Zach woke chilled; he had grabbed the best bags, comfortable down to 0 degrees. But in the middle of the night he had shoved the sleeping bag down because it made him sweat. He pulled the zipper up toward his face and rubbed his arms with his hands. The windshield was covered with snow and everything was quiet. The Tank smelled of body odor, baby smells and Spike.
He took stock of the crew as he hunkered into the downy comfort of his sleeping bag. Everyone still slept. Nobody froze to death. Frozen plague survivors found dead from stupidity. Quite the headline. Except there were no more headlines, and not a lot of odds on people finding the dead. He shivered, remembering the near miss on the icy snow.
Last night he woke several times with his feet shoved down hard into the sleeping bag trying to find the brakes as he drove them off the cliff. Well, despite their stupidity they weren’t dead. Not yet.
Zach didn’t want to wake everyone, but he had to pee. He extricated himself from the sleeping bag and pulled on his new wet and cold hiking boots. He opened the door as quietly as possible, but Lizzie’s eyes opened. She looked at him, confused. “Gotta find a wood-pile,” he said and smiled a goofy smile. She nodded and closed her eyes.
He avoided frostbite on his extremities, but certainly got chilled. By the time he returned to the Tank everyone was awake.
After everyone had taken care of their business he drove the Tank to North Bend. He promised to cook a big hot breakfast at one of the mom and pop diners if everyone was quiet and let him focus on the road.
An hour later he set plates down in front of them at a ‘50s style place. One of the few clear memories of his grandmother had happened here. He remember a cheeseburger served in a cardboard ‘57 Chevy followed by a giant banana split that he shared with her and then everyone else at the table: Mom, Dad and Gramps.
His friends scarfed down the food with compliments to the chef. Zach basked in the praise.
Spike ate fries with a fork, stabbing them and shoving them into his mouth. Zach thought about telling him fries were for fingers, but it was good practice.
Zach found a gigantic carton of vanilla ice cream, freezer-burned, but only on top. He scraped it off and brought it to share, dishing up some to everyone.
Lizzie accepted the ice cream with a nod as she focused on the road atlas they’d picked up in Sedro.
When Zach looked at Nev she was watching him. A hint of humor played across her face. He smiled back.
He filled a bowl for himself and sat. Saj slapped his hands, now slippery white with ice cream, on the table. Zach chuckled. Saj had gotten rounder since the day they’d found him.
“So.” Lizzie spun the atlas around toward him. “We go south to Vancouver then across. Shouldn’t hit any high mountains until right before Salt Lake. By then we can figure how to handle the snow.”
Zach nodded. “We’ll find some chains.”
“Okay.” Lizzie closed the atlas. “Let’s head for the Columbia River.”
“All right. I’m going clean up back there. Anybody wanna help?”
“Why clean up?” Lizzie stood, ready to hit the road.
“Cause it’s a little bit of home.” He headed back to the kitchen. And I can keep it like it is in my memories.
“I’ll help.” Nev followed him.
“Hey,” Lizzie called after them, “I’m not against it. Just asking.” She headed outside with Saj toddling behind and Spike bringing up the rear.
“Thanks, Zach.” Nev put her hand on his arm. “For breakfast. For driving last night.”
“For not killing you, you mean?” He laughed.
“Yeah. Thanks for not killing me. Us.” Nev leaned up and kissed him gently on the lips. Her lips were firmer than Lizzie’s, but still soft and warm. For a moment all his troubles melted, dripping away like the ice cream on Saj’s face. His hands moved to her hips, his heart racing.
Nev pulled away, looking as surprised as he felt. She turned in a circle and then started washing dishes. Zach picked up the metal spatula and messed with scraping the flat steel grill, trying to figure out what the kiss meant. Was it a friend-kiss or a girlfriend-kiss? Things with Lizzie had gone too fast and ended badly. He was pretty sure he had a chance for something better with Nev, but he didn’t want to make a wrong move.