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KATE
“What are you doing?”
Two days after our return to Creekside, I stand in the doorway to my dorm room watching Ben wrestle a second bed into the tiny space.
He grunts, kicking aside a pair of shoes that are in his way. “What does it look like I’m doing?”
“It looks like you’re moving a second bed into a room only designed to hold one bed.”
He raises an eyebrow at me. “Is that what it looks like? I thought it looked like I’m moving in with you.”
I lean against the doorframe, refusing to help him. The leg of the second bed gets stuck in a pile of dirty clothes I left on the floor. Ben scowls in my direction as he levers the pile to one side with his foot.
“You’re going to have to learn how to use a laundry basket.” He opens the closet, glowering as he comes face to face with the previous owner’s clothing. “And we’re getting rid of this guy’s clothes. The only man’s clothes that are going to be in this room will be mine.”
I fold my arms over my chest. “Is that so?”
“Yes.”
I suppress a smile. This playful side of Ben has been coming out more and more lately. I like it that he lets his guard down enough to banter with me. Caleb said it had something to do with him getting laid, but I pretended not to hear that.
“Were you going to ask me about any of this before you decided to move in?” I ask.
“I thought about it.” He gives the bed a shove, grunting in satisfaction as it slides into place.
“You thought about it and ... what? Decided not to bother asking?”
He slides around the bed and comes to stand in front of me. My blood heats as he looks down at me. He presses me up against the doorframe and kisses me until my knees are weak.
“I decided I was moving in regardless of what you said.”
I huff as he breaks away. He turns around to tackle the closet, yanking out armloads of things that belonged to the previous occupant.
“I told you I wasn’t dropping this thing between us.” He flings out baggy jeans and T-shirts with pithy slogans on them. “This is me not dropping it.”
I decide to quit pretending that I’m mad. I like that he’s making space for himself in my life. Even if that leaves us a mere eleven inches between the bed and the closet. Walkways are overrated anyway.
“Hey, Ben.”
“What?”
“I’d take a bullet for you.”
He extracts his head from the closet. His eyes crinkle around the edges as he gazes at me. “I’d take a bullet for you, too. Any day of the week, Kate. Don’t ever forget it.”
He returns to his task of emptying the closet.
“I’m still throwing my dirty clothes on the floor,” I tell him, just to see what his reaction will be.
“You think so?” Three pairs of dirty sneakers are ejected out of the closet.
They land by my feet. Damn, they smell awful. Maybe that’s part of the reason this room always had a rancid scent. And here I thought it had been me and my stinky running clothes.
“Yep.” I kick the rank shoes out in the hallway one at a time. I suppose I should have cleaned out this closet months ago. If not for Ben, the room wouldn’t look as good as it does. He covered every inch of wall and ceiling with pictures of nature for my birthday a while back.
When I straighten up, Ben is standing in front of me. “I’m the only one who will be throwing your dirty clothes on the floor.”
I squawk when he scoops me up and kicks the door closed. He tosses me onto the bed and lowers himself on top of me. I melt into him as he kisses me. One hand slips under my shirt to grip my waist. I unfasten the top button of his fatigue shirt, ready to do my part in adding dirty clothes to the floor.
“Dude, I could have gone my whole life without seeing that,” says a voice.
Ben and I jump apart like two kids caught making out in the janitor’s closet.
“What the fuck?” Ben yanks at his fatigues, fingers automatically flying to the top button.
Caleb stands in the doorway, thumbs hooked in the pockets of his pants. He raises amused eyebrows at us. “You guys really have to get into the habit of shutting the door. No one wants to see old people going at it.”
“Who are you calling old?” I ask.
“The door was shut,” Ben growls.
“The door was definitely not shut,” Caleb replies. “It was mostly shut. I wouldn’t have been stupid enough to open it without knocking if it had been completely shut.”
“What do you want, Caleb?” My voice might be a tad squeaky.
He grins at me. “Gary sent me to get you guys. The welcome-home dinner is ready. For what it’s worth, I may have kept walking if Gary hadn’t spent the last six hours preparing the meal. It’s not legal to miss out on food someone worked so hard to prepare.” He saunters away, leaving me and Ben to collect ourselves.
“The door was shut,” Ben snarls. “That little fucker just wanted to fuck with us.”
I kiss his cheek before climbing off the bed. “Come on. There’s a feast waiting for us.” I pause, looking down at him. “I’m glad you moved in. I like having you here.”
His eyes soften. He takes my hand and kisses my knuckles. Hand in hand, we head into the main common room.
In the days we’ve been gone, a lot has changed. Carter got it into his head that we needed to “open up” the main dorm suite. He enlisted Margie, the kids, and Christian to help knock out the walls to the bedrooms. The result is jagged sheetrock and exposed beams, but the suite actually feels like an open common room now. Christian and Carter even brought in more tables and sofas from other rooms. For the first time, there’s a seat for everyone.
“About time, lovebirds,” Jenna says as we enter the room. “Gary, can we eat now?”
“Hold up.” Gary waves a spatula to ward off Kristy and Evan. The two kids dart back and forth, eyeing the four casserole dishes sitting on the counter.
“I just want to say a few words before we dig in.” Gary has graduated from his wheelchair to a walker. His leg will never completely heal from the shark attack, but it’s good to see him mobile. “First off, Kate, congratulations on a successful mission to Fort Ross. From everything I’ve heard, you guys did a hell of a job crashing Rosario’s party.” He salutes me with his spatula. “May we all have semi-trucks and zombie armies at our backs when things go south.”
Chuckles run around the room. I laugh and return Gary’s mock salute.
“Let’s take a moment and acknowledge those of us who didn’t make it back from the mission to Fort Ross,” Gary continues. “Eric and Leo, we salute you, brothers. You will be remembered.”
Gary picks up two rocks from the kitchen table. They’ve been brightly painted with flowers. The names Leo and Eric adorn each of the rocks. Without a doubt, they are Jenna’s handiwork.
“Will you do the honors?” Gary holds the rocks out in my direction.
I place them on the shrine erected by Jesus that still sits in the common room. It’s a plastic tub spray painted red. Inside is Jesus’s St. Roch medallion and a vase with plastic flowers. Though the shrine was built to honor St. Roch, it’s become a way for us to remember the family members we lost. Eric and Leo’s rocks now sit next to the ones made for Lila and Jesus.
I face my Creekside family, recalling Alvarez’s words at the burial. “We’ll honor their sacrifices and their memories by living our lives to the fullest. They died in the name of friends and family. We’ll never forget them.”
Murmurs of agreements run around the room.
I bow my head. Leo. And Eric. I’ll carry both of them with me. Always.
And Reed. I can only hope he’ll come back to Creekside someday.
“Okay.” Gary bangs his spatula on the countertop. “Let’s eat!”
I step aside as people bustle into line, eager to dig into Gary’s casseroles.
I take in our small community. Laughter and happy chatter washes over me. The kids zip around the room, playing tag while adults shout for them to slow down.
So many are missing from Creekside. Jesus. Lila. Eric. Reed. Of the original Creekside crew, it’s just me, Jenna, Carter, and Johnny.
But since those early days, we’ve added new family members. There’s Ash, Caleb, Ben, Susan, and Gary. There are those from Leo’s group, too: Todd, Christian, Margie, Stacy, and the kids, Kristy and Evan. And our newest addition, Bella from Fort Ross.
I don’t know what the future holds for us. Creekside might get new family members. We may lose others. All I know for sure is that I plan to enjoy this moment.
Right here, right now.