Chapter 154: She Wasn’t Leaving Without Her Cold Drinks

Dove made herself ask what was wrong with the cooling chest before touching it. That counted as growth. A month ago, she might have been halfway through naming it before remembering that broken things could remain broken.

The otter set it on the workbench inside the open bay. The resident group had left with the base crew, leaving only the mechanics and Dove’s household in the rear lot. Their pickup waited on the same clear pavement, pointed toward the road.

"Customer said it wouldn’t start," he explained. "It was returned before the freeze. Could be the lead, could be worse."

"If I buy one from my private menu, does it still need power?" Dove asked Sprout privately.

"An electric cooling appliance requires a suitable power supply. Your current offers do not include a self-powered alternative."

"Of course they don’t. That would be convenient."

Thorne heard her mutter and came to look inside the chest. It was large enough for drinks and a few food containers, not the whole restaurant menu she briefly imagined stuffing into it. She explained what Sprout had said and asked the mechanic how much power it needed.

He checked the label, showed her the damaged plug, and fetched a sound lead. Edrik watched the test without pretending his ability could mend wiring. Reinforcing a metal case would not make electricity politely go where it belonged.

The chest hummed when connected. Dove resisted celebrating until the mechanic checked it again after several minutes. He explained how much space to leave around the vents and how it would warm once unplugged. She wrote the details down, then pointed to the vents. "So this stays clear even if I find something else I want to cram into the truck."

"No stuffing blankets around it to keep the cold in," he added.

"I hate that you looked at me when you said that."

"I’ve met customers before."

She looked at the chest again. A cold drink after a long day should not have felt like such a ridiculous luxury, but she could picture sitting on their bed with one, not having to finish it before it became sad, warm juice.

Thorne touched her hand. "You really want it."

"I want to put my face in it, but apparently that would interfere with the vents."

He laughed, and she leaned against his arm. His body was far too warm for the weather, which she told him before adding that she still wanted him nearby. He seemed pleased by the inconvenience.

The trade took longer than the test. The mechanic wanted cooling towels and groceries, while Dove wanted the chest, the correct lead, and an honest explanation of what he could not guarantee. They settled on owned trade goods and two of today’s eight towel packs. She counted the towel sales properly; ordinary barter did not become a second system reward because she liked the result.

Edrik carried the chest to the pickup while Thorne helped the crow clear a metal drawer that had been crushed under a light shelf. This time the men talked through the work before starting. Thorne made short adjustments instead of trying to straighten the whole frame in one effort. Edrik held the narrow section under strain until the crow fitted an ordinary support.

Dove watched their hands and asked whether the smaller movements felt different.

"Less effort wasted," Thorne said, checking the drawer’s travel.

Edrik nodded. "And less time holding it while someone decides what comes next."

She remembered the manuals and told Sprout to keep both offers marked. She wanted her men frighteningly capable, but she preferred them capable enough to come home with energy left to enjoy being there.

The crow demonstrated the drawer opening after Edrik released it. No permanent magic held it together. Thorne had reshaped the existing parts, and the brace carried the load the way a brace was supposed to.

Dove bought two sound carrying bins, collected the agreed surplus cloths, and asked permission to search a dry shelf near the rear exit. She found sealed fuses and a packet of cable ties, checked them with the mechanic, then stored the small items by touch.

A sharp crack interrupted the otter mid-sentence. Dust fell from the office ceiling beyond the bay, followed by the ugly scrape of something shifting overhead.

"Outside," he said, already moving.

Dove went. She grabbed the lunch bag beside her, left the shelf alone, and followed Edrik into the lot. Thorne came behind the mechanics. Nobody stopped to rescue an extra packet of cable ties from a building that had started objecting.

Once they stood beside the pickup, she counted faces before checking their load. Five people outside. The cooling chest secured. Tools recovered. Her hands shook a little as she folded the lunch bag closed. They were all outside, but she could still hear the ceiling moving.

Edrik put his palm against the back of her neck. "You moved when he said. That’s what mattered."

She nodded, then pressed her face briefly against his shirt. He let her have the moment without turning it into proof that she should never leave a safe room.

The mechanics would return with a proper assessment crew. Dove was not going back inside, and neither husband suggested it. They said goodbye, checked their straps, and drove home along the same road.

At the gas station, they searched the remaining dry shelf while their earlier cloth box stayed secured in the pickup. Dove kept an intact funnel and a sealed sponge pack, then stopped because the useful search was finished, not because a mission had told her to.

The cooling chest reached their shop before late afternoon. They tested it during the temporary power window the crew had restored, left its vents clear, and put drinks inside only once it cooled.

Dove was still admiring the first bottle when the restaurant owner appeared at the front door. His outdoor meal orders had increased, and he needed clean bins for carrying wrapped food.

She looked from him to the bins beside her counter. Then she looked at the lunch menu in his hand.

"How many dinners are we talking?" she asked, already moving the bins where he could see them.