The Road
Chapter Nine
They got off the interstate and headed south; they passed an old John Deer dealership and a drive in movie theatre whose screen still stood against the elements. They were only in Minneapolis for a few minutes before the road took them into Iowa. Soon Lily directed him off onto a rural road with plenty of twists and turns. She gestured for him to take a right down a long stretch surrounded by overgrown fields. At the end of the road nestled in a border of trees sat Lily's hideout. There was a big old farmhouse, a garage, hay barn and Motron building surrounded by makeshift stockade fence with razor wire on top. Joel pulled up to the gate going across the driveway. Lily hopped out to undo the combination lock and open the gate. She opened it wide and he drove through; Lily locked up behind them and pointed to the big garage sitting across from the house.
Joel stopped in front of the garage and put the truck in park. "Sit tight for a minute Ellie." He got out and closed his door behind him. "Why don't we get a look around? Place looks like all your defenses are in place, but I'd feel better if we checked it all out."
"Alright but lets pull the truck into the garage first. We need to shut it off." Lily went to the garage door while Joel asked Ellie through the broken window to pull the truck up. She pulled up the garage door about a foot and then Joel was there helping her push it up out of the way. Lily was surprised her Toyota was gone and in its place was an Jeep Cherokee spray painted in green camouflage colors. "The fuck?"
"I thought you said you had a small car?" Joel moved with Lily to be out of Ellie's way.
"Yeah I did." Lily went to the SUV, there was a note under the windshield wiper addressed to her. She freed the folded slip of paper and read
Lily,
Needed something with better gas mileage. Jeep runs great but needs an oil change! Going to Kentucky, its June 18th. Left you something inside.
Love you,
Dean
"Tsh, he took my car."
"Who did what now?" he asked as Ellie pulled in next to them.
"I'm not the only one who uses these safe houses. An old partner of mine took the car and left me this. Says it runs but it needs an oil change," she sighed folding up the note.
"An old partner?"
"I used to set up safe houses and shit with him." Lily opened the drivers door of the Jeep as Ellie shut off the truck. "Keys are in it."
Ellie got out and joined her guardians. "Is this our new ride? It looks pretty sweet." She opened the back door and looked at all the room in there. "Nice."
Lily pulled the keys out of the ignition and pocketed them. She looked back at Joel. "Lets walk the perimeter then we'll deal with the vehicles."
He was a little unnerved others used this hideout and helped themselves to Lily's things. "Alright. Ellie you stay where I can see you." He drew El Diablo and started out of the garage with Lily behind him.
While the adults did their military sweep Ellie went out in front of the garage and looked at the house. All of the windows on the ground floor and basement had been boarded over long ago to keep out the infected. The white paint was flaking off the wood siding in many places, ivy had grown up the chimney. There were solar panels on the roof, Ellie hoped that meant the place had electricity. She was dieing for a hot shower.
She looked over the fence around the yard; the place looked pretty safe to her. Once Joel was satisfied they were safe and alone he led Lily back Ellie's way. "Are we good?"
"Haven't checked the house yet," Joel reminded.
Lily started for the house. "There's only one way in when its locked up. Where's the ladder?"
"Here," he saw it in the tall grass beside the barn and went to it. "Where you need it?"
She pointed to a window on the second floor. "We leave that one unlocked."
Joel carried the ladder over for Lily and leaned it up against the house. "You sure you don't want me go in there first, just in case?"
"I got it." She sidestepped and got on the ladder. Lily went up and forced the old dry rotting window open. A second later she disappeared inside.
"Lily?"
She poked her head out. "Go around to the front door I'll let you in."
He turned from the window to his girl. "Come on then." Ellie followed him to the door, a minute later it creaked on its hinges as Lily opened it from the inside.
"Come on in," Lily stepped aside.
Ellie was looking everywhere all at once. The downstairs had a big open floor plan. "Wow, look at this place."
"I have to throw the breaker, but we do have electricity here in the house at least."
"No light in the garage though?" Joel was thinking about the two vehicles sitting in there."
Lily shook her head. "House and fence was all we could manage with what we've got here."
"Then maybe I outta go start that Jeep up and see what it sounds like. If it's gonna need some maintenance I better check it over while I still got light."
She fished the keys out of her pocket. "Okay. Ellie why don't we get our stuff out of the truck. There's four bedrooms upstairs, mine is at the top on the left, you can take whatever other room you want."
"Does this place have hot water?" Ellie asked hopeful.
Lily tossed Joel the keys. "I'll go get the power on. Water will be hot in no time."
"Yes!" Ellie clapped her hands together. She was getting good vibes here, they were safe and it was a great place to take a break from the road. "I'll help with dinner."
2
Joel got busy evaluating their new ride, Lily was beside him injecting her opinions and suggestions along the way. Ellie took her backpack up to the room with a boring view of a field and pulled the dust cover off the double bed in there. She left it on the floor by the closet, dropped her backpack in the chair by the bed then went to explore the downstairs. The kitchen was huge, the clock on the stove flashed 12:00 in unset green. Ellie noticed the coffee maker by the sink and smiled.
There was a table big enough to seat eight in the dining room. In the center of the table sat a vase full of dead flowers. Ellie got closer and saw the flowers were lilies. Beside the vase was another piece of folded over paper with Lily scripted on it in black pen. Ellie looked around to double check she was alone in the house and then she picked up the note.
Lilies for my flower girl. Missing you. I left you a vid on the desktop of our laptop up in our room.
Love you, Dean.
"Uh oh," it just sort of slipped out. Ellie folded the note back over and looked at the way the Dean guy had written Lily's name. "Our room? Love you? Who the hell is this guy? I thought she said partner not boyfriend." She set the note down and backed away from the Dean leavings. A secret boyfriend was bad news. "There has to be an explanation right?"
Ellie was pretty sure that Joel was one of those jealous guy types; he wanted to beat up Kyle's dad for touching Lily, did beat up Uncle Tommy for breaking up him and Lily. If some mystery boyfriend were to suddenly show up "Things could get hostile," Ellie nodded to herself. She was going to have to do something about this, there was no way she was going to let Lily hide a boyfriend no matter how much she liked her. Ellie went back over to the garage. The adults were looking under the hood of the truck. "Uh..."
Lily looked up at Ellie. "Did you pick a room?"
"Yeah. Um, Lily, is your car thieving partner a guy named Dean by any chance?"
She blinked at the girl rocking nervously in her sneakers. "Yes, but I don't think I said so."
"He left you flowers and a love note on the dining room table."
"What?" Joel straightened nearly hitting his head.
"What?" Lily was aghast.
"Is he your boyfriend?" Ellie pressed.
"N-no," Lily pulled herself together.
Ellie wasn't done. "Was he?"
Lily stood with her mouth open for a few seconds. "It was a long time ago and its not something open to discussion."
"So you're sharing this place with your ex?" Joel was irritated.
"Not like that," Lily scoffed back at him.
The note had said "He called your room our room."
"That's where the captain of the team sleeps," Lily justified easily. "Look, he's still doing a lot of running around out here. The note on the Jeep was only a few months old. I don't really need to use this place seeing as how I now live in Jackson, but I used to even after Dean and I went separate ways."
"And he leaves you love letters and flowers how nice." Joel clapped road dust off his hands.
"We don't hate each other. Our romantic separation was amicable and we were able to continue working together without it being a problem."
Ellie frowned suspicious. "Meaning?"
"Meaning we put the past behind us and moved on."
Joel snort a laugh. "So you are capable."
Lily turned on Joel. "Don't, don't compare the two of you like that."
There was a whole lot of hurt in Lily's eyes. What did he do to you Lily? "Is there somethin I need to know about this guy?"
"I've already told you what you need to know." Lily stepped away from the truck. "I'm going to start some dinner."
He watched Lily walk away with a frown on his face. He wondered if Dean was one of the bad men from Lily's past that Tommy was talking about. "What the fuck," he grumbled under his breath.
Ellie puffed out a big breath. "Good. At least Dean isn't a secret boyfriend she's got on the side. She already kicked him to the curb."
His frown went to his daughter. "What did you..." he stepped back from the truck. "What were you doing reading things addressed to Lily huh?"
"It was sitting there on the table. Once I saw it I couldn't unsee it and once I read it, well, I was worried that he and Lily might be..." she trailed off and looked at the oil stains on the floor.
"That aint your business Ellie."
"No, but its yours and you are my business."
She was right, it made it harder to discipline. "Still don't make it right."
"So I guess you don't wanna know what it said."
His girl gave him the stink eye. "Come on then, spill it."
"He said he missed her and called her his flower girl and left a video on their laptop in our room and he signed it 'love you'," Ellie's voice rose and fell.
"I see."
"What are you going to do about it?"
"Nothin."
"Nothing?!"
"I aint gonna pester Lily about her ex."
Ellie was in disbelief. "What the fuck Joel? The guy signs his shit loveyou to your girlfriend and you're cool with that?"
"You don't understand the way things are."
"I thought you wanted Lily to be with us, like a family."
He went to his girl to reassure her, poor Ellie looked confused. "Ellie, things between me and Lily are still a little tense right now. Its certainly no time to be getting on her case about some guy she dated before she even came to Jackson, even if they share hideouts, no matter how he signs his notes because that is on him. Understand?"
"What if this guy still loves her?"
"Well, tough shit for him. We're going to New York for a while then we're going back to Jackson, all of us."
"All of us."
"Lily needs some time Ellie. We're talkin, gettin along, but she called me a dick when we was arguing about the music."
Ellie nodded. "Yeah and a fuckwit too."
"Yeah, great. My point is she's still upset and I aint gonna go pokin a hornets nest. If her and this feller stayed friends after they split then fine. If he's still pining for her too bad, so is Tommy and I can deal with that fuckwit just fine."
She smiled when he called uncle Tommy fuckwit. "You'll beat up Dean too huh?"
"I don't see why I'd have too, but if it became necessary." He cracked his knuckles and Ellie laughed away her worry. "I thought you was gonna help Lily fix dinner?"
"I did say that didn't I? Crap. You think Lily is mad at me?"
"I think you're gonna go find out."
"Aren't you coming?"
"Nope. I'm gonna set the oil to draining. You go on inside and help Lily."
Fear froze her in place for a moment. "What if she's mad at me and yells?"
"Then I'd say you reap what you sew and maybe next time you wont get all nosey and read somebody else's letters."
"Right," Ellie frowned at his smug parenting then turned to go inside.
Dad watched her go in to face the music and shook his head. She meant well, she wanted the three of them to be a family even more then Joel had suspected. He hopped into the drivers seat and plugged the key into the ignition to start the Jeep. He wanted to turn it around so it was facing out of the garage and a three point turn in the grass gave him the opportunity to test the brakes. He tried not to worry about Dean the ex partner and got busy draining the oil.
3
Ellie stepped cautiously into the kitchen. She had noticed the flowers and note were gone off the dining room table. Lily was washing the dust out of a few pots and pans. "Can I help?"
Lily rinsed a big pot. "I need rice and chicken bullion," she nodded toward the box on the counter.
"Okay." Ellie went to the box and retrieved the items. She brought them to the kitchen island. "Are you mad at me Lily?"
She set the pot under the tap to fill and faced the girl. "Reading my note was rude and inquiring about my adult relationships was inappropriate Ellie."
"I...it was just sitting there so I took a quick peek and then I saw what it said and I started freaking out thinking 'well shit maybe Lily's got this guy on the side and Joel doesn't know' and I panicked!"
Lily had to hold back the smile. Ellie was quite animated when she was excited. "I see."
"I'm sorry Lily really I am. I just... I worry about Joel. I know how much he likes you."
"I'm not a wild player that strings men along for fun."
Ellie blinked at her teacher as her cheeks burned. "I know that, but they all still fall for you Lily. Uncle Tommy, this Dean guy and Joel." Her teacher shook her head but Ellie held her ground. "You guys might be too chicken shit to say you love each other, but I see the way he looks at you. I see the way you look at him too , well, when you're not pissed off and you think nobody is paying attention."
"Really?"
"Yeah, really."
It was possible Ellie was right; Lily hadn't forgiven Joel, but what she felt for him hadn't disappeared it was just being repressed. Lily sighed. "There's some herbs in a raised bed out front. Why don't you go see if there's any basil?"
They both had given each other something to think about. "Sure." Ellie turned and went to collect herbs.
Lily went back to the sink and shut the water. She looked between the boards and out the window. She could see that Joel had moved the Jeep. It was up on the ramps and he was underneath it pulling the plug to drain the oil. "You're nothing like him, right?" She put the water on the stove to boil and got on with preparing dinner.
4
Joel was losing the light so he quit the truck and closed up the garage for the night. He went into the house, the smell of cooking food preceded the kitchen. Ellie was setting the dining table and smiled up at him when he came in. He took it as a good sign all was well in here. "Smells good in here."
"Dinner is almost ready. Go wash up."
He passed into the kitchen and went to the sink. "Lily," he greeted her as she stirred vegetables into chicken and rice.
"Everything go alright with the Jeep?"
"I got the oil changed." He used the dish soap to lather up. "Started pokin around under the hood, everything looked like it was in decent shape."
"I wish I knew what kind of gas mileage it got. We wont be able to carry that much gas in that thing."
"Well, one of our tanks got shot up anyway."
"No way to fit any of the cage over the Jeep either. Its all the wrong shapes." Lily shut the stove and moved the wok over to a cool burner.
Joel rinsed up to his elbows. "Both the headlights work, we can drive at night when we have too."
"I'll check some of my maps after dinner, figure out where else we can stop for gas if we need to." Lily offered him a towel as he shut the water. He turned to her and took it.
"You outta let me take care of those cuts on your face first." He dried his hands.
"I'll take care of it after I shower. I told Ellie she could go first."
"Everything alright with you two?"
"Everything is fine," Lily smiled a little. "She was making sure I wasn't playing you."
That made him smile too. "Ellie's got her own ideas about how we outta be."
"She thinks were in love."
"It could happen easy enough."
"Her adolescent mind coming to that conclusion or the emotional exchange between us?"
"Yup," he laughed and tossed the towel up onto the counter. "Dinner ready?"
Lily rolled her eyes. "Yes, it is." She picked up the wok and paddle and started for the dining table. Joel followed.
5
After dinner Ellie and Joel cleared the table, Lily dug out her road atlas and an accompanying notebook. The girl went to take a hot shower and the adults sat at the table looking over their route. "I wasn't planning on stopping again to resupply until we were in Ohio. We've got a place in the 'berbs fifteen minutes over the state line."
"We?"
"Those of us that use these places," she waved a hand at the dining room.
"And who's 'those of us'?" he leaned back in his chair watching her.
"Me, Dean, Will, Andrea; if we're all still alive."
"Are they all old partners of yours?"
"We've all worked together on and off over the past dozen years or so."
"It's a long drive between here and the Ohio state line. If we drive straight through we wont be able to avoid night driving."
Lily nodded. Summer was ending, the sunset came a little earlier each day. "At least the headlights work. I'm still not happy about not having a cage over the windows, but what the fuck can I do right?" She sighed and leaned back in her chair. "What's left to do with the Jeep?"
"It seems all set but I wouldn't mind takin a test drive before we just assume its gonna make it all the way to New York."
She didn't believe Dean would leave her with a shitty vehicle, but she understood Joel needed to sooth himself. "Alright, take it out in the morning, make sure its good. When you get back we'll pack up and go."
He sipped some water from his tinted green Coke glass and nodded. "We can get on the road about nine. Get to your next place when?"
"It's about a twelve hour ordeal. Ellie is going to hate it I'm sure, but we can get from there to Vineland in one more drive a thon."
"Vineland? That's what you call the doc's place?"
Shrugging her shoulders she admitted "It's appropriate."
"Two more long days on the road and we're done huh? Sounds good to me. I want us to get Ellie someplace safe as soon as possible."
"We're safe here tonight."
"It's not your hideouts I'm worried about, its the godamn road. There's still a whole lot of highway between us and wine country. Fuckin hunters and infected, I hope today wasn't a preview of what's to come."
"I've never seen anyone there before," she frowned a little remembering the bridge.
He set his glass on the table. "Yeah well ya never saw any infected at the gas stop either and there were clickers inside."
Lily rolled her eyes. "Are you going to hold me accountable for all motion in the universe? I don't know where those hunters came from, the runners were a group being led by fireflies. That part of ninety had been safe for a while, I guess its not anymore."
"Fireflies?" Joel felt something cold run down his spine.
"I saw an armband."
"What are the fireflies doin out here?"
"They were probably on their way to Salt Lake."
For a long moment Lily just stared at him. "You should know Marlene lost most of her buddies getting out of Boston and trekking across the country."
"How many guys from Boston did you kill?"
He frowned at her. "Maybe none."
"Just Marlene."
"Probably."
She dropped her eyes to the atlas, it lay open on Ohio. It occurred to her he could be telling the truth. "Traveling in a big group is more dangerous. Marlene should have known better, about a lot of things apparently."
"The military was all over them when we left the QZ. I reckon she lost most of her men right in Boston."
"One bad decision after another. That's why I couldn't say in Boston, the fucking stupid were in charge."
"That's the way I saw it." He was no fan of the Fireflies and never had been.
Lily knew Joel and Tommy fought about little brother joining the rebels. "Not all of the fireflies were as incompetent as the Boston chapter."
"I hope not. As fucked up as they are they're the last shot we got at restoring government. Martial law aint no way to live."
"Things will change once we can inoculate against CBI. We'll be able to spread out a little again."
"I hope so, either way Jackson is still gonna be home."
She looked up at Joel, he was relaxed thinking of home. "Yeah."
Joel smiled a little. "What you're not gonna argue with me?"
"No, Jackson is home now. I'm needed there."
"You sure are."
Lily got up. "I think I'll see if there's any booze left in this place. You want a drink?"
They were tucked in safe for the night. "Sure why not."
"I'll see what I can find."
6
Flowers and videos aside, there were other things Dean frequently left for Lily to find. She had a fondness for the diamond grape and whenever he came across diamond wine he grabbed it for her. He left two bottles up on the desk by the laptop in their room. Lily put them in the freezer to chill and then took her own hot shower.
Ellie watched Pirates of the Caribbean with Joel and Lily caught the end with them. The girl patched Lily up as per her first aid instructions. Lily drank her wine from a pretty glass, but Joel wouldn't be caught dead with a dainty thing in his hand and drank his white wine out of his Coke glass. When the movie was over Ellie went up to her room for some quiet time alone. She wasn't looking forward to being stuck in the back of the Jeep for twelve hour stretches, but at least New York was getting closer. She wanted to finish Sounder and stretch out in bed.
Joel was last in line for the shower and he went to it. Lily turned things off downstairs leaving only the nightlight on in the living room. She went up to her room and turned on her laptop. She left the nights last glass of diamond beside it. While it loaded she pulled a nightshirt from a familiar drawer and changed for bed. Lily plugged in the headphones and sat at the desk. She popped the ear buds in and double clicked the video on the desktop to view Dean's message. The window opened and she saw Dean sitting in this very chair talking into the camera at the top of the screen.
"Hey Lily, how you doin'?" he did his best Joey impersonation for her. Months later it made her smile. "I'm here with Ricky, Bev and Joe. Going back to Kansas. Delivering a big ol' stash of antibiotics and shit to that town my brother lives in." He paused to drink from the dull metal flask that had been his fathers. Dean had the habit of drinking and smoking left handed when he used the computer. When he brought his hand up Lily saw the silver band on his ring finger. She shook her head a little and Dean went on. He looked into the camera. "Where are you Lily? It's been two years and all I've got from you were two notes about a fuckin car and the pot you left me. What the fuck? I heard you've been running people west of here. Didn't Tommy go out that way? You go running back to your bff or what?" Dean sighed and downed another shot. "I thought you said you weren't going to run away?" He looked up into the camera again. "Open the drawer in the kneehole."
Lily leaned back and opened the drawer. Wrapped inside several plastic baggies was a quarter ounce of something nice and a green glass pipe. "Not bad."
"That ought to make you happy for a while," Dean smiled on the screen. "Like I said, we're going to Kentucky for a bit. Gonna pass this way again probably September. If by some amazing chance you find this before I come back there then leave me a message where you're gonna be. Its one thing not seeing you, its another not knowing if you're even the fuck alive anymore." He took another drink and leaned back in his chair looking at the camera. "John Ross is doing good, living with his grandparents in Virginia now. I saw him two months ago. He's getting really big."
By her calculations JR was now six. Lily found a lighter in the drawer and sparked the bowl as Dean drank onscreen.
"I want to see you. I want to talk to you about all kinds of things. Ricky's a good number one, but he aint you. Nobody is you. I thought we were cool Lily so why am I getting the silent treatment huh? What fuckin stupid thing did I do this time? At least leave me a message telling me what the fuck is wrong. I can't fix it if I don't know its broken." He took another drink and leaned in toward the camera. "Talk to me Lily. Come on, talk to me. You know you wanna talk to me even if its just to tell me what a dick you think I am." He smiled again and took another shot. "If I don't hear from you I'm gonna hunt you down and if I can't find you I'll find the fucker that did you in and kill him." For a long moment he stared into the camera. "I hope to hear from you soon Lily. I love you." He reached forward and the recording stopped.
Lily exhaled a cloud of smoke and closed the media player. She supposed she could leave him a quick message, enough to keep him from coming to look for her. Lily pulled the buds out of her ears and unplugged them. She scrolled and clicked and started recording her response. "Hey Dean. Thanks for the weed and the wine. I've been busy out west, Wyoming with Tommy for about a year. On my way back to Vinland with a father and daughter in tow. I'll be back east for a while so just chill the fuck out and take it easy. I'm sure we'll run into each other sooner or later. Stay safe." Lily stopped filming and saved the clip to the desktop. She closed the program and stared at the background image for a minute. She navigated to a folder called sleep and set the music to play on a soothing volume.
Media player was cycling through Bear McCreary's compositions when there was a knock on her door. She tucked the paraphernalia in the drawer, closed it and called "It's open."
Joel cracked the door and stepped in. "I smell reffer."
Lily smiled. "You in?"
"Is Ellie asleep?"
"All dark and quiet in her room."
He closed the door behind him. "Alright then." Lily got into the drawer as Joel came over and sat on the edge of the bed. As she turned to offer him a pipe and lighter he noticed she was wearing nothing but one of those long t shirts ladies slept in. "I didn't mean to intrude. I was just wondering if there was anything else that needed checking before bed." He examined what she handed him.
"We're all good. I can set an alarm to get us up early."
"What time is the sun coming up?" he smoked, it was rich.
"Around six."
Joel exhaled and handed it back. "I can take the alarm in with me so you can sleep in."
"I don't mind getting up. I can always nap while you drive if I need too."
He watched her smoke a little distracted by all the leg Lily had showing. "I'll drive first that way if you wanna do any studies with Ellie to keep her occupied for a while that'd be good." He took the pipe again.
"We will be in Iowa for a long time," Lily concurred. "You drive through it, I'll take us the rest of the way to our next stop."
"Sounds like a good plan." He beat it and passed it back. "It's cashed."
Lily already had a buzz and she smiled amused. "Well then I'll just have to remedy that." She turned the chair to pack another.
"How you feelin? Your face alright?"
"Ellie fixed me up, I'm good." Lily had two Band-Aids covering the cuts.
"We're lucky nobody got shot the way those assholes were shooting at us. Truck took a good beating. Its a shame to lose the cargo space, but the Jeeps got nice interior, should be comfortable."
She turned back to Joel to give him the green hit rolling the office chair a little closer to the bed. "At least all of our crap will be within reach."
"We can get out the windows too." He took the pipe and lighter. Joel took a big green hit, the stuff was good and it left him coughing. Lily started laughing as he shoved the paraphernalia back at her. Joel reached behind him and grabbed a pillow and coughed into it. He didn't want to wake Ellie with his hacking; Lily thought it was hilarious and laughed into a loose fist. His throat was burning, his eyes were watering, but he brought himself under control. "Godamn."
Lily offered him her wine, he took the glass and sipped a little. "You better watch yourself with this stuff, its potent."
"Is that why you look Chineese," he teased.
"That's racially insensitive."
"Really?" the big hit had left him smiling.
"How do you know my family isn't Asian?"
"'cause you got ginny written all over you, temper to match."
Lily lifted her brows. "Oh really?"
Joel chuckled. "Tommy told me. He's got a thing for women you don't want to see angry."
"You don't want to see me angry?" she hit it again and held it out to him.
She took the glass and he took the pipe. "Naw. I don't want you made at me no more Lily." They stared at each other through the smoke she exhaled.
"I'm not mad at you Joel."
"At this moment or in general?"
Lily smiled a little. "I can't stay mad at you for something I would have done myself, but that doesn't mean I'm over you keeping the shit from me."
"I get it." He gently hit the bowl, Lily sipped her wine and then set the glass on the desk.
"You're not keeping anything else from me are you?"
It was beat again, he leaned past Lily and set the pipe and lighter on the desk next to her glass of wine. Leaning past her he could smell her flowery scents. He sank back down on the bed and looked at Lily. "Maybe Ellie's right. Maybe I am falling you so hard and fast that I just keep makin a damn fool of myself. Jeff Jacobs, Tommy. I guess I was jealous."
Lily hadn't been expecting this sort of revelation. She blinked at him surprised. "Uhh.."
He smiled. "Yeah I know right. I must be stoned." He laughed a little and Lily got laughing with him.
"Must be."
Joel reached over and took Lily's chin in his hand. He turned her head and looked at her bandages. "You sure you alright there Earnhardt?"
She remembered the racers and smiled. "I'm fine redneck." She grabbed his hand to move it away from her face, he slipped her hand into his and held on.
"There might be one more thing I'm keeping from you Lily," he pulled her closer on her rolling chair.
"Oh yeah what's that?" Lily suspected where this was going, but didn't move to stop it.
"I really wanna kiss you."
"You are so totally high," she couldn't help but laugh.
Joel laughed too. "I totally am. This is not the same shit you had in the joint last night."
Lily shrugged smiling, he shook his head at her with a smile on his face. She thought about it for a moment and then "Alright, do it."
"What?"
"Kiss me. Let's see if there's still something there."
He knew there was and Joel pulled Lily over to sit beside him on the bed. "What I feel hasn't changed Lily. If anything it just keeps gettin stronger." He pulled Lily close and showed her with his kiss.
It was as if all the days between now and their last kiss had been a bad dream. This is what was right, this is what made them both happy. She had missed his arms around her, the way he held her close to feel him against her. His lips left hers and he looked down into her eyes. "Joel..."
"I reckon its still there. What are we gonna do about it?"
"I don't know," she answered tired of the fight.
"We can start over Lily, the future is a clean slate."
"It is, isn't it," she smiled for him and he smiled back.
"We could settle into a place together in Vinland, see how living like family works out."
He was as hopeful as he was serious. "Live together? Just like that?"
"Yup, just like that."
"Cocky aren't you Texas?"
"I don't want to let you go Lily. Not tonight, not any night."
A second chance it is. She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Then stay with me." She leaned into him and they were kissing again. It didn't take long for his hands to find their way under her nightshirt. They made love as the symphony echoed from the laptop.
7
The alarm went off at 5:50, Joel reached over and slapped the snooze button. He pulled Lily to him as she stirred waking. "Ten more minutes," he grumbled still half asleep.
Lily threw an arm and leg over Joel and cuddled up. "M'kay."
He liked the feel of his woman up against him, skin on skin. It gave him other ideas about how to spend ten minutes. He smiled in the dim and rubbed Lily's smooth back with one hand. He was on the verge of drifting back down to sleep when he felt her hand run up his chest to his shoulder. It sent a shiver down his spine; he took her hand and kissed her wrist. "Lily?"
"Hmm?"
Joel rolled them so that he was on top of her. "Lily," he kissed her neck.
She was tickly in the morning and she giggled ."Joel!" His lips met hers and they were at it again. They got out of bed around seven, Lily went downstairs and he went to his room for clean clothes. After they both readied for their day they met in the kitchen for coffee before he went to test drive the Jeep and Lily cooked up some pancakes.
Joel stood at the counter drinking his coffee watching Lily stir up batter. He couldn't resist her little wiggle and set his mug down. He hooked an arm around Lily from behind, she turned to face him. "You are so sexy when you're making pancakes you know that?"
Lily laughed and wrapped her arms around him. "Are you hungry Joel?" she teased.
"Oh yeah," he pulled her to him and kissed her.
Ellie had heard the adults up and walking around. Apparently they didn't hear her come down the stairs because when she walked into the kitchen Joel and Lily were totally sucking face. The girl stopped short and her jaw fell. "Jesus Christ keep it PG in the public kitchen would ya?"
The kissing couple startled and Joel turned quick. "Ellie?"
She totally had them. "I didn't hear you leave Lily's room last night before I fell asleep. I guess you didn't."
Joel let Lily go and faced Ellie. "Lily and I talked about some things last night."
"Yeah right, talking. Do I look stupid to you? Pfft whatever. Did you get back together or not?"
"Umm," he looked from his girl to Lily's smile and back again. "Yeah, everything is fine."
Ellie smiled. "Good. Are we going to eat or what?"
Lily chuckled. "Yeah, pancakes again," she turned back to the bowl while Joel flushed under Ellie's hard eye.
"Well, isn't this familiar?" Ellie lifted her nose and went past them to the bathroom.
Lily broke into laughter and Joel shook his head. The women in his life were the best kind of trouble and he wouldn't have it any other way.