Page 18 of Mountain Refuge

I knew Adam hadn’t eaten since he’d woken up. Other than using the bathroom, I didn’t think he’d taken care of himself at all. His concentration was all on his children. I needed to watch him to make sure he was taking care of himself too. There was no reason he shouldn’t be getting a full night’s sleep and three full meals a day up here. Maybe his time on the mountain could help him gain back the weight he’d clearly lost recently.

At the stovetop, I put a pot on the burner with a dehydrated soup mix and then added water to bring to boil. I chose soup for his meal because he hadn’t eaten in over a day. If I gave him something thicker or heavier, it might upset his stomach. Noticing the shredded coyote meat in the pot, I had the absent thought ofwhat if he’s vegetarian?If so, Adam was not going to survive out here long.

It took a lot of carbs and energy to survive a Montanawinter. Protein was important, and the best source of protein in these parts was game. I certainly didn’t have any shrimp in my stores. I did keep a lot of vegetables and fruits on hand, but most of my prepared meals had both meat and veggies in them.

By the time Adam had finished checking on his children, the soup had finished boiling and was now simmering on the stovetop. I reached into one of my cabinets for a soup cup. Most of my utensils, drink-ware, and dinnerware were bought at the thrift store in town. Since it was just me—usually—I only had a couple of sets. I didn’t use paper or plastic to preserve the environment and to keep my trash levels down.

Generally, I only accumulated a small amount of trash, which I would dump when I went to town. There wasn’t much about my way of living that left trash behind. Mind, now that I had a baby in the house who was going through diapers like they were a rare commodity, I had more trash in the past day than I had in the past year.

I gestured for Adam to sit at my table and brought him over the steaming cup. “I gave you more broth in that cup to get something easy into your stomach. If you can keep that down, we’ll get you some chunky bits in your next cup.”

He gave me a grateful smile. “Thank you.” He cupped the warm mug between his hands but didn’t move to take a sip. “I take it you heard.”

After going to the fridge to pour a glass of lemonade, I sat down opposite him. Most of the time, I drank water. I filtered it from my stores and kept it in the fridge in a pitcher. However, I did have dehydrated milk, lemonade powder, and iced tea powder. When I asked Lydia what she’d wanted to drink this morning, her eyes had lit up at the mention of lemonade. Rather than making her just a glass, I made up an entire pitcher for her.

“Sorry, voices echo in here more than I realized.”

Adam snorted. “I guess when you live alone and the onlyperson you talk to is yourself, that’s not something you would pick up on.” Then he flinched. “Sorry. Was that insensitive to say? I wasn’t trying to knock your lifestyle. In fact, I admire it. It must take guts to live out here all alone.”

I shook my head, trying to reassure him. “It wasn’t. It’s just a statement of fact. I do live out here alone.”

He hesitated, then asked, “Why?”

I studied him for a moment. Despite feeling comfortable around him, we were strangers. I knew his kids better than I knew him. “That’s a story for another time.”

As in never, I added to myself. Adam had enough serious problems that he didn’t need to hear my sob story.

He looked down at his steaming mug. “Didn’t mean to pry.”

“You weren’t.”

Silence fell between us. I took a sip of lemonade, he took a sip of broth. I didn’t know what to say next. I hadn’t had to force small-talk in a lot of years.

“Corbin suggested we stay here longer. He doesn’t think it’s safe to travel with the kids right now. I don’t want to overstay our welcome?—”

“I was already planning on you staying about a week. With this next storm, it’ll be a few days before we’ll be able to dig ourselves out of here.”

“Thanks.” He took a bigger sip. “Deer?”

“Coyote.”

He nodded once. “That’s a new one.”

I cracked a smile. “Wait until you try squirrel.”

Adam actually looked curious. “Does it taste like chicken?”

“Better in my opinion.”

Again, he nodded. “I look forward to it. Though if Lydia asks, everything is chicken. I don’t need her accusing me of serving her Bambi and his woodland friends.”

“Definitely don’t want toscar the kid.”

He winced and I wondered what went through his mind just then. He cleared his throat. “I need to take inventory of the kids’ supplies. I don’t know what we have left. I don’t know where the car is to try to get what we left behind there. Corbin said he had supplies at his place in anticipation of our arrival. Despite the weather, he claims he can get it to us if we need it.”

Unfortunately, I think there were only a few diapers left. Lydia had changed Henry again just before Adam had woken up. “We could definitely use the supplies.”

“Is it safe for him to come out in this? I get not wanting to take the kids out, but what about him?”

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