“Yes.” I sniffled. “He’s still a little slow when getting up.” I was trying to put his rather personal issue out of my head. The more I thought about it, the more it tempted me. I needed to control myself, though. With no birth control around, we needed to be careful. It wouldn’t be wise to bring a baby into the fucked up world that we now lived in.
If we did get pregnant, would our baby be like Henry? Was it just luck that both of Sophie’s kids were normal? There were so many questions that needed to be answered, but I was unsure if Henry or Sophie had the answers that I needed. How could we move forward without having any sort of real answers?
“Hello? Are you in there?” Claire was waving her hand in front of my face.
“Uh, yes.” I blushed. “Sorry. Lost in thought.”
“I asked you if you wanted to eat something. I found a great stash of goodies in the cellar. I forgot your mom canned so much.” My heart ached again.
Claire held up a bunch of jars full of tomatoes, peaches, salsa, pickles, my mom’s famous apple butter, and a huge box of crackers. My mouth watered.
“There is a ton of stuff down there. The whole cellar is packed.”
I looked up and smiled. I mouthed, Thank you. In all the madness, we completely forgot to go down and see if there was anything useful. To be honest, I didn’t want to go down there. I didn’t want to relive seeing my mother in that state.
Henry came down the stairs, partially dressed, carrying a half-empty bottle of whiskey, and headed straight over to me. Where the fuck did he find that? He wrapped his cool arms around my warm body. He looked beautiful, even when he was bruised, battered, and bandaged.
“Better?” I asked him in a sassy sort of way.
“Mmm…,” he groaned in my ear. “Not until later.” He kissed me on the cheek, uncapped the whiskey, and took a swig.
“I meant your lip.” I shook my head when he took another drink from the bottle. I couldn’t understand why he wanted to drink so early in the morning.
“Oh, right. Yes. That’s better for now…until later.” He winked at me. I had to change the subject.
“Here. Let me help you tighten up that bandage, and help you with your shirt.” He hissed as he held his arms out like he was crucified. He still had the bottle clutched in his hand.
I took off the metal clips and unwound most of the bandages. His chest was still so many different colors. He frowned when he saw me shake my head. I rewrapped him, and carefully helped him put on his t-shirt.
“Oh, look!” I showed him the array of deliciousness that Claire found. “I have no idea why we didn’t think to go down to the cellar. I forgot she canned like a prepper. I’m so glad Claire thought to look. I was getting tired of cheese crackers and cardboard-flavored chocolate chip cookies.” Henry smirked, then looked at the jar that I was holding in my hand.
“Is that her apple butter?” He set the whiskey bottle on the table. Everyone looked at it as if was an elephant in the room, but no one said a damn word.
“Why, yes it is!” He snatched the jar out of my hands and popped it open. Sophie walked over with a spoon, smiling. He dug into it, not even waiting for a cracker.
“Mmm. Oh, love, I forgot how good this is.” He winked at me. Was he insinuating something? It had been a little while since we had been together, but it hadn’t been that long. I raised an eyebrow at him, tossing him the box of crackers.
He chuckled a little. “Not exactly toast, but it will do.” He sat down at the table. It was like Christmas for us.
“It’s nice to see the two of you back to your old selves.” Nick was standing in the kitchen door, smiling and sipping on his mug of blood like it was a cup of coffee. I smiled and then shuddered, knowing he wasn’t drinking coffee. Henry nodded at Nick.
I wanted to move away from him, but since I had decided that Henry and I were in it for the long haul, I needed to learn how to deal with the blood intake, no matter how much it grossed me out.
“Gather round.” Henry waved everyone over. “Let’s get the plans finalized. Give me what you have already.” I cracked open a jar of tomatoes and a jar of peaches. We gorged ourselves on my mom’s hard efforts while we talked. It was like she was taking care of us from the grave.
“We’re going to go back the way we came.” Sophie leaned up against the table next to him. “The highway was mostly clear going back into the city. I have a feeling most people were fleeing the city, and not wanting to go back.”
“Right.” He began to sip on his mug of blood. “Make sure you take the full magazine.”