cup and sat down at the table. He didn’t need to speak; his dark expression spoke for him.
“How did you sleep?” Ken finally asked, breaking the silence.
Doc scratched his beard and shook his head. “Not too good,” he said. “Damn, it’s cold in here. Have you checked the fire?”
Ken smiled. “Give it time. You should have been up an hour ago. That was cold.”
“Did someone forget to do their job last night?” Doc asked, looking directly at Jimmy.
Jimmy bristled at the accusation. Things had been strained between the two of them ever since Doc and Paula had become a couple. “I guess nobody thought of it,” he said. “There’s nothing to loading a woodstove. I’m sure I could teach you how to do it.”
“Oh, please,” grumbled Doc. “Give it a rest, Jimmy. We’ve got a serious situation here, and there just isn’t time right now for your petty jealousy.” He turned to Ken. “What the hell are we going to do? We can’t stay here forever.”
“We were just talking about that,” Ken said, glumly. “What’s your take on all of this? Do you think Dundlemore might have been making some of that shit up? That sounded pretty far-fetched. I don’t know if I trust the guy...”
“I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him,” Doc said. “He made a pass at Paula last night, and I want to bust him in the chops.”
“What a guy,” said Ken.
You’d better get used to it, Jimmy thought to himself wryly. “I don’t think he’s smart enough to have made all of that up. I think he actually believes what he said. Maybe things aren’t as bad as he made them out to be?”
“And maybe they’re worse,” Doc replied ominously.
Patty suddenly entered the kitchen and stared at the three men as if she had never seen them before. Jimmy felt as if the air had been sucked from his lungs as he caught sight of her. The look in her face was one of complete delirium and her mouth hung open in a silent scream.
“Patty!” exclaimed Ken.
“Let’s get her back to bed,” ordered Doc. “Jimmy, get out on the porch and grab my bag!”
Jimmy didn’t have to be asked twice and bolted past Patty without a word.
Jimmy stood on the deck and watched the large RV roll past the open gate as it crept across the gravel over to the lodge. Mark Dundlemore and his brood were over there, and Jimmy watched as they dropped what they were doing to welcome the newcomers. Ken and Doc were still attending to Patty, and Julie was washing clothes out back in the washtub. Cindy and Paula stepped outside to join him.
“Look at that thing,” said Cindy. “Wow, somebody has some serious money.”
Jimmy nodded. “Ameros,” he corrected. “Yeah, that’s one helluva rig.”
Paula said nothing as she stood with them. Jimmy avoided her as much as possible, but now that she and Doc had become an item, he found her to be slightly more tolerable. She was dressed in tight jeans and wore a low-cut blouse under a white sweater. Jimmy watched her as she stood on her tiptoes to get a view of the scene below.
“Do you know that guy?” he asked.
Paula turned and frowned. “Get serious, Jimmy. How the hell would I know who that is?”
“I don’t know, I was only asking.”
“There goes the neighborhood,” quipped Cindy. “I’m going inside to sit with my dad.”
Jimmy nodded as Cindy turned and went back inside the house. “How is Bill today?” he asked Paula, turning away from her. “I haven’t been in there yet.”
“He’s wiped out. Doc shot him full of morphine when he started complaining this morning. He’ll probably be out of it until dinnertime. Let’s take a walk down. I want to see the new people.”
Jimmy’s initial thought was no, but he didn’t see any harm in going down to meet the new arrivals. “Sure,” he said, drawing a surprised expression from Paula.
“You see,” she said, smiling at him for the first time in nearly a year. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
Jimmy shook his