Isolation , Jones, Nathan [top 20 books to read TXT] 📗

exaggerating. She wanted Ellie to go through everything from the beginning to that last fight. Then she asked an exhaustive barrage of followup questions to clarify every single detail.

Before long Ellie came to the glum realization that she wasn't going to get a chance to spend time with Hal before Stanberry's party, and would probably be late for that, too. In spite of her best efforts to remain professional, her replies became more terse as she tried to rush the interview along.

At long last Gorstrom was satisfied. She nodded and stood, offering her hand. “Thank you, Mrs. Westmont. You were able to provide far more details than your counterparts in the town or camp.”

Something in her tone put Ellie on edge as she returned the handshake.

What did that mean? Had Borden and Johnny and the others been more closemouthed, maybe worried they might get in trouble for something they'd done during the war with Jay? Surely they wouldn't have tried to lie to Gorstrom about what had happened, would they?

Suddenly uncomfortable, Ellie wondered if she should've been more judicious in her own answers. She hadn't even considered the possibility until now, since what was the need?

Surely Gorstrom wouldn't be looking to pin blame for the war. It was in the past, and the entire country had been through so much. Besides, the administrator seemed all about moving past the disaster and rebuilding, and dredging up the fight with Jay to cause trouble for the town now seemed counterproductive.

“Well I'm glad I was able to help,” Ellie said feebly. “Please excuse me, the celebration in town has started by now and my family's waiting for me.”

“Of course, sorry for delaying you so long.” The administrator showed her out the door, but as Ellie started to stride away the woman briefly rested a hand on her arm to hold her back. “I hope you will consider joining the rebuilding efforts. We could use people like you and your husband. Your ex-husband too, from the way you described him.”

“I'll think it over.” Relieved the ordeal was done with, Ellie hurried towards the southern entrance to town. She'd have to make it up to her family for being gone all day.

Stanberry's celebration was in full swing when she went through the roadblock; she saw more people out on the streets than she ever had before, and none of them showed any caution about being around each other.

Granted, in spite of the townspeople's paranoia about Zolos, their trust in the patrols keeping infected people out had allowed them to move around the town with some confidence. It had never looked like a ghost town, like some other places Ellie had visited on her harrowing journey here.

But people going about their normal business and even frequenting a bustling market in the square was one thing, and this was something else entirely. Ellie had seen large crowds before plenty of times, at concerts or football games or places like that.

But a few thousand people on the streets of this little town made the crowd seem much bigger.

She was briefly worried about finding her family in all the festivities, but thankfully Hal had Ricky up on his shoulders, apparently looking for her, and they were easy to spot from a distance. She waved to get her son's attention as she made her way over.

“Isn't this great, Mom?” Ricky called, waving towards the people around them.

Tallie had been walking between Nick and Gen and holding both their hands, but the moment she spotted Ellie she rushed over to her. “There are kids playing everywhere!” she said excitedly, hugging her legs. “I didn't know there were so many kids in town!”

Ellie laughed and picked her daughter up. “It's pretty great, all right,” she said. “As long as the vaccine does what it's supposed to, this should be the day when our lives go back to normal. You should even be able to go back to school.” She laughed again when she saw the face Ricky made at that.

Hal laughed too, even though he couldn't see the eight-year-old's expression. “Come on, we were just about to go see what sort of grub people brought to the potluck.”

“We brought chips and soda, Mommy!” Tallie said, motioning to the bags Nick and Gen were carrying in their free hands. “Daddy says that'll probably be enough.”

“Charlie and Val are coming along behind with one of their famous pots of chili,” Nick added. “So the group will be contributing something more solid than snacks.”

“Sounds good.” Ellie felt a bit guilty that she'd been so busy she hadn't even considered what to bring to the potluck. “Sorry about being gone all afternoon.”

Hal carefully reached out to pat her back, keeping Ricky stable on his shoulders. “You helped all our friends in camp get their vaccines. That's about the most important thing you could've been doing today.”

“Thanks.” She shifted Tallie to one arm so she could take his hand and give it a squeeze.

He abruptly grinned. “Although almost as important is getting a roof over our heads, which is now done.”

Ellie couldn't help the spontaneous cheer that escaped her at that. It was hard to explain just how much of a toll sleeping in tents had taken on her. Granted, they'd spent all those weeks in town sleeping on a proper bed in the Tolsons' study, which had been practically luxurious in spite of the close confines. But even there they'd been guests, and gracious as the older couple had been, staying for so long in someone else's house took a toll of its own.

It would be wonderful to have their own house, even if it was a relatively cramped dugout.

Her husband grinned, looking pleased at her response. “I do have to warn you, the best I could do for weatherproofing was tacking a tarp down over the plywood, at least until we can get our hands on some shingles. But it should keep us warm and dry for now.”

“Hey, are we going to sit around talking