“Crap, you’re right. You’d be scratching Sam’s eyes out every time she looked at my manly body.”
“Hon, you’re a legend in your own mind.”
Tom’s face flushed. “I’m also smart enough to read between the lines. I’ll keep my distance from Sam.”
“Good boy. Maybe I’ll have a treat for you tonight.”
The Lake View B&B was deserted as expected. Tom rode around the area, checking the cabins and homes to make sure there weren’t any dangers. The entire south end of the lake had been deserted. Granny B and Kate unloaded enough supplies to last several days. The three women found the rooms ready for occupation after a thorough dusting. The two dozen cabins and the main office looked like they’d been occupied one minute and deserted the next. Plates with dried food and cabins with unmade beds were the norm. The women didn’t mind cleaning their new homes.
Tom gave each of them a pistol and trained them in gun safety. The older woman had been shooting most of her life and had helped her husband skin deer and other game. Since her husband died, Lou had lived with her daughter, Jill, in an apartment. The young woman, Jane, had been in class at Southern Oregon State when the lights went out. She’d stayed in her dorm room until the toilets backed up and the place wasn’t habitable. She had moved in with a friend’s family, but there wasn’t enough food for an extra person to stay long-term. That’s when she’d gone to work on one of the gang’s farms. One of the guards had taken a fancy to her, and that’s where she’s been when the deserting guard had taken her and the other two ladies.
***
Tom rode over to the cave and asked Bill and Greta to help him take the family over to the new community. He asked them to stay with the people until they could work out guard duty for the community. Tom filled them in on the three women and the plan to start a separate community, and to keep them from knowing about the other locations.
Tom had a private talk with Alan and Kendra and told them that he wanted them to become responsible for the new community until Tom could make other arrangements.
Alan asked, “What if I’m doing a good job and want to keep being in charge?”
Tom took the man’s hand. “If you’re doing a good job, I won’t have to appoint anyone else to do the job. That’ll be one less headache for me. I’ll cover my expectations with you on the ride over to the new community.”
*
Chapter 22
The Community
Kate met them with her rifle ready when she heard them riding down the hillside. Tom introduced everyone and then turned the community over to Alan. Alan took his family and the three women to the office building. He had a get-to-know everyone meeting and then covered his expectations for the community. Tom saw smiles and some laughter and decided to walk away before he butted into Alan’s business.
Bill caught up to Tom. “I’m surprised you feel good enough about Alan to turn a small community over to him.”
Tom’s brow wrinkled, and he cracked his knuckles. “I don’t know if I have faith, but I need you and James with us. You two are the only ones besides Rick that I’d trust to handle this new community. Alan talks a good story. We’ll see if he can handle the responsibility. I’m hedging my bets by having a couple of us stationed here for the next month pulling guard duty. You’ll let me know if he fouls up.”
Bill laughed. “I like the plan, and ya done good.”
Tom chuckled. “Kate thinks you and Lou would make a good pair.”
Bill looked away and then turned to Tom. “Lou would clean up and make a pretty woman. Do you have any dating rules?”
“Nope. Just don’t date more than one at a time. I don’t have time or patience for crying men or women,” Tom said.
Bill said, “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous of the couples in our group. It would be nice to come home to a good woman. Darn, you done got me thinking.”
“Sorry about that. All I have to say is that sleeping alone wasn’t near as much fun as sleeping with Kate.”
“Damn your old dirty hide,” was all Bill said as he left.
Tom noticed Bill was hanging out with Lou the rest of the day, helping them settle into their new home. Alan’s son quickly became enamored with Jill, and they took a long walk along the lakeside.
Kate also noticed. “Isn’t love a wonderful thing?”
Tom grumbled. “Yep, but is it as powerful as lust? You’ve got a horny old man and a teen with raging hormones stalking our new women.”
Tom harrumphed. “To hear you talk, we’ll have a crop of babies in nine months.”
Kate hugged her husband. “Worse things could happen. Don’t you think everyone should have what we have?”
Tom poked the bear. “Even Sam?”
Kate answered through clenched teeth. “I’m not taking the bait. I’m not a bit jealous, but I’ll either shoot her or marry her off in the next ninety days. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, buster.”
***
The Clark Ranch
Granny B banged a spoon on the table. “Son, I like the idea in general, but how do we vet these people? Just escaping the gang in Ashland doesn’t mean squat to me. Anyone can claim they were abused and join us. We need better proof they’re trustworthy and the kind of people we need.”
Tom nodded as she spoke. “I agree, but we don’t have polygraph machines or truth serum. We don’t have a lot of time
