Home Coming (The Survivalist Book 10) by A. American (ebook reader .TXT) 📕

young woman will do that to you,” Dave said with a smile.

“Maybe we’ll get lucky and she won’t like him. Tell his sorry ass to kick rocks.”

The two were standing together. While we couldn’t hear what was being said, it was pretty obvious that Mike was running a game on her. When she laughed and reached out and touched his arm, I laughed. “Don’t count on it from the looks of things down there.”

“Whatever you do, don’t feed him, Dave. You’ll never get rid of him,” Sarge added.

Dave smiled, “I don’t think it’s his belly he’s thinking with at the moment.”

I left Sarge and Dave to contemplate the consequences of Mikey moving in on Crystal. Which surprisingly enough, Dave wasn’t all that against the idea of. Not that I was either. For as much shit as we give Mike, he’s a solid guy and I love him like a brother.

I found my way over to the grill, following my nose and the sound of fat spitting on a fire. There was quite a crowd there. Thad and Mary were there. As well as Dalton, Cecil and Perez with a couple of the ranch hands. They were grilling meat over an enormous built-in stone grill. This wasn’t the sort of thing you bought at Home Depot. This was built onsite from some sort of stone and was six-foot square. A support system overhead allowed the entire grilling surface to be raised or lowered and it was covered in beef. There were steaks, brisket and burgers. It was more meat than I’d seen in more than a year and it looked and smelled delicious.

“Holy hell,” I said as I walked up. “That’s some grill.”

Travis was tending the meat. “Pretty nice isn’t it?”

“I don’t think I’d ever be able to come up with enough meat to fill that thing,” I replied.

“We did today,” Thad replied with a big grin.

“I can see that.”

“We only burn oak in this. Sometimes hickory if we’re cooking pork,” Travis said. “But, there’s a separate smoker for that. This is just for good old grilling.”

Perez was sitting in a lawn chair at eye level with the top of the grill. Naturally, there was a cigarette hanging from his lips. I pulled a chair up beside him and sat down. “Looks like you got the best seat in the house.”

He nodded, “Just waiting. It’ll come.”

“And it’ll be glorious!” Dalton shouted.

The smell coming from the meat was enough to drive you mad. I hadn’t smelled anything like it in a long time. It wasn’t just the meat. It was the wood, the smoke, the fat burning off. It reminded me of every cookout I had ever attended, not that they were noteworthy at the time. But now, each was a very fond memory.

“If only we had some beers,” Perez lamented.

“That would make for a perfect day,” I replied.

Thad pointed at the searing meat with a long fork, “I’ll make do with this here.”

“Me too,” I replied, “I’ll suffer through it.” My comment got a laugh from them.

Travis shook his head, “It ain’t easy. But some one’s got to do it.”

A petite woman walked up with a huge platter. “Here, Travis,” she said as she slid it onto a small table beside the grill.

“Thanks, babe.” he replied. Then he introduced her. “This is my wife Erin. This is everybody.”

She smiled. “Hi, everybody.” We all took a minute to introduce ourselves and she disappeared as quickly as she had arrived.

I saw Mel and Janet talking and could see Janet glancing over in our direction. It was so noticeable that I started watching her, to see what it was she was interested in. It didn’t take long to discover though. She guided Mel in our direction and stopped in front of Perez. She looked at him anxiously and when he looked up, she flashed him a smile and asked, “Where did you find cigarettes?”

Perez took the butt from his lips and looked at it. “I have my sources. A man has to be resourceful today.”

She fidgeted for a moment, then asked, “Can I have one, please? I was never a big smoker, just one every now and then. And I haven’t even thought about a cigarette in a long time. But I just caught the smell of yours and now I can’t stand it.”

Squinting against the sun, Perez replied, “I don’t know. I’d hate for you to start a bad habit.”

“Quit being an ass and give the lady a cigarette,” I said.

Signaling defeat, Perez shook one out of a pack he produced from his shirt. When he leaned forward to offer her the smoke, I grabbed the pack and tossed it to Janet. “Just keep it. He’s got plenty more of those commie smokes. He looted the bodies of all the Russians we killed. While we were collecting weapons and ammo, he was busy taking their smokes.”

Janet quickly took a cigarette from the pack and held it up, asking, “Do you mind?”

As he fished into his pocket, Perez asked, “You don’t have a lighter either?” Finding his lighter, he lit her cigarette. Janet took a long drag and held it before letting it out.

With her eyes closed, she said, “That. That’s what I miss. That little rush.” She looked at the pack, then at Perez, “Thank you for the gift.”

He pulled another unopened pack from his pocket and waved her off, “No problem.”

Looking at Mel, I asked, “What have you two been up to?”

“Nothing. Just girl talk. You wouldn’t be interested.”

I looked at her, then at Janet. “Yeah, I’ve been married long enough to know when I hear bullshit. And I’m hearing bullshit.”

Janet started to laugh. “You’re right. You two have been married too long.”

“It only feels like forever,” I replied. “Right, babe?”

Mel gave me a snarky smile and gave Janet a gentle push, “Come on. I’ll introduce you to Ted.”

“What?” I asked quickly. “Introduce you to Ted? You already met Ted.”

Mel shook her head. “You have been married too long.”

Then it hit me,