4
On the gas camping stove, Colin had heated up the leftover chili he’d been planning to have for lunch tomorrow. The woman across the table was wolfing it down while it was still scalding hot as if she hadn’t eaten in a week.
“Don’t they feed you?”
“Only between fires. No time during a burn. You cook this?” She mumbled around a mouthful, halfway through the bowl.
“Yes, my chef is off this week.”
“It’s good,” she drank back a glass of water in a single gulp. “Really good.” She slowed down and began looking around the candlelit cabin. “I see the butler is off this week too.”
He looked around and grimaced. “I’m not generally this messy.” He was ten miles up a dead-end road and an hour-long hike on a steep trail past that. He hadn’t exactly prepared for visitors. And it wasn’t that bad.
