*****
It was two mornings later before he joined her again. They spoke about superficial things for a bit, until she asked about his family. “Gran died the summer I was fifteen. My mom was Air Force, so we spent most of the time traveling. Pop died last year, and I haven’t heard from my mother since before the Pulse…End.”
“Siblings?”
He shook his head. “Just me. I’m not entirely sure if I was a peace offering for my dad, who wanted a son, or if I was a complete accident.” He must have interpreted her frown correctly. “Not that they made me feel that way. My parents loved me, but my mom was definitely not a kid person. If this hadn’t happened, she probably would have been heading the whole Air Force before retirement. She was an airman first and family person second.”
“Do you think she’s okay?”
He shrugged. “I hope so, but realistically, probably not. She is tough, but also a stickler for rules and order. I don’t think she would adapt very well to the current state of chaos.”
“It’s kind of adapt or die these days, huh?”
Coop sighed. “There seems to be a lot more of the latter than the former.”
In two weeks, the soldiers had settled onto the farm. In some ways, it was almost like they had always been there. After a supply run, where they had unfortunately lost one of their group to a fall from a fourth-floor window, they had spent the first few days erecting a small bunkhouse that would be serviceable for most of the group. Dana and Chelle had remained in the guestroom, which was more or less their room now. Mina knew Coop had a spot in the bunkhouse, but he ended up stretching out on the screened-in sun porch most nights, complaining about the heat inside the small bunkhouse and lack of privacy.
So far, everyone was productive, and to her knowledge, neither her father nor Shane had needed to tell anyone to pull their weight. Mina was enjoying the lightening of the workload, which actually left a bit of free time for everyone at the end of the day.
This evening, she was taking leftover dinner scraps to the chickens before planning to go to the pond for a quick dip to cool off. As she rounded the corner, she froze at the sound of angry voices. Mina peeked around warily, surprised to see Lia and Shane standing a few yards away, their body language suggesting an intense discussion. She couldn’t hear their words, but they seemed angry.
She started to back away, but hesitated. Not knowing the man, she couldn’t be sure Lia was safe with this stranger. Mina almost approached them when Shane grabbed her sister’s arms, but Lia shrugged him off, slapped his face, and turned to stride away.
Shocked by the display, and realizing Lia knew Shane on a deeper level than just her husband’s commanding officer, she backed away. For just a second, he looked in her direction, his brown gaze pinning her to the spot. Eyes wide, she shook off her paralysis and turned back toward the house.
As she walked along, trying to puzzle out what she’d seen, she bumped straight into Coop. “Oh, sorry.” Without thought, she reached out to wipe the smear of tomato from his gray T-shirt that had collided with the plate of scraps in the impact. His chest was hard and firm under her hand, and her fingers splayed without her permission, just resting against his skin for a long second. She looked up, meeting his green gaze before jerking her hand back.
He nodded to the plate, acting as though nothing strange had happened. To him, it probably hadn’t. She doubted the experience had left him flushed, heart racing and hand tingling from a simple touch. “Weren’t you taking that to the girls?”
She somehow managed to nod. “I was.”
Coop crossed his arms, looking amused. “Aren’t you going the wrong way?”
She nodded. “I am. I guess I got distracted.”
He arched a light-brown brow. “By what?”
For a second, she considered blurting out what she’d seen, but hesitated. More than likely, he wouldn’t know anything more than she did, and the truth of the matter was none of it concerned her. Lia’s interaction with Shane wasn’t her business. She settled for a shrug. “I have no idea.”
Still wearing that half-grin of amusement, he swept an arm forward. “Maybe I’d better walk you to the coop then, to make sure you don’t get lost.”
“Um, thanks.” It was a nice offer, but would he have made it to anyone? Was it just a way of being friendly, or was there more to it? Did he have a modicum of interest in her, or had he already decided she was too young and out-of-bounds for anything beyond friendship and pseudo-brotherly affection? The end of the world sucked. It should have crystallized everything, helping sort out what was important and what wasn’t. It shouldn’t still feel disconcertingly like high school and trying to guess if the guy sitting next to her was flirting with her, mocking her, or actually trying to get the attention of the girl in front of her.