127 A New Normal

127 A New Normal

I stashed my new clothes from my inventory inside the refrigerator and the batteries and extension cords were inside the stove, so only the stove was unstrapped and raided for the batteries. At least they thanked me for them before rushing off.

“Thanks for helping me put them in the van!” I shouted and a few laughs answered me.

“You can just load them from the bucket right into the back if you turn the van around.” Amy said. She had several packs of batteries stuffed into her own pockets and looked completely unrepentant.

My brain kind of stalled and I stood there staring at her, making her blush slightly.

“I think you need folding steps or something, too.” Andrea said and we both jerked slightly, because we both had missed her approaching us. She rolled her eyes at us. “Everyone's showered already, even the guy now on watch, so no one's going to bother you until tomorrow or the next day.”

“Really?” I asked, a little surprised.

“No one wants to waste the water or overheat the heater.” Andrea said and slipped two of Amy's battery packs from her pocket and stuffed them into her own. “I need them for... the camp light.”

Amy blushed and looked away, so I understood immediately that it was for personal reasons and not for the camp light. That made me rethink exactly why the others rushed off so quickly.

“I just came back over to thank you for setting the hot shower up so fast...” Andrea said and then looked a little embarrassed. “...and for letting me go first. I haven't felt so clean in... in months.”

Amy stepped between her sister and myself. “Me, either. It felt great, didn't it?”

Andrea didn't try to lean around her sister to look at me, even though the three of us knew she wanted to. “Dale and Shane came up with a schedule for use and set hours, so it won't inconvenience you.” She said instead of what I thought she was going to say. She pulled out a folded piece of crumpled paper from her pocket and handed it to Amy and not to me. “The watch schedule is on there, too.”

“Thanks, sis.” Amy said and put it into her own pocket.

“You're welcome.” Andrea said and stepped close to give her a hug, her head was over Amy's shoulder and her eyes locked onto mine. “You're very lucky, you know.”

“I know.” Amy said and hugged her back.

I nodded without speaking, getting her unspoken message that she would have made a move on me to have me for herself. Andrea let her go and stepped back, smiled at us, and walked back over to her tent.

“Well, that was awkward.” Amy whispered and turned around to look at me.

I stepped forward and gave her a tender kiss. “Thank you for protecting me.”

Amy smiled crookedly. “You're not disappointed that you can't be with a pair of sisters?”

I thought back to my adventures and was surprised that I hadn't been. “Actually, I'm not. It's never come up before and I doubted it ever would... and here we are, you defending your claimed territory from all threats, implied or otherwise.”

Amy softly laughed. “You've read too many fairy tales to think a line like that ever works.”

I put my arms around her and gave her another tender kiss, this one a little longer and still respectable to do in public. “I need a nice long shower after all the work I've done today.”

Amy held me and didn't let me go. “Is that an invitation, Mister Grimes?” She asked, her hands caressing my back. They didn't go down lower, despite seeing in her eyes that she wanted them to.

“We can unload the appliances and my new clothes tomorrow.” I said and let her go, took her hand, and helped her up into the back of the moving van. I climbed in as well and then closed and locked it, the small camping lights already on, probably because the air was a little damp and someone had a shower not that long ago.

Amy didn't bother waiting for me as she quickly stripped off and tossed her clothes on the floor beside the bed and had an eager look on her face. I had to smile at her almost vibrating in anticipation and tossed my equipment belt aside and dropped my shorts. Her eyes dropped as well and softly moaned at seeing me already erect for her. She stepped close and slid her hands around it.

“I'm really starting to love this thing.” Amy muttered under her breath and stroked me a few times. She paused for a moment and looked up at my face. “Rick, I... I'm not... I don't usually...”Điscover new chapters at novelhall.com

I put a finger on her lips. “I'm your claimed territory, remember? I didn't protest or refute that.”

Amy's expectations of some fun in the shower were fully met and then exceeded as Rick took her against the wall, then he washed her all over, and took her again from behind as she leaned under the shower's spray.

“So... sexy.” Rick whispered as he kissed the back of her neck.

Amy blushed and helped as much as she could by pushing her hips backwards to meet Rick's thrusts. She really had fallen for the man... the older and quite experienced man... and she opened her mouth and let out the moans she had been trying to conceal. She decided that she didn't care if people knew, because she loved him and that was that.

*

I wore Amy's borrowed shorts again as I watched a very happy woman sexily walk towards the group campfire site with a pile of MREs for breakfast. I couldn't help but agree with what she said after the shower, because I was falling hard for her as well. It wasn't very often that you meet someone that you just clicked with, like you have always been together, and were comfortable with each other. I didn't try to fight the feeling, either.

I waited for her to start passing out the food before I went to the tractor and backed it up and out of the way. I then had to turn the moving van around and faced the back away from the camp, since that was the easiest way to get the front wide bucket of the tractor up to the same level as the door. It also pretty much hid me from view.

I still did the careful prep needed and drove the tractor slowly to the back of the moving van. The back opening was more than large enough, both in width and height, for me to set the edge of the bucket right on the floor. With it in place and no one able to see, I used my inventory to store the stove and refrigerator.

I next stored the supplies in the kitchenette and put the stove and refrigerator in the right places, then I started adding the metal shelving to use as makeshift cupboards. I added some to the other side of the moving van as well to put the miscellaneous supplies on, which I did. It didn't cut down on the available floor space because it was on the walls.

Of course, I had to fix the facade that the small countertop was, since there was nothing underneath it. I used bits of wood and transfigured them into doors, drawers, and shelves to add and filled up the space, giving me more storage space that was out of view. No one would know exactly how much actual storage was down there and I could cheat by using my inventory to find more things. I still filled it with dry goods and made two tall bar stools for in front of the counter.

I did have to make a few holes in the bathroom wall to gain access to the electrical panel and added the appropriate wires and connections to hook up both the refrigerator to the electricity and the stove to the electricity and the propane tank. It also gave the moving van another source of heat, because the propane burners could double as heaters with the flames set on low. I didn't need to do that except for appearances, though. Warming charms were great!

Since I was cheating with magic anyway, I tried to add expansion runes at the corners with added strips of metal, only for it to fail. My level in the Enchanting skill wasn't high enough, apparently. Dammit. I stripped the metal pieces out again and thought about transfiguring them into something else, then chuckled. I remembered Andrea's suggestion about needing to make steps and I had lots of metal shelving left.

The strips became four folded thicker pieces with holes, just like the metal shelving, and I used small bolts to screw each of the four pieces to the fronts and backs of three metal shelves. A slight transfiguration of the center of the bolts later to make them smooth, the steps could be slid up or down and folded together to become flat.

I hopped out the back and moved the tractor out of the way, then went back to bolt the flat piece of metal to right above the bumper. It was kind of in the way while up and that was okay, since it would only be up while driving. I pulled on it and it fell towards me, swung down, and unfolded to become three steps that could easily be walked up to get inside.

“That's really handy.” Dale said and I turned to look at him.

“It's technically still just metal shelving, just offset to make them angled out and with smoothed bolts holding it together.” I said and showed him how easily they folded back up to lock into place and then I let them drop down again. “It'll let people enter and leave a lot easier, anyway.”

Dale nodded and turned around to look at the camp. “I heard some of the others talking about what you're planning.”

I turned to look at the people eating. The smiles on their faces made me feel good about things. “Do you have any advice or suggestions?”

Dale gave me a surprised look and I barked a laugh.

“Hey, I'm not in charge here. I'm here to help, that's all.” I said and Dale smiled.

“Then yes, I have a few ideas.” Dale said and his smile changed to a smirk. “Like a proper latrine for more frequent late night users.”

I laughed. “An extra potty for the night owls needing more than a pee? I'll handle it.” I promised. “I'll even put it near the usual spot where I was shown the other night. Anything else?”

“A few things.” Dale said and turned to look at the tractor. “Can you handle everything on that?”

“I can.” I said and motioned for him to follow me up into the moving van. “Let's sit down at the counter and work out what the camp needs over what I think it needs.”

Dale grinned and followed me inside and whistled at the nearly finished interior. “Geez, you do fast work.”

“I was highly motivated.” I said and wagged my eyebrows, making the older man laugh.

“I understand, Rick. I completely understand.” Dale said, knowing I did it to impress Amy. We sat down on the two bar stools and started talking.