Once done, he dried off and went upstairs to the bedroom to get some fresh clothes. That was one thing in the apocalypse there was an abundance of. All the clothes from stores in town had been brought into the local school where residents could come and pick out one or two things. Entering the room he noticed a suitcase on the bed was open, and one side was filled with Alicia’s belongings.
He stopped and squeezed the bridge of his nose.
After the explosion and his conversations with her by the water, she’d discussed what leaving Humboldt might look like. Where they could go. He’d mentioned his grandfather had this cabin up on Upper Klamath Lake east of the Cascade Range. While she wasn’t keen on the idea of going anywhere that his family could follow, she did agree that it might be a good place to stay temporarily while they decided where they could put down roots.
She’d gotten all excited about it and maybe he said a few things that made her believe that he was ready. The truth was he wasn’t sure.
And now with Alby out, and John Boone back in the loop, it only spelled trouble and he couldn’t rest his head at night knowing that his family was dealing with it alone. Lost in thought, he didn’t hear Alicia approach the room. “How did the meeting go?”
Colby turned. “Oh. It was a mess.”
“Of course it was,” she said. She walked into the room and placed a few more clothes into the suitcase as he put a shirt on. “I’ve left enough room for your things. We might have to take another case because…”
“Alicia. Um. I’ve been thinking.”
She turned and the smile vanished. “You’re not going to leave, are you?”
Colby shook his head. “No.”
She dropped her chin and her fingers drummed the edge of her leg.
“What changed your mind?”
“I’m not saying I won’t go eventually but the timing is off.”
“Because of the explosion? Colby, you don’t owe this town anything. You did your part. If anything they owe you.”
He removed his towel and slipped into some underpants and jeans. “It’s not that. Alby’s out, John Boone is back in Humboldt, at least I think he is.”
“And?”
“My family. My brothers.”
“You went ten years not worrying about them. Why now?”
He shrugged. “They’re my kin.”
Alicia stared.
“It’s her, isn’t it? Your mother.” She shook her head and got up and went over to the window. “You know, back in L.A. when I asked you about your family and you said I was better off not knowing, I’m beginning to understand what you meant now. And hey, we don’t get to pick our families but what I don’t understand is that you’ve spent ten years away from them and now you come back and you want to stay? And… you want to stay after finding out she was responsible for the death of Skye. That makes no sense.”
He didn’t know how to reply to that. “She apologized.”
Alicia chuckled and brought a hand up to her eyes, shaking her head.
“What?”
“You talk about how manipulative she is and yet you’re allowing her to keep doing it. Don’t you see what she does to you all?”
He tossed the towel on the bed. “Of course I do. I didn’t remain at the farm.”
“No. But you might as well have. You’ve seen her today, right?”
“Yes.”
“Let me guess, she asked you all to come home because of Alby.”
“Something like that.”
“Can’t you see what she’s doing?”
“Of course I can, Alicia. I’m not blind to it. But like you said. We don’t get to pick our families. She’s my mother. She’s the only parent I have left. And as much as I hate what she has done, I don’t hate her. She’s a product of her family, her upbringing. No different than you or I.”
She scoffed. “Believe me, my family was not like yours.”
He stood there looking at her. His eyebrows went up as he picked up some socks. Alicia realized what she’d said. “Colby. I didn’t mean it like that.”
“No, I get it. But have you stopped to think about what it’s like out there? We saw it coming back from L.A. We saw it in Del Norte County. I admit, things are not good here but they are a hell of a lot better than they are out there. Here we have people—”
“To stab you in the back,” she said.
“To help.”
“Colby, this community was ready to execute your mother, and two innocent men. Damn it! What do you think they will do if you step out of line, or someone else gets into power that is like Evans? Huh?”
“I wouldn’t let that happen.”
“You can’t stop them. You’re not even in a position where your say matters.”
“Well I’ve been thinking about that. About Johnson’s offer.”
She brought a hand to her forehead. “You are joking.”
“I mean, it’s like the old saying, keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer. If I take a position with Humboldt County, it might allow me more say in decisions that are made. Right now, I’m an outsider, a helping hand to whatever they say yes or no to. Johnson invites me to the council meetings but let’s be clear, they’re not going to accept anything I suggest.”
“And what would you suggest? With all the help they have here, no one was able to stop that explosion. Maybe it was the group we brought back, maybe it was the Stricklands, maybe it came from this John Boone fella, but have you considered that it could have been someone else? A local. Someone pissed at the hierarchy. People who don’t like rules. Who don’t like the situation they’re in but they don’t want to leave either.”
She had a point. The community had and
