Hungry Independents (Book 2) (33 page)

“You told me the same thing when you started
making your homemade wine right after Greg died.”

“Yeah, well. I’m a big boy now. I can make my
own decisions.”

Jimmy stared at Samuel and Samuel stared
right back.

“Setting up a hydroponics system would be a
good option if we can figure out the electricity. Maybe we can find
some solar panels, wind turbines or something like that. We’ll
start with the greenhouse first.”

“I guess we should get to work.”

Jimmy scanned the crowded church of soon to
be hungry kids, but Ginger and his son were missing. Vanessa caught
his attention and pointed to a closed door. Jimmy nodded before
turning back to Samuel. “I think we can take the rest of the day
off. We’ll start early tomorrow.”

Samuel smiled. “Good luck.”

Panic rose in Jimmy’s chest. “Do I need
it?”

The smile dropped. “You were dead, dude. That
took some getting over. But she loves you. Go talk to her.”

Samuel’s pep talk didn’t help. Tension and
stress strung Jimmy’s nerves tighter than a banjo string. One pluck
and all the emotions he’d lost in death would play like a forgotten
tune.

Barbie suddenly snored so loud that the blue
and green stained glass window above her rattled. She opened her
bleary eyes and wiped the drool off the corner of her mouth.
“What?”

“Nothing,” Jimmy and Samuel said in
unison.

Barbie closed her eyes again.

Jimmy departed. Vanessa met him at the door
and held him up. “Let me go inside and tell her you’re here. She’s
still a little shook up.”

Jimmy waited by the door while Vanessa went
in to check if it would be okay for Ginger’s resurrected boyfriend
to visit. He leaned against the wall, trying to settle his shaky
limbs.

The crowd in the church headed toward the
exit. With the bad guy defeated, everyone appeared ready to get on
with surviving. Jimmy’s plans hinged on the reception he may or may
not receive.

Vanessa returned and left the entrance open.
“You can go on in. She’s ready.”

Jimmy hesitated.

Vanessa patted his arm. “It’s going to be
okay.”

Jimmy stepped inside the bright room and
found Ginger seated on a couch, holding their son. She was staring
into the baby’s round, sleeping face. He looked so peaceful that
Jimmy believed Independents now had two angels. Jimmy moved
silently toward the center of the room. He stood there waiting,
unable to come up with anything intelligent to say.

“I’ve missed you,” Ginger said, still not
looking at him.

“I’m sorry I ran out on you. I couldn’t let
my brother die. I never wanted to leave you.”

Ginger faced him, stopping Jimmy’s heart with
her beauty. “Don’t do it again.”

He spread his hands. “I won’t if I can
absolutely help it.”

“Come hold your son.”

Jimmy sat next to Ginger and took the
sleeping baby in his arms. Little James was wrapped in a fuzzy blue
blanket. He smelled like warm summer sunshine, and Jimmy kissed him
on the forehead.

Ginger placed her hand on his cheek and
kissed the other. It was hard to keep his tears from spilling over
her hand and lips, so Jimmy didn’t even try.

Long evening shadows filled the church when
Margaret finally awoke. Samuel sat next to her on the floor. They
were the only two there. She wiped sleep from her eyes and smiled
at him.

“Is everything okay?”

Samuel stretched in the grip of a giant yawn.
“You missed a whole day of excitement.”

Margaret sat up and joined him in a stretch.
Her thoughts were still hazy from exhaustion after healing Billy
and retuning his spirit. Catherine was nowhere around. She probably
recovered a lot quicker. From her past lives, Margaret knew her
body would adjust to the healing process with repetition.

“The fire burned down the food storage
building and everything inside that the Britts had managed to can
for the winter. If you’re hungry, we should probably get over to
Brittany’s before all the food is gone. Those Cozad kids are
starving.”

“Were any of the other buildings damaged from
the fire?”

“No, we got lucky there. I’m told that Barbie
brought down a monsoon. The fire didn’t have a chance.”

“I remember that. I was in the middle of
things with Billy. Is he okay?”

Samuel sat next to her. “He’s shook up about
Preston, but other than that he’s alive and back in control of
himself.”

Margaret folded her hands in her lap. She
hadn’t even thought about Preston and how that might affect Billy.
Even though she knew who she was now, she also remembered who Molly
had been to this community and how much she was helping kids deal
with life. Margaret would have to continue that mission, starting
with Billy.

“How are you doing?” Samuel asked.

Margaret tilted her head and gave the
question some proper reflection before answering.

Samuel must have gotten nervous.
“Margaret?”

“I’m okay.”

“Just okay?”

“Just okay. I have a lot to figure out and
haven’t really had the chance to do that. Now that everything is
over, for a while…”

They sat silently. Margaret knew she and
Samuel had been forming some type of closeness. She hadn’t realized
how close their relationship had become until now. She felt
comfortable in his presence. It was very unlike the tumultuous
feelings she had in Hunter’s presence earlier.

“Where is Hunter?”

The atmosphere around them changed as Samuel
shifted side to side. “He, or rather the angel, took that Famine
dude somewhere safe. That’s what Jimmy told me. I guess they flew
off west. They didn’t say when they’d be back.”

Margaret nodded, unsure of what to do next,
until her stomach rumbled. “Well, maybe we should go eat something.
You haven’t been here with me the whole time, have you? You must be
hungry.”

“I’m okay. Mark didn’t want you to be alone
when you woke up.”

“Mark likes to worry.”

“He and Jimmy have that in common.”

“What about you?”

Samuel turned his head and she looked into
his eyes. They were a soft brown with that mischievous sparkle he
now tried to hide without success.

“Were you worried about me?”

Samuel played it off with a laugh. “No, I
knew you’d be okay.”

Margaret stood and took his hand, pulling him
off the floor. “Let’s go eat. On the way you can try to convince me
that I’m okay.”

* * *

Dinner ended and Margaret escaped the crowd
to be alone in the still night air. The steady beat of wings
sounded in the distance and grew louder until she watched Hunter
settle smoothly on the ground. He fell to his knees, moaning in
pain as the wings on his back disappeared. When the process
finished, he was left lying there, panting.

Margaret stepped quickly to him. “Are you all
right?”

Pain registered in his eyes. “I think I’m
going to live.” He accepted her hand and stood on wobbly legs.
“That was a lot of flying.”

“Where did you go?”

“We flew all the way to the mountains and
dumped Tommy in a cave. Then Michael brought the entrance down. He
said it was best that way because if Tommy died, then that horseman
would just find somebody else. At least Tommy wanted what happened
to him.”

“How do you know that?”

Hunter shrugged. “I don’t. It’s just easier
to think that, I guess.”

Margaret made no move to hug Hunter like she
would have done by now if she was her old self. For some reason it
just didn’t feel right anymore. She loved Hunter, she just wasn’t
in love with Hunter. She couldn’t shake the feeling that their
relationship was about something else. These were the lies she’d
been telling herself through dinner in preparation for this
moment.

Hunter smiled at her, his white teeth
reflecting the moonlight. He had all his teeth again.

“What?” she asked him.

“If you thought a little louder I would
probably be able to hear you.”

“Hunter, I’m a different person.”

He nodded. “It’s okay. I am too. This has
been the craziest two days of my life. I flew to the mountains on a
pair of wings that grew out of my back.”

“That is pretty crazy,” Margaret said.
“Yesterday I found out that I’ve been alive for seventeen years
without knowing who I was before.”

“So when you say you’re a different person,
you really mean it?”

Margaret sighed. “I’m still Molly, but I’m
also a reincarnated saint who’s lived several different lifetimes
and has just woken up to discover that I haven’t been in
control.”

“And that’s bad?”

“No, it’s just different.”

This was not going exactly like she had
planned or thought she wanted. Everything confused her now, yet
everything had cleared like morning fog when the sunshine broke.
Only the sun had faded an hour ago and nighttime was going to be
here for a while. Margaret wanted to make the changes in the dark.
That way it might be less painful, she hoped.

“I saw the way you looked at her,” Margaret
said.

“Barbie? I don’t think that’s my fault. She
and the angel had a thing.”

“Yes, I knew about that. What do you mean
had?”

“She broke up with him before we left. I have
no idea why. He didn’t feel like talking about it on the trip. I
promise, Molly, I didn’t do anything with her.”

“My name’s Margaret now.”

He didn’t respond.

“I love you, Hunter.”

“But it’s different.”

“Yes.”

“Okay, I understand.”

“Do you?”

“I think I do,” he said. “Did you want the
apartment? It was yours.”

“No, you can keep it. I owe you since I
burned your house down. That way you and Scout can still be
neighbors.”

“Fantastic.”

Margaret wanted to leave. The Molly side of
her was already crying and Margaret didn’t know if she could keep
herself together much longer. She’d committed herself to go this
far. She couldn’t go back and do this to either of them again.

“I’m going to go talk to Jimmy.”

Margaret was glad for the change of topic, if
only to delay the upcoming heartache. She felt it before as Molly.
She recognized the warning signs: the shortness of breath, the
building of tears, and the terrible feeling of a definite
ending.

“You should. He seemed really happy at
dinner. They left early and went back to Ginger’s house.”

“What will you do?”

“I’ll go pack a few things from the
apartment. Then I’ll stay at Mark’s tonight until I get settled
somewhere.”

That did it. She had to go. She gripped his
arm as she passed and continued walking as the tears flowed down
her face. She became a full blown, sobbing mess by the time she
reached their apartment. Margaret closed the door behind her,
thankful that Hunter hadn’t followed.

After a while she reigned in her crying
enough to pack a small bag. She rinsed away the sadness from her
face and was preparing to leave when she spotted one other item and
grabbed it.

The walk to the edge of town was familiar. He
sat on the porch, staring into the darkness when she arrived. His
smile was hesitant but brightened as she approached. Margaret sat
next to Samuel on the steps and returned his shirt.

Nighttime felt strangely disturbed.
Exhaustion from the past two days caught up to Hunter like the gust
of wind that whipped through town and brushed its hot breath in his
face. He was alone again, the way he liked it.

He walked through the empty streets, past the
houses where candlelight flickered. Hunter knew the candles would
burn late tonight. It had been one of those days where some extra
light provided safety to those who were afraid of the dark. However
the dark wasn’t the only time that badness happened. The kids of
Independents found out that terrible things could walk right down
the middle of Main Street on a sunny day.

Hunter rolled his shoulder and worked his arm
in a circle. The ache returned, but now he knew why it was there
thanks to his angelic hitchhiker. Nothing like having an angel on
your shoulder. The pain served as a reminder to always try and be
good, and to balance out the bad. That’s what the angel had told
him on their long flight to the mountains and back. Funny, Hunter
never would have guessed that an angel would have a sense of
humor.

He stopped on the street when he reached
Ginger’s house. Jimmy was inside with his family—probably
happy.

Hunter thought about Molly and experienced
another type of ache. She had become his family, or at least the
hope for the future. Now that was gone, again.

Hunter let her go. He had too. He knew things
had changed between them. They’d changed, and it was better this
way. End it quick and move on.

He stepped halfway up the walkway and
stopped. He couldn’t see his brother just yet. Too much stuff
roiled inside of him. Let Jimmy enjoy his homecoming.

The front door opened and light from a
lantern inside flooded into the yard, washing over Hunter. Jimmy
filled the frame. He closed the door, which swallowed the light and
left them in the dark together.

Jimmy’s tall, lean body looked unscathed for
having been underground in a wooden box. He worked fresh creases
into the bill of his baseball cap before slapping it on.

“Hey, Jimmy.”

Jimmy almost jumped out of his boots.
“Hunter! Are you trying to kill me?”

Hunter didn’t know how to answer that. A
streak of guilt wormed inside his guts. “I never meant to kill
you.”

Jimmy left the porch. He stopped a couple of
feet short and stuck his hands inside his jean pockets. “I didn’t
mean it like that. And you didn’t kill me. Everything that happened
back in Denver happened for a reason.”