Jack is extremely subdued during dinner. And so am I.
I make us some sandwiches again. There’s a good amount of food in the refrigerator, and the cupboards are packed with canned goods. It will more than get us through the week if it takes that long for somebody to find us. We can survive out here a month or longer if we had to. Hell, we could probably get through a year if we don’t mind eating lots of canned beans. And we have unlimited water.
That said, I want to get out of here as soon as possible. I’m dreading even spending the night here.
“We don’t want to finish all the fresh food,” Noah comments as he chews on his sandwich. “I mean, we want to leave something for when the guy who lives here comes back, right?”
Jack and I exchange looks. See? If he killed that guy out in the pick-up truck, he wouldn’t say something like that.
Or would he?
“So I thought me and Claire could sleep in the bedroom tonight,” Noah says. “Do you mind sleeping on the couch, Jack?”
“Yeah, fine,” he mumbles.
“Are you sure you’re okay with it? I just figured the bed is bigger, so…”
“I said it’s fine!” Jack snaps. When Noah goes silent, he stands up from his seat fast enough that the chair nearly falls over. “I’m going out for a walk.”
“Now?” I say. “But it’s dark out!”
“It’s perfectly safe out there,” Jack says. I don’t fail to notice his emphasis on the words “out there.”
He grabs his sweatshirt and his rifle, then leaves the house without another word. I hear the echo of the door slamming behind him.
Noah raises his eyebrows at me. “What’s with him?”
“He just…” I hesitate. Even though I don’t believe a word of what Jack said about Noah, I still don’t want to tell him what I know about the dead guy in the pick-up truck. “I think he’s worried nobody is looking for us.”
“I’m sure somebody is looking for us,” Noah says confidently. “I bet tomorrow we’ll be on our way home.”
“Yeah.” I swallow a big lump in my throat. If only that were true. “I miss the kids.”
“Me too.” Noah fishes around in his pocket and pulls out his wallet. “The last couple of days, whenever I start getting depressed, I look at this picture.”
He slides the photo over to me. It’s been creased, having been in his wallet for a long time, but the image is still crisp and clear. It’s a picture of me with Emma and Aiden at Emma’s birthday last year. She was missing both her front teeth, and Aiden is giving her bunny ears. They’re both beaming with happiness. Looking at the photo makes me want to burst into tears.
“I can’t believe you carry around this picture all the time,” I manage. It doesn’t escape me that there are tons of pictures of the kids without me. He chose to carry one that had me in it.
“Yeah,” he says. “It’s my favorite.”
How could Jack have said Noah is responsible for all the bad things that have happened? He couldn’t possibly be. All he wants is to get home to his family. Just like I do.
“Anyway.” Noah tugs on his shirt collar. “I’m going to try to clean my clothes tonight. I can’t stay in these muddy things another day.”
“I know,” I say. There’s also a shower I would love to get into, but I couldn’t seem to get the water to heat up. A cold shower isn’t terribly appealing. “I’m going to wash mine, so I can do yours too.”
“You don’t have to do that.” “I don’t mind.”
He smiles crookedly. “Okay then.”
We both head to the bedroom. As soon as the door is closed, I kick off my muddy sneakers, then peel off my sweaty, dirty socks. It feels so good to wiggle my toes and feel the fresh air. Then I peel off my dirty shorts and shirt. I can’t wait to get them clean.
I look up and see that Noah has done the same. He’s down to just his boxer shorts.
It’s funny. Every single night for over a decade, we have undressed and gotten into bed together. But this feels different. When I look over at Noah’s bare chest, I feel something for him that I haven’t felt in a long time. Somehow I’d forgotten how good he looked without a shirt on.
And when I meet his eyes, I realize he’s looking at me the same way. “Hey,” he says.
“Hey,” I say back.
He grins shyly at me. “Have I ever told you how sexy you look in a bra and panties?”
I smile back. “Not lately…”
“Well…” He comes around the bed to get closer to me. “That is a huge oversight on my part, and I have to apologize.”
“You’re forgiven.”
He’s standing less than a foot away from me. “Am I?” “Absolutely.”
He slowly lowers his lips onto mine, and my whole body tingles the way it did when he first kissed me all those years ago. A second later, he’s tugging me into the bed. This trip has been one of the worst experiences of my life, but I think it may have saved my marriage.
As long as we make it home alive.
