Defending No Where (The No Where Apocalypse Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

helped.
    “Lettie says we need to turn that dirt again in the garden,” Violet said to me, pointing just short of the road. “Since Daisy helped you last week, I figured I’d give her a break and help out today.”
    I grabbed the shovels while Violet and Libby played a quick game of tag. Standing in the spayed dirt, I watched Violet grab her shovel and start to turn in the far corner. Libby mimicked her with a stick.
    “Can I ask you a question?” I asked, thinking she might turn when I spoke, but she didn’t. “Violet, can I ask you a question?”
    She spun and scowled at me. “No, I won’t miss her, or either of them,” she spewed. “My mother told me she hated me when she found out I was pregnant. She turned Nate against me too. If Daisy hadn’t shown up, I don’t know how I’d still be alive.” She went back to her shoveling. “So quit being so damn nosey and sentimental and dig. I don’t want to be out here all day.”
    Chuckling to myself, I put my back into the work. So much for Daisy and her wild theories.

Day 1,012

    The two-day rain finally abated with a warm, late spring morning. It was a good thing the skies turned off the spigot. Lettie was all over me about planting, something I knew absolutely nothing about.
    We spent the morning and well into the afternoon in the garden, “we” being Violet, Daisy and I. The other “we’s”, Lettie and Libby, sat on an old lawn chair in the shade some 20 yards away. The old woman went between helping Libby with her spelling and barking orders at her manual labor crew.
    My lack of experience tripled when it came to my crew. Daisy knew less than I did about gardens, Violet a little more than that. If you can count picking beans and other vegetables for two years at Lettie’s, we all had some experience. I wanted to appoint Violet as foreperson, but Daisy warned me her mood was no better than it had been for the past few days sans mother.
    “I think the baby’s crying again,” Libby reported, strolling towards the cabin door. “I’ll get her and bring her out.”
    “No,” instantly shot from my lips. No way could a five-year-old handle a squirming infant in my mind.
    “Just be careful, sweetie,” Daisy called out, looking up at me with her hands placed solidly on her hips. “She can do it just fine.”
    I raised my hands in mock surrender with a smile. “Hey, if it’s okay with Violet, it’s fine with me. All I was saying—”
    “You know,” Violet snarled, removing her gloves and tossing them in the sandy dirt, “you’re about the only one who doesn’t pick the baby up, Bob.” Her glare intensified as she drew nearer. “You got something against babies?”
    Three sets of eyes zeroed in on me. For a moment, I felt like a condemned person.
    “It’s just with all you women here—”
    Violet stepped closer. “Oh, so babies are women’s work only?”
    Lettie was laughing, Daisy grinning. Thanks for the help ladies, I thought bitterly.
    “It’s not my child, Violet,” I answered, going back to planting golden sweet corn seeds.
    Now she stood above me, her shadow covering my sun. “You’re really an asshole, you know that, Bob?”
    I looked up at her. “I got things I gotta do, little girl. Adult things. You take care of your child and I’ll take care of the more dangerous stuff.”
    I noticed Daisy next to her, stroking her arm.
    “Are you going to try and come back in one piece this time?” Violet vented. “Or are you going to do something stupid and get killed?”
    “Vi, that’s enough,” Daisy said in a soft but firm tone. “Leave it be.”
    She turned on her friend hastily. “You’ve never had to fix him up,” Violet ranted. “You’ve never seen the blood pouring out of his body. You’ve never been so scared in all your life that someone was gonna die right in front of you.”
    She glared down at me again, tears welling in her eyes. “You don’t need to do this, Bob,” Violet added. “You can wait for them.