Page 34 of Rise After Fall

“You sleep completely naked?” she asks.

“Yeah, I do.”

“It’s, like, ten degrees out here,” she says.

“I don’t sleep on the porch. It’s nice and toasty in my bed.”

“What if there’s a fire or something?”

“Then, my naked ass will hop out a window.”

“Oh my God. Can you at least put something on now, please?” she screeches.

I walk inside and grab a pair of sweatpants from the pile in the corner of my bathroom, throw them on, and return to them.

Scooter and Zoey have been joined by Joanna and Clay.

“Why would you assholes leave all that food on the porch?” Joanna scolds.

Scooter shrugs. “Our power was out, and we figured it was cold enough outside that we could put everything from the fridge in a box and leave it out for the night and it’d be fine.”

“The power was out for, like, twenty minutes, dumbasses,” Zoey says.

“How were we supposed to know that or that a bear would come by? I thought bears hibernated in the winter,” Clay adds.

“You’re not in Colorado. Bears around here don’t den until early to mid-December. If a ranger had happened to come by here, you’d have been fined five grand for improper food storage,” I tell them.

“Are you shittin’ me?” Scooter asks.

“Nope. Why do you think we have locks on the outdoor garbage cans?”

“I just thought you guys were super paranoid about your trash. Like some government spy might get into it or something.”

Joanna rolls her eyes. “It’s like living with Bill and Ted.”

Scooter sticks his tongue out at her and then turns to Zoey. “I’m sorry, Zoey. I’m glad the bear didn’t have you for a midnight snack.” Then, he turns to me and smiles. “Thanks to the naked avenger over there.”

“Just clean up whatever is left of your mess, and you’d better hope that thing doesn’t keep coming back, looking for more.”

Clay’s eyes go round. “You think it will?”

“Probably,” Joanna mutters.

“Don’t worry; I’ve got plenty of bear spray in the wardrobe,” Scooter announces.

“Yeah, that would have been a big help tonight,” Zoey deadpans.

“You’re right. I should probably hide it out here somewhere.” Scooter darts inside.

Zoey looks at me and shakes her head. “Since you’re awake now, wanna have a glass of wine with me? I’ll never be able to fall asleep now.”

“Sure. Let me throw on a shirt, and I’ll be right over,” I say.

A minute later, I step into her cabana, carrying a bottle of wine I bought from the lobby bar yesterday.

“You want to sit in here by the fireplace or outside?” I ask.

“I wish we had a deck on the back,” she says.