“It’s ok,” Bailey said. “It just hit me funny for a second there.”
“Changing the subject,” Tom Christian said, “can I take any plates to the kitchen?”
He’d finished his pie off and was having a hard time watching Bailey squirm. He had a pretty good idea of why she felt uncomfortable, and didn’t feel like it was his place to explain to her that she was the only one who felt that way. Maybe Steven, because it was his wife, but she was a model, one he’d seen in magazines himself, and he didn’t figure her husband was the jealous type.
“I’ll help,” Goldie said, just having finished her plate.
“Me too,” Bailey said getting up, her face crimson. “Mind if I tag along to see the greenhouses?”
“I’ll join you,” Angelica said.
Anna was smiling, and about to say something, but Angel shook her head. Anna gave her a nod and mouthed, “talk to you in a bit.” Angel gave her a thumbs up.
“This is absolutely amazing,” Tom said, looking at the setup.
“Thank you,” Luis told him. “In my youth, I learned how to grow things other than food. That’s how I figured out how to change it around to grow produce.”
“In my youth, I might have bought things from growers like you, before mandatory drug testing in college sports,” Tom said, grinning. “So, does this take a ton of power to run?”
“It’s all solar,” Luis told him.
“Luis set it up with reservoirs in the bottom of each bucket, so when the sun doesn’t shine, there’s still a little bit of water for the roots. But when the sun is shining, the system just runs.”
“This is pretty amazing, and look at these tomatoes!” Bailey exclaimed, going to the far wall of the first greenhouse.
“We’re having a harder time getting them to ripen, but Goldie has her ways. Something with apples and how they put out ethylene gas naturally.”
“There’s so much produce in here,” Tom said. “No wonder the feds have been coming at you guys hard.”
“The feds?” Bailey asked, looking up sharply.
“I’ll fill you in. It’s been a long story. Tom, this is part of the reason why they are coming after us. We’re just about 100% self-sufficient. We could close our gates and not have to worry about leaving for years, and help take care of the local community.”
“Except for medical emergencies though, right?” Bailey asked.
“No, we’ve got that covered too,” Luis told her, grinning. “Three of the folks you were sitting at the table eating with are doctors or surgeons. Leah and her husband Dante, and Andrea.”
“No wonder they were laughing about my stitches,” Bailey muttered.
“And you checking out Anna was pretty funny too,” Angel said, making Tom turn away to grin.
“Oh for fucks sake!” Bailey said with heat.
“Don’t worry, hun,” Angel said. “I don’t swing that way, and even I can see she’s a heart stopper.”
“Listen, I’m not gonna be weird,” Bailey told her. “She’s married and stuff… it just hit me funny and now everybody here knows I like girls as well as guys.”
“Why would they mind either way?” Luis asked, confusion in his voice.
Tom turned around to them. “Because a lot of folks on the political left think that republicans are ultra religious, anti-lgbtq, and racists. It’s almost indoctrinated, from college on.”
Bailey looked at him like he had two heads, and Luis turned his confusion to Tom. “You almost sound like a politician.”
Angelica spurted the words out before she thought them through. “He is, that’s Governor Tom Christian.”
Luis went pale in the face, then took a long hard look again. “I thought you were dead.”
“That’s what they wanted folks to believe,” Tom told him.
“Bailey,” Angel said, “there’s conservatives, republicans, tea partiers and right-wing wackos and all kinds of others, all under one umbrella. Not all of us are the same thing. If you hadn’t noticed here, we’ve got a pretty diverse group, and nobody batted an eye at the dinner table. You’re fine, and if you’d like to stay, I’d like to talk to the group about a more long-term solution.”
“I…” Bailey sputtered then walked to her friend, the woman who’d beaten her literally senseless, and busted her head open, and hugged her hard.
“You’re kinda squishing my guts out of my ass,” Angel gasped.
This time, they all burst into laughter.
“Where’s your new BFF?” Anna asked.
“Rob put her up in the guest room. Tom’s staying with Luis for the night.” Angel took a swig of the tequila and then handed it back to her buddy.
Roscoe slept at their feet. Ranger was literally sleeping on Rob’s chest, who had sat back in his lay-Z-boy and gone lights out.
“Is she trustworthy?” Anna asked her.
“I hope so. If you’d asked me a week ago, I would have said no. When I beat her, I think I broke her? I don’t know. She’s not the same woman I met when I first got there.”
“How did that happen?” Anna asked, taking the bottle, and downing a slug before passing it back.
“The guards put her up to it. I fucked up three of the guys who kidnapped me, and it was their way of trying to humble me.”
“So, they sent in Rob’s female equivalent?” Anna asked.
Angelica snorted, then took a pull from the bottle before answering. “Yeah. When that went the other way, I told her, she came after me again, I’d hurt her. She didn’t learn, and I lost control. I think I was trying to kill her for a few moments there. I was… all the fear, and all the pain… I took it all out on her. She saw my ugly and I think it scared her almost as much as it scared me.”
“So, you became friends?” Anna asked.
“Yeah. I went to the hospital building. I felt bad for trashing her like a tornado in a trailer park. We talked. We both apologized. When I’d told her she’d be my bitch if she ever came after me again, she sort of took that to heart. She’s been as
