Chapter 163: She Came for Supplies, Not Twenty-Three Boyfriends

Nolan kept everyone back until the dust settled. The open yard ran beside the broken walkway, giving them a route to the service building without passing under the roof that had just dropped. Nolan pointed it out before leading them inside the occupied hotel wing to inspect the carriers already there.

Dove appreciated a man who explained where the ground went before walking away and expecting everybody to follow. Their pickup stayed in the service parking area, with the cart beside it and the entrance visible from the truck.

Inside, the reception desk faced the main doors. A staircase rose along the right wall, and a central hall led past closed guest rooms toward a dining room overlooking the lake. The occupied areas had been cleaned. Towels hung over a rail near the side exit, and the smell of cooking meat came from the kitchen rather than anything unpleasant lurking in the carpet.

Men stopped talking as she entered. One held a cup halfway to his mouth until another nudged him. A third looked straight at Thorne, apparently trying to understand how somebody had arrived with a woman like Dove and still remembered to carry a bag.

"You can breathe," she told the room. "I haven’t charged for that yet."

The laughter loosened things a little. Thorne’s hand found hers, and Edrik moved beside her with the calm attention that made men remember they had other places to look.

Nolan introduced the deer cook without turning every person in the hotel into a name Dove would have to remember before lunch. The cook offered generous plates of meat, potatoes, vegetables, and bread. He placed a small bowl of preserved cherries beside hers with a care that made the intention clear.

"Thank you," she said. "For the food. I’m here to trade, though, not look for another husband."

He glanced at Thorne and Edrik, then nodded. "Understood. You can still have the cherries."

Dove smiled at him properly. Refusal going well deserved to be noticed too.

Thorne shifted his chair so she could eat with her back toward the busiest doorway. Edrik took the empty serving bowl to the nearby kitchen doorway and brought it back filled before another man could hover over her plate. Neither asked her to hide because people found her attractive. They simply made it easier to enjoy lunch.

She ate a cherry and tried not to look as pleased as she felt. It tasted like something she might have bought before all of this, when wanting fruit did not involve a map, a gate, and a discussion about rifles.

Thorne noticed. He pushed the bowl closer without saying anything, and she rested her knee against his beneath the table.

After lunch, Dove examined the carriers in the dining room. Two had sound liners and lids, one needed a metal clasp checked, and another had a crack she could see without becoming an expert. She marked the good ones with Nolan’s permission and kept their ownership clear.

The cook showed her which lid always caught on one corner, then let her try it herself. Dove appreciated being allowed to test the inconvenient part. Selling something honestly was much easier when somebody admitted what made it annoying. Looking did not mean buying.

Sprout recorded her notes when she asked. It could help compare the sizes she entered with Iris’s order, but it could not inspect a hidden lining or promise that a repaired latch would survive a loaded trip. Dove tested the actual lids and asked the cook what problems they had experienced.

Outside, the refrigerated trailer stood beyond the kitchen loading area, larger and less charming than it had looked in the photograph. Its tires were low, one vent cover was missing, and Nolan had no recent test to prove it ran.

Dove walked around it once, imagining the work rather than just the cold fruit. Then she stepped back.

"I hate being mature," she told Thorne. "It keeps costing me exciting junk."

"We can leave it here and still ask about it later."

"That’s a suspiciously good answer."

Edrik put a hand lightly at her waist. "Do you want me to insult it?"

"No. It hasn’t done anything wrong besides being enormous and expensive. I married that twice."

Both men laughed, and she enjoyed the brief warmth of having said it without thinking. Married. Hers, because they had all chosen it, not because a system had assigned her people and expected gratitude.

She asked to see smaller equipment and guest-room supplies instead. Nolan led them along the open yard route to the service building, leaving the damaged walkway well to their left. The door had jammed, but a low side window opened into the clear storage room.

He checked the wall and floor before Thorne pressed his palm to the bent metal window frame and straightened it enough to open. Edrik held a metal step steady while reinforcing it in contact, then released only after the ordinary support sat sound on the paving. Dove waited outside until Nolan had inspected the inside approach.

Nolan and Thorne stayed inside, Edrik took each load through the window, and Dove checked it on the yard table. Nobody needed to climb over boxes to reach the exit. Thorne moved the shelf blocking the last carriers, then brought them to the window. Some linens smelled musty and went aside. Sealed supplies stayed separate from damaged boxes.

She found two more sound carriers and asked Nolan to check the liners with her. Four usable boxes would fulfill the order, but only if he accepted the trade. She did not want to spend the return journey explaining why confidence was not a substitute for a good seal.

A knock came from inside one larger carrier when Thorne moved it. He stopped and opened the lid before carrying it farther.

Inside sat a compact cooling unit, packed for storage with a folded repair tag taped to its side. Smaller than the trailer, larger than Dove’s little chest, and light enough that moving it did not require adopting a towing problem.

Nolan took the tag and read it. "They were waiting on a fan replacement. I might have one that fits."

Dove looked at Thorne, who was already watching her face.

"Don’t say anything," she warned. "I was sensible about the large one. I’m allowed to have feelings about this."