Chapter 9

“So noted,” Burk replied, patting my cheek.

Our eyes met and held like lovers. Sigh. I’m such an old romantic. Such an old fool sometimes, too.

“It’s okay,” he added. “I understand. And I should teach you to shoot.”

“Naw, I’ll teach you karate. That’s a lot more fun. Body contact, you know…”

We shared a smile. I think we both knew where this was heading. It was no longer a matter of if, but when. Gee, and I hadn’t even seen him naked yet. I must be slipping.

Thinking of that, I said, “You know, if we shower together, it would save water.”

He didn’t even look at me. He just nodded and wrote down on his list. “Water. Lots of water. Damn it, everything’s a priority one. I don’t know what to do first. We need extra water, we need to contact people while we can, we need to restructure the house so the doors and windows can’t be broken through. We need to bury bodies, we need to see if there are others we want to connect with. I don’t know what to do first, man. I’m sorry!”