Loving Ashlynn (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 61 - True Release (Ansel Conrad POV) Pt.1

Chapter 61 – True Release (Ansel Conrad POV) Pt.1

The right thing to do is not always the easiest. Life and fate has shown me just that and so it is with great force I leave Angela in my office come dawn to help build and work with those around me when all I craved to do was wait until I heard from my son and the others. All night, after Lennon had left the room, a silence lingered only interrupted by the soft tapping of the keys on Angela's computer.

In-depth, she researched – carefully – the people that the kids encountered in Wisconsin; leaving no rock unturned.

With folders inches thick on most of them, I knew after work, I'd have to read or study whatever she found. Tired, I walked to the dining hall where I knew I'd find my wife along with the other cooks for breakfast. I get a few second glances from a few that worked the day before with me, their eyes scanning my clothes, each face showing their curiosity. Why was he wearing the same rumpled clothes from yesterday? The dirt on his face now look like it's meant to be there but the tiredness in his eyes is stronger? Nodding to everyone, smiling and putting on my best front, I sigh when I push through the silver double doors.

"Michelle you're on eggs, remember thirty sunny side, ten soft boiled and the rest scrambled," Lenah orders.

"Jamal and Hailey, you two are on oatmeal – there is a almost half finished container left of cinnamon apple, so use that first."

I watched my Lenah, taking control of the large kitchen, her hair up, flour on the tips of her fingers.

"Chris you're peeling avocados – half chopped, half mashed."

"Levi, you're chopping tomatoes."

"Deacon – two full bowls of fruit salad. One with quinoa, the other without."

"Nick and Verna," Lenah turned slightly to those still waiting for instructions. The two last called come walking to Lenah. "Everyone loved your egg whites, cheese, red pepper and spinach muffins, so I'm thinking five trays of twelve of them again today?" I watch as Verna blushes, her eyes slip to the floor but Nick smiles proudly at her.

"They're Verna's recipe," Nick says when a beat passes after Lenah has spoken. The quiet in the kitchen fades and soon clicks and clanks against metal sound, each one echoing but cut off by another.

"Well, Verna, they were a hit, everyone enjoyed them."

"Thank you," the girl says showing off just how painfully shy she is by never lifting her head.

I stand out of the way waiting until the sixteen people—seventeen with Lenah—are given their jobs and rush around making enough food to feed over one hundred people. As they move around me in flurry, eventually Lenah comes to me after putting a few trays of dough in the oven.

"Maybe you should take a shower sweetheart," she coos, her floury front rubbing up against me. "It'll get you refreshed. You're working hard and haven't taken a break since we've arrived here. That's not healthy," she whispers, the warmth of her breath against my ear calms me.

Deep eyes that mere hours ago were overcome with sorrow now shine with concern.

"No arguing," she says with authority, "Shower." And with that my wife steps away from me, sashaying back to her post, helping those around her.

I watched with a close eye four people here, Nick, Verna, Jamal and Hailey and how they were interacting with everyone here, two of the younger girls here as well. It was strange almost how different just weeks ago they all were.