He let the conversation swirl around him and thought about how he was going to make his way to his family. The trooper he’d rode with had made arrangements to pick him up in the morning and to deliver him to Oklahoma, where another trooper would be waiting to take him to the reservation, where their own police would finish the trip. A lot of personal favors and burner phones had been used to set this up, but as the trooper he’d ridden with had said, he was tired of being part of the problem, so he didn’t mind.
“Who is ready for some pie?” Goldie announced.
Everybody chorused a big yes, including Tom. He grinned as Goldie pulled out two of them from the oven. New plates were pulled out and Goldie produced some homemade whipped cream from the fridge. Tom Christian’s brain was boggled. Everything they had eaten had come from the farm, except the sugar and seasonings. The chicken was raised right here, the corn grown here, the grains, the salad, the berries, the wheat that the flour had come from…
His eyes crossed in pleasure as he took a big bite. It was good stuff.
“My grandma is the bestest of the bestest cook, isn’t she?” Harry asked, having taken his own seat again.
“She is. I don’t think I’ve eaten like this in a long time,” he said simply.
“Whipped cream comes from a cow down the road,” Goldie said. “We don’t have a milk cow, but I hope we can trade for a couple soon.”
“I thought you had cows?” he asked.
“Beef breeds and hybrids,” Rob said digging in himself. “I guess we could milk them, but we’ve got a neighbor who trades us milk for all the eggs and veggies she and her granddaughter can eat.”
‘That’s… This place is amazing,” he said, pushing his plate back.
“Thanks. It took a lifetime of planning, and a lot of money, but mostly, it took the right combination of talents between friends and family,” Andrea answered for Rob, who had a bite in his mouth.
“I mean, other than power, you’re pretty much self-sufficient here,” he said, then waited as the laughter died down. “You have that covered too?”
“Yes, early in the pandemic we bought out the stock from a solar company that was going under. We have more solar energy than we need, with a battery bank that’d run a couple of diesel electric trains,” Steven told him, loving this part of the subject. “We're tied to the grid, but everything is ready in case the power goes out. With a little adjustment, we could probably go totally off power right now with the four cabins, the house and workshops and wells.”
“Holy crap. How are you growing fresh greens and—”
“Greenhouses,” Luis said. “If it is ok with the others, I can show you after the meal.”
“That’s fine with me,” Dante said, and looked around the table. The rest were nodding and smiling.
“Good, that is my baby. I am very proud of my projects,” Luis said, smiling.
“So, the rest of you… farm?” Tom asked finally.
“Rob is in charge of that, we’re learning,” Anna said. “The others are pretty handy on the equipment and my husband is the builder. I just sit around and look pretty.”
“Yes, you do,” Bailey muttered, then turned pink as she realized she’d muttered that in a lull, and the entire table had heard it.
“She’s our resident armorer,” Rob told Bailey, hoping to change the subject before the laughter started. “She built the AR-10 I was using to knock out the transformers.”
“You can build guns?” Bailey asked, surprised; she also wanted to change the subject. She was worried the group of conservative right wingers, who were very nice, might be uncomfortable, but they gave no indication. Maybe it hadn’t been widely heard? Bailey hoped. She’d had a small crush on Angelica from the day she’d apologized to her in the hospital, but realized that girl's heart was already spoken for and full of love. Anna’s beauty had just about smacked the sense out of her, and she’d slipped up and said something out loud.
“Guns, ammunition, metal parts. I’ve got some CNC machines, lathes, three of the big Dillon reloaders. When I’m not working out or shooting or modeling, I try to help out with whatever folks need me to do here.”
“I figured you were probably a model,” Bailey muttered. Out loud again, dammit!
“Do I hear Cupid’s arrow?” Dante asked, grinning.
Leah jabbed him in the side, but she was looking away, trying not to laugh. It wouldn’t be fair to Bailey, who looked smitten, and she was more laughing at the expression on Steven's face as he realized what was going on. Curt was keeping his expression blank, but Andrea was smiling.
“I’m sorry, it’s just… I’ve seen you somewhere, and… oh lord, I don’t think—”
“It’s ok Hun,” Anna reassured her with a smile. “Nobody here is upset.”
The woman who used to be a bully looked up and saw nothing but smiles and restrained laughter. She looked over at Angelica, who was smirking at her.
“Hey, at least you’re not crushing on me now,” Angel told her.
“What the shit?!” Bailey said, throwing her hands up in the air. “Am I that transparent?”
“Yes,” everyone chorused.
“Ain’t no shame in attraction,” Goldie told her. “It’s actually kind of funny. Anna there won’t hardly get embarrassed by anything. It took me weeks until I talked to my family about Luis and I. Took
