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He turned her and pointed her to his tent. “We can talk about our worries over dinner.”
“That sounds like a plan.” She walked beside him. “Miller stopped by and told me I would be working nights.”
“No.” Ronan shook his head. “No, you’ll be on days. I’ll let him know.”
Wasn’t that favoritism? “But …”
“You’ll be working the same shift I am. End of conversation.” Ronan stopped. “Unless you want us to be on different schedules and not have private time together.”
“Oh.” She didn’t think about that. “Won’t he think it’s favoritism?”
“I don’t give a flying donkey’s ass what Miller thinks.” Ronan barked out a laugh.
“Well, that’s a descriptive narrative.” Fleur laughed with him, and as they approached the tent, she put her hand on his arm. “Are you sure you have enough food?”
“Absolutely, and we’re restocking in four days. Everyone will have enough food soon.”
“Shelly and I were talking about the things we missed from home. Fast food was one.” Ronan held the flap open for her, and she entered. “Oh, you have an office now.” She stepped over to the table and looked at the map on the surface.
“A small one, but it works.”
She pointed to the Xs on the map. “What are these?”
“Security checkpoints manned by the militia.”
Fleur slowly turned to look at him. “You got them to agree to man all these?”
He nodded. “I did.”
She shook her head. Miller had been trying for ages to get the militia off their butts to do their jobs. “Once again, sir, you are unexpected and amazing.”
Ronan smiled down at her. “I only do my job. Let’s eat.”
She followed him into the cot area and sat down on his. “Chicken burrito bowl?” he asked as he held up an MRE.
“Sure.” She caught the bag he tossed to her and opened it. Then he selected one for himself and moved over, sitting on the ground beside her after he put his weapon in the rack. “So, if you got the militia to man the posts, your talk must have gone well. Is Habib still there?”
“He is. The fuckwad we’d dealt with left after depositing his people here. Habib was cooperative for the most part. We had some differences of opinion but were able to come to terms.”
“And what were the differences? It had to do with women, didn’t it?”
He nodded as he poured water into his flameless heating pouch. Then he handed her the canteen, and she did the same. “They won’t attempt to stop any male from stopping a woman or girl from entering the camp.”
She drew a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Still.”
“We’ll be on watch for anything, and believe me, we’ll stop anyone from prohibiting a person from entering, day or night,” Ronan said as he handed her his candy packet. She smiled and thanked him. She’d share it with Rana or Shelly tomorrow.
She glanced over at him. While waiting for him, she’d made a list of things she wanted to know about him. “Where did you grow up?”
He glanced up at her. “Mostly Colorado and Virginia. My dad worked in Virginia, and we spent summers at our home in Colorado.”
She stopped opening her tortilla shells. “Two homes? Were your parents rich?”
He shrugged. “I guess. Guardian pays well.”
“It must. Can I get a job with them?” She laughed and went back to opening her food.
He nudged her leg with his elbow. “Yes.”