Nick awoke with dawn the next morning and quietly went about his morning routine. He showered and got dressed. He took the dogs, including an anxious Lady outside where he collected seven eggs from his hens. After filling the water bowls in the yard, he sat quietly at his picnic table and contemplated the day. At almost regular intervals he checked the direction and length of the shadows on the ground as the sun gained momentum in it’s daily trek across the sky. He reckoned it was nearing nine o’clock. It was going to be warm today, no doubt, hopefully not too hot though.

He stood and made his way into the kitchen and began preparing breakfast. Bacon, eggs, day old homemade bread, hand sliced and toasted. He used a citrus juicer attachment on his stand mixer to fill a carafe with fresh squeezed orange juice. Keeping fresh fruit around was a bit of a luxury for him. Between his gardens and canning, he had a wealth of vegetables; fruits, especially tropical ones, were always scarce. He had pulled the bag of oranges out of his deep freezer to thaw days before along with a bunch of bananas, a few grapefruits and some assorted other fruits.

I should really build a greenhouse and get some citrus trees.

As the kitchen filled with one wonderful smell on top of the next, he heard Dana begin to stir in the next room. A moment later, she stepped around the corner and into the kitchen.

“Where’s Lady?” she asked, completely unconcerned with her atrocious state. Her hair was a mess. Her eyes were red and bloodshot. She was a complete mess.

“They’re all outside,” he answered. “Feel free to check.”

She slowly stepped to the door and pulled it open just enough to stick her head out. She saw Izzy standing atop the picnic table, tail wagging, staring back at her. Bear and Drake were both lounging comfortably in the morning sunlight. She leaned back inside the house.

“I don’t see her.”

Nick slung the kitchen towel he was using to clean up the counter over his shoulder like a bartender and walked toward Dana and the door. She took a step back to clear the way for him and he smoothly slid out the door past her and stood on the concrete slab patio looking around.

“There,” he raised his right hand, index finger extended parallel to the ground. “Romping and running with Tris.”

Dana looked at where he pointed and saw the two dogs, several hundred yards away running and jumping, and crashing wildly into each other. They were roughly the same build, except Lady was slighter in every way. She thought for a second about Peter Pan wrestling with his shadow. Lady, being jet black, could easily be mistaken for Tristan’s shadow under the right circumstances.

“How do you know they’re not fighting, like mean fighting?” Dana asked Nick.

“We’re a pack here. I’m alpha. Drake’s beta. If Tris was fighting anything Drake would be right there with him either breaking it up or helping out.” Nick’s answers lacked a certain amount of warmth, perhaps it was just the differences that today had brought. “Plus they’re both wagging their tails. See? Way up high. That’s play. If it was a real fight, they’d be much lower.”

Nick retreated back into the kitchen, Dana followed him after another few seconds of watching the rowdy dogs. He heard the door close behind his back and began speaking.

“This is all basically ready. Want some coffee?”

“Sure.”

Nick scooped whole coffee beans into a hand grinder while Dana stood across the room, unsure of how to conduct herself.

“I’d say eat first, then get cleaned up. I’d like to get your car unpacked and show you all around today if that’s okay.” He continued without looking back, cranking the grinder. “How’d you sleep?”

“Good. The drive was pretty exhausting, so…” she trailed off.

Nick dumped the coffee grounds into a French press and set it on the table. He then filled a kettle with tap water and placed it on the gas range.

“Grab a seat. Settle in,” he urged her.

She complied and she sat and watched as he placed the spread of food on the small table. Next he handed her a glass, a mug, a plate, a fork, a spoon, a knife, and lastly a single paper towel. He seemed to glide around the kitchen. He knew where everything was, and the most efficient ways of getting things.

WOOOOOOOO!

The kettle began to whistle and almost instantly he snatched it off the range and began pouring the water into the French press.

“Cream, sugar, milk?” he asked with one hand on the handle of the refrigerator door.

“Do you have any non dairy creamer?”

“Sorry, I don’t,” he frowned. “But put it on the list and we’ll pick some up when we head into town.”

“Okay. Just sugar then.”

Nick grabbed the sugar bowl and set it down on the table. The whole of the spread had left no space for him sit, so he just leaned back against the counter and sipped a small glass of orange juice.

Dana ate heartily, three days of fast food and convenience store snacks, while delicious, were nothing like the organic meals she’d grown accustom to in Los Angeles.

“Do you eat like this everyday?” she asked between pieces of bacon.

“No,” he sipped the juice, “I could but unless I’ve got an exceptionally big day I usually go pretty light in the morning. Coffee and some bread, or muffins sometimes.”

“These eggs are delicious,” she raved.

“Never ending supply of them.”

“What?”

“I’ve got a dozen hens outside. Those were all laid less than twenty four hours ago.” He paused briefly as she continued to eat, “The special ingredient is freshness.”

“Oh my god. So good. Did you butcher the pig for this bacon this morning too?” she asked, only half sarcastically.

“No. No livestock. Been thinking about it, but the hunting is so good every year I never really need much meat. Hope you like birds. I’ve got a freezer full of birds out in the garage.”

“Really, what kind?” Dana had managed to hang on to her Midwestern sensibilities about food despite the prevailing attitudes in California, meaning that discussing where meat comes from didn’t put her off her appetite.

“Doves, grouse, ducks, geese, pheasants.”

“Cool.” Dana nodded, not knowing anything about wild fowl. She glanced around hoping to see something that would allow her to change the subject. Aha! She spotted the Kegerator. “Is that a keg? Seriously?”

“Yeah. That’s five cases of beer, cold, fresh, and on tap. I don’t go into town much. It just works better.”

“So… What’s on tap?”

“Harp Lager all summer. Switch to Guinness in winter. This here is a house of American ideals, Scotch whiskies, Irish beer, French breads and pastries, German sensibilities, and a lot more things I’ll come up with later.”

They laughed briefly and continued chatting through breakfast.

***

Dana stepped out of the shower and dried herself before putting on a pair of jeans and a pale yellow t-shirt. She pulled her hair back into a basic ponytail. Rather than apply any makeup, she instead applied a thin coat of sunscreen to her face. Finally she slipped her bare feet into a pair of cream colored ballet shoes.

She reported to Nick who was seated at the kitchen table. She noticed that the kitchen had been completely cleaned. There was no sign at all that anything had happened in there earlier.

“I’m all set,” her voice was soft and timid.

“Great,” he said as he stood up, “are you pretty well set with the house, where everything is?”

“Yep.”

“Alright then, let’s take a little walk.” He gestured toward the door.

Once outside, walking across the yard, he began to speak again.

“I’m not off the grid, but it’s pretty close. The house has geothermal heating and cooling, with a backup propane furnace for when it gets too cold. The garage has it’s own furnace that only runs when I want it too.” He matched her walking pace, there was no real rush. His hands stayed largely in his pockets, but when they were out, he waved them about as he spoke. “I’ve also got P.V. cells on the roof of the garage.”

“P.V.? What’s that?”

“Solar panels, sorry. Photovoltaic. Technical jargon. The guys that installed them corrected me every time I said solar. Anyway, it’s a small house, and I keep things pretty efficient, so I usually create a surplus during the summer, but the winters are just so dark and cold.”

“Do I need to do anything different? I mean, how does it all work?” Dana was really trying to be a good guest, but deep down she didn’t really care about any of this.

“Oh no. Just, don’t be wasteful with electricity. That’s all I was getting at.” Nick stopped and pointed behind the house. “So over there I’ve got an old fashioned wood fired hot tub. Not much firewood though, that’s something I’ve got to get going on.” He then led her around the back of the large steel sided barn. “Here’s the chickens, the eggs are just right in here,” he demonstrated opening the hatch to the coop. He looked at Dana and saw the boredom on her face. “It’s not that important really. There’s just a few things you should see in here.”

They walked around the barn and entered through a service door. Inside, the large building was segmented into zones. Nearest the overhead door on the far side of the building there was the usual collection of mechanic’s tools, and a large Dodge pickup truck. Beyond that were workbenches and power tools comprising a woodworking shop. On the near side, just inside the service door, there was an extra refrigerator, and two chest freezers. Shelves along the wall held dozens of large bags of dog kibble, chicken feed and grit, rice, oats, and whole wheat. There were also several five gallon jugs of water, and assorted dry goods and groceries. Dana was impressed by it all, but it gave her an uneasy feeling about staying in such a remote place.

“If you want, we can move your car in here. Keep it out of the sun and weather.”

“Sure,” she didn’t care, but agreed anyway. “What’s that room back there?” She pointed to a door in the back of the barn.

“Gun room,” he turned to face her, “which reminds me, and this is very important, there is a loaded shotgun under my bed. It’s loaded. Whatever you do, don’t go looking for it, and absolutely don’t pick it up or mess with it.” He looked away and muttered, “Last thing I need is a bunch of buckshot holes in my bedroom.”

“I won’t,” she lacked enthusiasm for everything today. She knew he was uncomfortable having her here, and she was uncomfortable being here, but neither of them were going to admit it.

“I really just wanted to show you the freezers and extra stuff out here. If you can’t find something in the house, it’s probably out here. Everything in the freezers is labelled and dated, so just help yourself. If there’s two of the same thing, take the one with the oldest date.”

Dana nodded, signaling that she understood the instructions.

“Anything you want to do?” he prodded gently. “Any questions or anything?”

“Not really,” she started, “I guess we can just unpack my stuff. It’s been a long drive, I was hoping to just take it easy for a while.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 10