Seeking Eden Read online

  With the door open, the garage filled with light. Tobin stepped inside, Elanna right behind him. Dust motes danced in the sunshine. She sneezed.

  “Phew,” she said, waving her hand in front of her face. “Nobody’s been in here for a really long time.”

  Tobin moved alongside the car, reaching out to touch it. His hands were shaking. It seemed unreal. He’d hoped they might find some bicycles somewhere, but he’d never dreamed about finding a car. Though he’d passed dozens of them on his way to the city, it hadn’t occurred to him that the people who’d owned this house might have had one.

  The vehicle was small, much smaller than the gatherer’s trucks. Its rounded roof and hood made it seem vaguely insectile. It had a door on each side and a small trunk. Dust coated the windows, obscuring the interior. It was probably destroyed inside, he thought, not daring to hope for more. They could sit on bare metal if they had to. More important was if the engine still worked.

  “It probably won’t run,” he said, not wanting to raise her hopes. Or his.

  Elanna blew out an exasperated gust of air. “You never know until you try.”

  “You always look for the best, don’t you?”

  A shadow crossed her face as she leaned forward to kiss him lightly. “Toby, there’s really nothing else to look for.”

  “You know I have no idea how to work this. Or to drive it.”

  “I know,” she said, and kissed him again.

  The kiss grew deeper. When he found himself pushing her up against the car, he pulled away. Elanna didn’t protest, but her eyes flickered with disappointment.

  “Let’s look under the hood,” he said.

  It took him several minutes to figure out how to release the catch. Once he triggered it, the hood popped up so suddenly it whacked him in the face. Bright pain flared and he stumbled back, muttering curses.

  “Are you all right?” Elanna asked, her voice concerned. She sighed when he nodded, holding his nose. He moved his hand so she could look at the injury. “Let me see. Not even bleeding. Be more careful, honey.”

  His heart thudded at the endearment. The pain in his nose and cheek faded as he watched her poke around underneath the hood. She called him “honey.” He felt the goofy grin spreading across his face and didn’t even try to stop it.

  “Here’s the battery,” Elanna said, pointing. “It doesn’t look too good.”

  The battery cables were green and crusted. Tobin found a rag on one of the shelves along the wall and cleaned away the crud from the terminals, but it was clear that this battery was dead. All the fluid had leaked out through a huge crack in the casing.

  He shrugged away his disappointment. “It was a good try, anyway.”

  Elanna wasn’t satisfied. “There have to be more batteries.”

  “Think so?” He sounded more skeptical than he’d intended.

  She looked at him strangely. “Well, yeah. If these people had a car, they’d certainly have extra batteries to run it. Something like a car takes a lot of juice. Even to go on a short trip would use up a lot of power. I’m sure they have extras here somewhere, and if they haven’t been activated yet they’ll still work.”

  He stared at her. She was right, of course. He might have thought of it, but then again, probably not. She knew a lot more about batteries and things than he did. “You’re so smart.”

  She seemed surprised. “Me? No.”

  He gestured around the garage. “Yes, you. You’re right. I bet they do have more batteries. You thought of it, not me.”

  “Nobody ever called me smart before,” Elanna said. “I’ve had a lot of compliments, but not about that.”

  He went to her and took her hands. He wanted to kiss away the calluses that had sprouted there, when once her hands had been smooth and fine. “Well, I’m saying it now.”

  She hugged him, hard. “Thank you, Toby.”

  They stayed that way for a while. He knew they should get moving, but for now just holding her and smelling her hair was enough. Her head came to just under his chin and she fit perfectly into the circle of his arms.

  “Should we look?” she said finally, tilting her face to look at him. “We’ll need time to pack before we go.”

  The garage was dirty with age, but well-organized. It only took a few minutes to find the boxes labeled “car batteries.” Elanna let out a squeal of delight when he pulled them off the shelf. They tore open the brittle cardboard and found two rows of five batteries each. Those, along with the other, half-filled box, made fifteen batteries all together.

  “I don’t know how far they’ll get us,” Tobin said. “But it’s better than walking!”

  Elanna whooped, doing a little dance that stirred up the dust until they both began sneezing like maniacs. Laughing, they fled the dirty garage to the sunshine outside, holding hands. Her kisses were so sweet, Tobin thought as she gave him one and then sneezed, still laughing. Dirt had smudged her cheeks.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he told her, and meant it.

  “Beautiful, smart,” she said with a low curtsey. “Aren’t you lucky to have found me?”

  “Modest, too,” Tobin said, teasing her. She swatted at him, and he caught her hand. “Yes, Elanna. I’d say I’m lucky.”

  “Me too,” she said, becoming serious. “Thanks for taking me away, Tobin. Thank you for being my friend.”

  He couldn’t find the words to say what she made him feel. He didn’t have enough experience talking. He’d spent too much time alone. He struggled, trying to force his mouth and tongue to shape the words he knew would come, if only he tried hard enough.

  She watched his silence for a moment, disappointment flickering in her lovely gray eyes. “I’ll go inside and start gathering some things to take.”

  He watched her go, his stomach sinking. She’d called him a friend. Was that all she was to him? He was an imbecile. The library in Eastport had an entire section of books with muscled, bare-chested men and half-naked women with flowing hair on the covers. People in those books fought a lot, and they pretended they didn’t love each other when they really did, but they never were just “friends.”

  “I’ll work on the car!” he called after her. Fists clenched, he knew his words meant nothing. They were too late. And not right.

  She disappeared into the house. He wanted to run after her, take her to the bedroom, and…and what? Jeopardize the baby she carried just to ease his own lust? Tobin slammed his fist into his thigh. With nothing else to do, he went into the garage to try and figure how to start the car.

  -*-

  By midafternoon, Tobin had figured out how to start the car, and Elanna had finished packing up them. Boxes and bags and suitcases bulging with items littered the front lawn, waiting to be shoved into the trunk and back seat.

  “Did you leave anything here at all?” Tobin asked her, drinking some of the water she’d poured for him.

  He looked good sweaty, she thought as she answered. “Not much.”

  He cast a skeptical eye at the piles she’d made. “Do you think we can fit all this in the car with us?”

  “All we can do is try. It would be silly to leave it behind. We don’t know if we’ll find more. I packed clothes, food, some utensils and pots and pans. Some jugs of water from the cistern. Candles and matches, and I hope they still light because the lantern batteries won’t last forever. Blankets and pillows, because I’m not sleeping on the hard ground without them.”

  Now his skepticism turned to admiration. “You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?”

  “I tried.” She thought of all the things still in drawers and closets and cabinets. She didn’t want to leave any of it behind. They represented a wealth she’d never really known, despite the Tribe’s storerooms. Practically, though, she knew their space was limited. Not all of it could come with them.

  She didn’t tell him what she’d found in the back hall closet, though she’d already tucked a box full of her discoveries in the car. She thought of the