Page 96 of Everything Under the Sun

“Yeah, Thais?”

“What kind of women do you like?”

(I only like one kind of woman. And there’s only one like her.)

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve never given it much thought.”

I looked up at the trees. The call of the Whippoorwill sounded in my ears and it made me smile so big—surely he felt that against his chest, I thought.

(Surely she can feel how much my heart is aching for her.)

“Are you still angry?” I asked him.

“About what?”

“Giving the bread away to those people.”

He shook his head against the quilt.

“No, Thais, I’m not still angry.”

After a moment, he said, “Thais?”

“Mmm-hmm?”

“Don’t ask me to kiss you again.”

I paused, tensed. “Why not?” I was afraid of the answer.

We continued to look up at the stars. Behind us the horses whickered and their tails swished about. A light breeze combed through the trees, carrying the bitter and sweet scents of pine and honeysuckle with it.

Finally, Atticus answered, “Because whatever you want from me, Thais, I’d rather you just take it.”

I wanted to cry.

I smiled to myself instead.

32

ATTICUS

Another full day on The Road left us with hunger pangs and sore muscles and dwindling hope. We still had bread in the pack but it was all we had. But water was becoming the biggest concern; there were no lakes or ponds or creeks or even the smallest of streams for many miles. And it had not rained in days. What little water there might’ve been had already been swallowed up by the earth.

And the horses were showing signs of fatigue; their shoes were already old and worn when we took them from the stable. After a while, Thais and I hopped down from the horses, and left them to carry only our gear.

My feet swelled inside my boots; blisters rubbed against the leather. But I soldiered on, never letting Thais on to my discomfort—she would’ve refused to let me carry her piggyback for a while when she twisted her ankle and could barely walk.

“Let me down,” she said, after a few minutes with her legs wrapped around my waist from behind. “I have to walk on it, or it’ll take longer to heal.”

I didn’t let her down.

Hours later, as the night fell, a rumble of thunder sounded in the distance. The sky filled up with black clouds, and I knew we had to find shelter before the storm arrived. But mostly all I could see for miles in every direction were more fields, and not a single house or barn or shed perched amid the landscape.

“Maybe there’s a barn in the woods,” Thais said, standing next to me. She pointed at the cluster of trees out ahead. “And if not, it’s better than out here in the wide open.”

Agreeing, I took her hand into my right, the horses’ reins gripped in my left, and we set out for the woods.

The first few giant drops of rain hit our faces before we made it halfway, and by the time we came upon the outskirts of the trees, the rain came out of the sky in torrents, drenching us and everything the horses carried within a few short seconds. The lightning and thunder was brief, rumbling and streaking across the sky, but the heavy rain that accompanied it showed no signs of letting up after fifteen minutes.

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