required to fix what was broken. The heavy snow had destroyed or bent much of the fencing, some boards on the porch needed replacing and the roofs of both the outhouse and the cabin would need re-weatherproofing, but that was all. Despite the lack of work needed he did wonder what shape his thumbs would be in by the end of it.
He smiled slightly as he remembered Heyes' expression of amusement when he'd announced he was going to build a house and Lily's desperately not laughing expression at his first attempts. However with a lot of teasing but surprisingly useful, if mostly hands off advice from Heyes and more practical assistance from some of the men who were now his neighbours, he'd managed to finish in good time before the wedding. The first winter of their marriage had been mild and his work had not been heavily tested. Now as he thought about it, he felt a measure of pride that his efforts had resisted the harsher weather so well.
He collected his gun from the house and walked some distance down into the meadow to practice, deciding to enjoy the warmer morning.
He walked back towards the house and as he squinted in the suddenly bright sun was surprised to see a small trap with a single horse waiting by his door. As he came close enough to see who it was, he recognised Hans Fischer from one of the nearby homesteads. The man raised a hand in greeting and as soon as Curry was in hearing distance said with a smile. "I am heading into town and I was of course wondering if you were in need of anything." He handed Jed a small paper box that smelt delicious. "My Greta has baked you some, how do you call them cookies?" He paused then added a little awkwardly."I am sorry not to have visited earlier, family were sick." Another slight pause then he said carefully. "But they are well now."
"Thank-you Hans,we...I don't need anything. But I will enjoy these."
"That is goot. I hope Greta and I will see you soon." he rode off then with a nod and another smile.
Jed watched him go, feeling touched- he'd resigned himself to going back to only having Heyes who cared. His stomach rumbled suddenly and he realised with a start that the smell of the ginger from the small package he was holding was actually making him hungry.
