Page 60 of Ash Fall

"Relax, he's standing thirty feet away from her and they haven't even spoken to each other yet."

"Exactly. That's close enough and they don't need to talk."

Before Jules can start measuring acceptable teenage-boy distances, Anders waves all of us in. He reaches the older man first and grips his hand with both of his. "Glad you made it, Gord."

"Would've been quicker if somebody hadn't packed half the damn house," Gord says, jerking his thumb toward the trailer.

The woman beside him smacks his arm. "You told me not to leave anything useful."

"I didn't know you considered six quilts useful."

"It's Alberta, Gordon. Winter still exists during the end of the world."

"Fair enough."

Anders laughs and turns toward us. "Everyone, this is Gord and Sheila Novik. They've been on the quarter east of me for near thirty years."

Sheila gives us a tired smile. "Thirty-two, but who's counting?"

Gord points toward the woman trying to peel Penny off the boys. "That's our daughter, Dana, and the hooligans are our grandkids Josh and Mikey. Josh is nine, Mikey's seven."

The smaller boy has both arms wrapped around Penny's neck. "Can she come in our truck?"

"No," Dana and Luna answer at exactly the same time.

Mikey looks deeply betrayed until Luna laughs and crouches down beside him. "Sorry, buddy. She's riding with us."

"We have chickens," he offers, clearly considering this an unbeatable trade.

From the Escalade, Reid knocks his forehead gently against the window, and I have to bite the inside of my cheek.

Anders moves to the second family. "Stu and Kim McNally. Their place is north of mine. Stu can weld damn near anything back together, and Kim's forgotten more about keeping a garden alive than most people ever learn."

Kim gives him a flat look. "That's a generous introduction."

"It's accurate."

Stu shakes Gage's hand first, then mine. "This is Trent, Kelsey, and Brady."

Trent is still doing a poor job of not looking at Briar, so Jules steps directly into his path when he comes forward to shake hands. "Julian."

Trent accepts his hand. "Trent."

Jules doesn't let go right away, and I have to cover my mouth with my fist. Reid has finally climbed out of the Escalade, sunglasses on despite being under a tree, and he comes up beside me. "What is he doing?"

"Being his version of a good big brother. Something new he's trying."

Reid and I watch until Jules finally releases Trent's hand and see the kid shake out his fingers. "He's going to scare that kid shitless."

"That’s what being a good big brother is, I guess."

Briar gives us both the finger from behind Kara's shoulder, which I’m choosing to count as progress.

Anders claps his hands. "Alright. Everybody's met. Food first if you haven't eaten, then let's get these animals loaded."

"We ate while packing," Gord tells him. "Let's get the stock moved. Weather's changing."

All of us look up. The sky is still bright enough, but there's a dirty haze near the southern horizon that wasn't there when we arrived. I can't tell whether it's clouds, smoke, ash, or something else, and I don't particularly care, because my impatience snaps right back into place.